Croft Faculty, Dr. Vivian Ibrahim Awarded Teacher of the Year!

Congratulations to Dr. Vivian Ibrahim, Croft Associate Professor of History and International Studies, for being awarded the CLA Howell Family Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award (formerly College of Liberal Arts Teacher of the Year Award) for 2019-2020!

Dr. Ibrahim is a historian of the Modern Middle East and joined the University of Mississippi  in 2011. She has been instrumental in many students careers at the university, and we are so thankful to have her as a part of the Croft Faculty!

Dr. Ibrahim shared, "I have nothing to add except to thank the students who nominated me (whoever they are!) I love being in the classroom and this really means a lot to me." Thank you Dr. Ibrahim for all the hard work you do and all the encouragement you provide to students!

David L. Boren Scholarship Award Recipients: Gabe Menchaca and Caleb Ray

Congratulation to Croft seniors, Gabe Menchaca and Caleb Ray for being recipients of the prestigious David L. Boren Scholarship Award from the National Security Exchange Program! The Boren scholarship is awarded to students who study critical languages and provide funds for students to study the languages and areas of the world that are critical to US interests and underrepresented. 

• Gabe, who is in the Chinese Flagship program at Ole Miss, will use his Boren scholarship to complete his Capstone (fifth year) program in the Chinese Flagship Domestic Immersion Capstone at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) in Monterey, California!
• Caleb, who is in the Arabic Flagship program at  Ole Miss, will use his Boren scholarship to complete his Capstone (fifth year) program in Morocco.

Croft Sophomore, Jess Cooley, Named 2020 Barksdale Award Winner

Jess Cooley, Croft sophomore, received the 2020 Barksdale Award from The Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, which will allow him to document the forest fire devastation in Bolivia as he travels by motorcycle this summer. Jess's studies in International Studies focus on Latin America, Spanish, and he is majoring in Accountancy as well.

For his project, Jess plans to travel through the Chiquitanía, which burned from August through October, by motorcycle, documenting the devastation through photos and interviews, as well as surveys and field notes, for up to four weeks. Barksdale Award Winners are given $5000 to support scholarly and creative endeavors. A huge congratulations to Jess, who is an extraordinary and hard working student!

You can read more about Jess's Barksdale project here!