AUSTIN, Texas—A University of Texas at Austin student has been awarded one of this year’s prestigious Marshall Scholarships to study in Britain.
Jack B. Tannous, a Houston native, is a Plan II Honors Program student in the College of Liberal Arts, with four additional majors intersecting in Middle Eastern Studies. Tannous will study for a master’s in philosophy degree in Eastern Christian Studies at the University of Oxford. He hopes to pursue a doctor’s degree in history following his studies in England.
“There are only two programs in the English-speaking world that study the early Christians of the East, and one of those is Oxford,” Tannous said. “I hope my studies in England will give me the historical and linguistic background I need if I want to seriously study Middle Eastern Christians in the Islamic period and the influence of Christianity on early Islam.”
Dr. Richard Lariviere, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said, “Here is a young man whose intellectual interest has few borders, and whose love of his subject transcends narrow academic limits. He is a man of the world, who thinks deeply about the works and brings to it his faith, his philosophical training and his joy in life. He will represent the United States wonderfully in any context.”
The Marshall Scholarship, set up by the British as a way of thanking the American people for the Marshall Plan, provides for two or three years of study at any institution of higher education in the United Kingdom. Up to 40 scholarships are awarded annually, allowing students to gain an understanding and appreciation of Britain.
