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Six UNLV students and graduates have won highly competitive Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships since 1994, allowing them the opportunity to study in locales from Australia to the Netherlands.

Renee Libutti, who graduated cum laude in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in English, recently left for a year's study at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, courtesy of Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships, which are sponsored by Rotary International.

Next fall, two more UNLV graduates will be studying overseas through the Rotary program -- Patrick Stewart, who graduated last year with a bachelor's degree in construction management, and Cara Watts, who is scheduled to graduate next spring from UNLV's Honors College with a dual bachelor's degree in Spanish and psychology.

Watts has asked to study in either Costa Rica or Canada and expects to learn in December, where she will be going. Stewart, who this academic year is studying in Karlsruhe, Germany, on a Fulbnght Scholarship, plans to use his ambassadorial scholarship for a second year of study in Germany, probably in the town of Weimer.

"To have this many UNLV graduates and students chosen as Rotary ambassadorial scholars is extremely impressive," said Jim Frey, dean of UNLV's College of Liberal Arts and a member and past president of the Green Valley Rotary Club.

"This scholarship competition is more rigorous than most and pits our students and graduates against those from such universities as Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, Frey said.

"Our Rotary district, which includes Southern Nevada and parts of California, only provides seven scholarships annually, so to have this many UNLV students chosen in a penod of just five years is outstanding," he said.

To qualify for the program, applicants must have not only excellent academic records, but also good interpersonal shlls, as they are expected to act as ambassadors of Rotary and of the United States in the nations they visit, Frey explained. Rotary clubs in other nations also send scholars to foreign countries as part of the program, he said.

Each scholarship is worth anywhere from $22,000 to $33,000, depending on the student's length of stay, he said.

Former ambassadorial scholar Debra Bass, who earned her bachelor's degree in communication studies from UNLV in 1993, says the year she spent in Scotland through the Rotary program literally opened up a new world for her.

"It's just been invaluable. It's great at opening up your horizons," said Bass, a newspaper reporter covering the economic development beat for the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C.

Bass, who studied Gaelic, Scottish history, and European politics at the University of Edinburgh during the 1997-98 academic year, visited Rotary clubs throughout Scotland during her stay, talking about Southern Nevada and showing photos that emphasized the non-gaming aspects of the area, such as Red Rock Canyon and Mt. Charleston. In addition to Scotland, she traveled to more than a dozen countries in Europe during her time overseas.

Without the Rotary scholarship, Bass says she doubts she ever would have gotten to Europe.

"My going to Europe would have been out of the question. I was the first person in my family to go to college," said Bass, adding that her family was concerned about her living overseas because the concept was just so unfamiliar to them.

Bass, who previously worked as a news reporter at both the Review-Journal and the Sun, said one of the primary purposes of the program "is to bring different cultures together and to stop people from being so alienated."

She said that during her visits with people in Scotland and in Europe she found "an amazing willingness to communicate" and realized that "there is nowhere so different that you can't learn about each other."

Watts, meanwhile, is looking forward to her year of study, whether it be in Costa Rica, where she once was a student through a UNLV-sponsored study abroad program, or Canada. Ecological studies will be her field during her year as a Rotary ambassador.

"I believe I'll learn a lot about how to protect our environment and how to protect the interests of the people," Watts said, adding that she is looking forward to "being able to carry my experiences back here to enrich my community" once her year as an ambassador is over.

Other UNLV graduates who have been part of the Rotary program in recent years are Reginald Russell, who received bachelor's degrees in business administration and romance languages in 1997 and then spent his Rotary year in the Netherlands, and Randi Sue Smith, who received a bachelor's degree in hotel administration in 1994 and an MBA in 1996 and spent her Rotary year studying in Australia.

Many of UNLV's Rotary ambassadorial scholars participated in UNLV-sponsored study abroad programs before applying for the Rotary scholarship.

For more information on the UNLV students and graduates who have been selected as Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars, call Frey at 895-3401.