Senior Wyatt Smith has been named this year's recipient of the Vanderbilt University Michael B. Keegan Traveling Fellowship, according to the university.
Each year this fellowship is awarded to a graduating senior who will pursue an idea or issue through world travel.
Smith's project, titled "What Constitutes Empowerment? Exploring the Global Intersection of Democracy, Poverty, and Citizenship," will take him to post-apartheid South Africa, Israel and India, among the possible locations, to see "the ways in which democracies prosper and suffer."
By using personal interviews, observations and interactions with policymakers and disadvantaged individuals, Smith said he hopes to develop ideas that will help strengthen America's democracy.
Smith will graduate from Peabody College with majors in human and organizational development and political science. An Ingram Scholar and 2010 Young Alumni Trustee nominee, Smith was also president of Vanderbilt Student Government.
