Honors Students Receive National and International Scholarships

Scholarships by the Numbers

Hundreds of students receive Honors Program scholarships each year (see infographic below), thanks to a tradition of giving begun by program founder Rhodes Dunlap and grown by alumni and friends of the honors program who continue to donate to support honors students. 

In addition to these awards expressly for UI Honors Program members, some honors students undertook the rigorous process of applying for national and international scholarships. 

The following were among those recognized in the past year as recipients of such awards: 

Third-year University of Iowa student Nina Osborne has been awarded a 2026 Goldwater Scholarship, the country’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarship for students pursuing research careers in mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering. 

Alumna Shefa’a T. Tawil (BS psychology ‘25) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa has been awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study Arabic this summer in Amman, Jordan.

Sean Hagan of Coralville, Iowa, who earned a BA in Russian and international relations in May, has been awarded a U.S. Department of State CLS to study Russian this summer in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Honors alumni were also among the students awarded Fulbright scholarships for the 2025-26 year, including Maia Rivera Diaz, Delaney Orweiler, Katie Matthew, Marissa Good, Ryann Hubbart, and Parras Bassuk, who was also selected for the 2025 Rhodes Scholarship. Among the recipients and alternates for the 2026-27 year were eight honors students and alumni including recipients Emma Fuchtman, Klaertje Hesselink, Marta Leira, Kate Struble, and Katrina Wolfe, and alternates Leighton Barnes, Harper Dunne, and Brenda Gao.