Weinberg Senior Honored by Lincoln Academy

Arabic scholar Trisha Faulkner receives Student Laureate Award

The awards for excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities are presented to seniors from each of the four-year, degree-granting colleges and universities in Illinois.

Faulkner, who is double majoring in Asian and Middle East studies and history in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, focuses her research on Middle Eastern conflict and policy. Her senior thesis is on the policies of Hezbollah in Lebanon -- a country she visited while studying abroad in Amman, Jordan.

“I started taking Arabic my freshman year, and it opened my world to the Middle East and international politics,” said Falkner, who is now nearly fluent in the language.

While abroad, Faulkner joined fellow Northwestern students in Cairo, Egypt, at the international conference of the Model Arab League, an organization where students discuss and debate the Arab world's most pressing challenges and draft resolutions to address these issues. Faulkner and her team were recognized as having the best delegation at the conference.

Faulkner also spent last summer researching and writing for the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

“I can see myself working for a think tank after graduation because I enjoyed how fast paced and challenging it was,” she said. “I would like a career in public service.”

The Lincoln Academy, unique among the 50 states, was established 45 years ago to honor Illinois’ most distinguished citizens with the state’s highest award, the Order of Lincoln. The Student Laureate Awards are presented annually.