Lower Merion Student Receives Beinecke Scholarship

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Harris Sockel of Lower Merion, Pa., a junior in the Northwestern University Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, has been selected for the 2008 Beinecke Scholarship to cover his doctoral studies.

Sockel will receive $4,000 immediately prior to entering graduate school and an additional $30,000 while attending graduate school.

The Beinecke Scholarship accepts one nomination from more than 100 selected institutions. From those nominees, 22 scholars were selected for the 2008 class. The award is limited to students planning to attend graduate school in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

A Pennsylvania native, Sockel is studying American literature and French and is also a student in the creative writing program for poetry. He tutors Evanston middle school students for the American Reads Program and Northwestern undergraduates in calculus for the Gateway Science Workshop Program.

Sockel has been a counselor for the Freshman Urban Program and is an English department representative for the Student Advisory Board.

This summer, he will embark on an around-the-world travel research project as a Foundation Scholar of the Chicago Circumnavigators Club.

The Beinecke Scholarship Program was established in 1971 by the Board of Directors of The Sperry and Hutchinson Company to honor Edwin, Frederick and Walter Beinecke. The Board created an endowment to provide substantial scholarships for the graduate education of highly motivated students.