Jessica Fowler '06, Alexander Stolar '06 Receive Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards
Given for Excellence of Character and Humanitarian Service

By Kathleen D. Valenzi, U.Va. News Services, with additional reporting by JSF Staff

May 17, 2006 | The 2006 student recipients of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards are Jefferson Scholars Jessica C. Fowler and Alexander W. Stolar. They will receive their awards at Valedictory Exercises on May 20.

Created in 1925, the awards are given to distinguished fourth-year students and members of the University community in memory of the award's namesake, a New York lawyer, businessman and philanthropist.

The awards are intended to perpetuate the excellence of character and humanitarian service he epitomized.

Jessica C. Fowler holds the St. Louis Jefferson Scholarship and will graduate with a bachelor of arts degree in political and social thought.

Fowler has served the U.Va. community through participation in the Office of African-American Affairs' Peer Advisor Program, Sustained Dialogue, The Young Women's Leadership Program, the Honor Committee, Black Voices, the Impact Movement and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Fowler said that her faith motivates her to service and scholarship. "I am a firm believer that to whom much is given much is required," she said, citing Luke 12:48 from the Bible.

"I have watched family members work hard," she added, "and those who came before me, as far as older students, really laid a foundation for me and set an example of success."

In nominating Fowler for the award, associate dean of African-American affairs Sylvia V. Terry noted Fowler's "stellar academic record"; her full commitment to the Peer Advisor Program; and her support last fall of students who struggled to make sense of acts of hatred and racial bias that had occurred shortly after the school year began. These reasons, Terry said, justified Fowler's selection.

After graduation, Fowler will spend the summer participating in an evangelical music group, which teaches young adults how to share their faith through music and is sponsored by the national Impact Movement.

While she has been accepted to three medical schools (University of Pennsylvania, Duke University and Washington University in St. Louis), she is deferring medical school for one year to participate in an internship with either Here's Life Inner City or Urban Promise, both Christian service organizations, beginning in the fall.

A resident of Wilton, Connecticut, Alexander W. Stolar will graduate from U.Va. with a bachelor of arts degree in foreign affairs.

The Mr. and Mrs. Anson M. Beard Jr. Jefferson Scholar, Stolar served as chairman of the Student Council Legislative Affairs Committee in 2003-04 and again in 2004-05 and, in that role, represented the University's students in the Virginia General Assembly.

Stolar also served for two years as a resident assistant in U.Va.'s Resident Staff Program and, during his fourth year on Grounds, as the senior resident in Maupin House. In those roles, he said, he "empowered" his first-year residents to develop a community where everyone felt welcomed and valued. He also learned that "everyone can make a difference, and that small acts of kindness go a long way."

Fellow student Ashley Belyea points out that Stolar's service to U.Va. also includes serving as vice-chairman of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Student Advisory Committee and as chairman of the First Year Council Minority and Women's Concerns Committee, and participation in the Black Voices gospel choir.

"However, a list of activities could never capture why Alex epitomizes the service and work of Algernon Sydney Sullivan," Belyea said. "It is the nature and spirit of his involvement that make Alex an incredibly deserving recipient and a fellow Wahoo of whom we can all be proud.

"Lest you think Alex is one of those perpetual 'joiners' who ignores his classes, he also completed the rigorous Distinguished Majors Program in the Department of Politics," Belyea added.

Following graduation, Stolar will serve as a research intern at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies in New Delhi, India, in support of the institute's research on nuclear stability and nuclear non-proliferation.