Student News
Undergrad Schwark Named Truman Scholarship Finalist
Moore School undergraduate
Andrew Schwark has been named a 2008 Truman Scholar Finalist. This prestigious
award provides up to $30,000 for students pursuing graduate degrees in public service fields.
Schwark’s career interests are in helping to bridge gaps between education, micro-financing and economic development in African countries. As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in 2006-2007, Schwark studied in Senegal. There, he says, he saw first-hand “the extreme disconnect between educational output and the skill sets needed by local and foreign employers.
"Currently, a majority of African commerce exists in a precarious informal economy without quality standards or the means to raise capital. I think that with micro-financing and an infusion of workshops on technology and entrepreneurship, more Africans will be better equipped to survive in a demanding global marketplace, maintain a more stable lifestyle, and become less dependent on natural resources," says Schwark.
He adds, "On a broader level, such initiatives can inspire greater international investment, stimulating higher export levels, job market diversification, and new skills for a country’s labor force."
Schwark plans to pursue a dual MBA in public policy and business and an MA in international studies from a collaborative program developed by the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins Nitze School for International Studies. His long-term goal is to work as an economic adviser with the U.S. State Department or as an African developmental consultant with the World Bank.
Schwark is a senior at the business school, with a double major in international business and finance. A native of Hartland, Wisconsin, he is a McNair Scholar at USC and a member of the South Carolina Honors College.
In addition to studying economic development while in Senegal in 2006-2007, Schwark studied French at the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop in the capital, Dakar. In summer 2005, he was on a team of Moore School students teaching business and language skills to high school students in the Global Issues Immersion Camp in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
This academic year, Schwark has participated in the Langfan Oratorial Competition at the Moore School, and was a member of a successful undergraduate case team that competed internationally.
Schwark has also leveraged his international experience serving as a program coordinator for the Columbia World Affairs Council.
Schwark previously earned a Wendell Millman Scholarship and the AAA Travel Challenge Scholarship. He is a member of the French Club, the Global Business Council, and the Nihon Club at USC. He volunteers with the Waverly Community Center in Columbia, the Study Abroad office, and Habitat for Humanity. As a high school student, he studied abroad in Nantes, France, and served as an English instructor at a camp for Japanese children in Tokyo.
Truman Scholars will be announced in late March. Only 65 college seniors from across the country will be selected.
Gail Crouch
February 2008