Ross Baird '07 Awarded Truman Scholarship
Third-Year Scholar Among 75 Chosen For Award

April 15, 2006 | Edward Ross Baird, holder of the New England Area Jefferson Scholarship, has been named a 2006 Truman Scholar.

Baird, who is majoring in the politics honors program, is among 75 students chosen for the award, which is worth up to $30,000. Given by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, the award goes to college juniors who exhibit exceptional leadership potential and who are committed to careers in government, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors, education or elsewhere in public service. The scholarship provides financial support for graduate study and leadership training for students committed to public service.

"I was really happy [about receiving the scholarship] after seeing the people I was competing against," Baird said. "I gave it my best shot, but there were a lot of great candidates."

Baird is one of only six students at U.Va. selected to major in the politics honors program. He plans to apply his Truman Scholarship toward a joint law and public policy degree, concentrating on education policy. Baird wants a career working with K-12 education policy and civic education.

"I would like to teach for a year or two in a public school," he said. "I think this would make me more responsible in making public policy."

Baird is a Jefferson Scholar, an Echols Scholar, a Robert K. Gooch Scholar and a member of the Raven Society. The third-year class president, he received a David A. Harrison III Undergraduate Research Award to study political participation in Europe under the mentorship of Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics. He is also studying civil and political participation in his native state of Georgia.

"Ross is a dynamic student who loves politics and public service and this is an ideal award given his accomplishments," Sabato said, adding that he has no doubt that Baird will run for elected office at some point. Baird, who Sabato said is active in his home-state politics, has worked on a political campaign as a research assistant on educational policy.

Kenneth S. Stroupe, chief of staff at the Center for Politics, praised Baird as a "an extraordinary and gifted young leader. I'm sure the leadership he has demonstrated at U.Va. is a foreshadowing of what is to come in his public service career."

Baird has interned at the center's Youth Leadership Initiative, which provides resources to kindergarten through 12th grade teachers to get students active and engaged in government and politics.

"Ross Baird is a talented and highly focused student who makes an excellent representative of this University," said Nicole F. Hurd, assistant dean and director of the Center for Undergraduate Excellence.

Created though an Act of Congress and signed by President Gerald R. Ford in 1975, the Truman foundation provides scholarships for students who demonstrate outstanding potential for and who plan to pursue a career in public service, and conducts a nationwide competition to select Truman scholars. The foundation awarded its first scholarships in the 1977-1978 academic year.

- From U.Va. News Services