Four Illinois Wesleyan University students have been granted fellowships as part of the 2025 Eckley Summer Scholars and Artists Endowment.
Each scholar will be granted a stipend to dedicate their summer to academic research or artistic endeavors, guided by a faculty sponsor. Established by the late IWU President Emeritus Robert Eckley and his wife Nell, the program is designed to develop and deepen a student’s creative and research competencies.
Students selected for the fellowship, their projects and their faculty sponsors are:
Celina El Ghosaini ‘26
Majors: English - Writing and Philosophy
Project Title: “The Need for International Civil Remedies: A Costly Gap in International Law”
Faculty Sponsor: Sally A. Firestone Professor in Peace and Social Justice and Professor of Political
Science Jim Simeone
Hometown: Naperville, Illinois; originally from Baakline, Lebanon
Polina Kourova ‘27
Major: Biology
Project Title: “Does the Presence of Large, Inedible Particles Influence the Feeding Rates of Rotifers?”
Faculty Sponsor: Semour and Dianne Galina Endowed Professor of Biology Will Jaeckle
Hometown: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Vân Lê ‘26
Majors: Political Science and International and Global Studies
Project Title: "Understanding Social Dynamics through Food Culture in Colonial Vietnam"
Faculty Sponsor: Byron S. Tucci Professor of Spanish Carolyn Nadeau
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana; originally from Sài Gòn, Việt Nam
Joanna Steven ‘27
Majors: Art; Sociology-Criminology; and International and Global Studies
Project Title: “Crafting the Body and the Mind: Identity in College Life"
Faculty Sponsor: Assistant Professor of Sociology Kriti Budhiraja
Hometown: Chicago, originally from Stone Mountain, Georgia