search articles:     from the issue of October 5, 2006         Damuth helps guide undergrads toward prominent scholarships  BY TROY FEDDERSON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Futures come calling to Laura Damuth.   ONE ON ONE - Laura Damuth discusses Fulbright options with Tracey Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum is a UCARE student working with Barbara Trout, professor of textiles, clothing and design. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.   As UNL's first fellowship adviser, Damuth helps high-achieving undergraduates compete for coveted national and international awards. The awards - Fulbright, Rhodes and Truman scholarships to name a few - open doors to top graduate school experiences and help pave career paths. Obviously, competition is tight, margin for error slim. So, knowing Damuth can invest 40 hours into an individual application, allowing her to get to know a student to depths a parent may envy, it's understandable she has mixed feelings - and an undeniable commitment - toward her position. "I love my job. And, I hate my job," Damuth said. "I love to interact with the students. I love it when things gel and we start to communicate. And, I love it when they win. But, there is this burden of responsibility that keeps me awake at night, wondering if I've done everything right." Rita Kean, dean of Undergraduate Studies is to blame for Damuth's conundrum. When the Office of Undergraduate Studies was formed in 2003, Kean said university officials felt a need to offer additional support for students applying for national scholarships and fellowships. Naturally, Kean thought of Damuth, who was working part time as director of UCARE, a program that allows undergraduates to earn hands-on research experience. "With Laura's dedication and success with UCARE and related connections with the Honors Program, we thought she would be a good choice for fellowship adviser," Kean said. Damuth accepted, moving to full-time status, splitting duties between UCARE and fellowship adviser. She readily dove in, attending a conference hosted by the National Association of Fellowship Advisers. "I really had no experience going into this," Damuth said. "But Rita and I attended that conference and we were blown away." Damuth said the foundation of the group was not to create scholarship winners. Instead, it approached the process as a specialized form of advising that created future direction for undergraduates, whether awards were won or lost. "When students work on these applications, they think about all they have achieved in the past few months and finalize their plans for graduate school," Damuth said. "It allows the students to begin to think about their future at a time when many of them don't really have time to concentrate on it." Garth Glissman, a former Husker quarterback who was a Rhodes scholar finalist two years ago, agreed. "Technically, I finished the application process empty handed by not winning the award," said Glissman, now a first-year law student at NU. "But the self analysis forced me to ask what is most important and gave me a direction to go in life. "I wanted to win so bad for Coach Damuth. But I feel blessed for the experience and working with her. I am perpetually indebted to her." Prior to Damuth's appointment as fellowship adviser, students and individual faculty members were responsible for the application process. Glissman believes success with that type of process would have been difficult. "I had several professors encouraging me to apply for it," Glissman said. "But, if someone else had to shepherd the process along, I know my application would not have been as strong." Glissman's application is a prime example of Damuth's ability. Immersed in football, Glissman never planned to apply for the Rhodes. He came to Damuth's office just a few months ahead of the application deadline. The two spent hours on the application, meeting so often that Glissman started referring to Damuth as his academic coach. "One girl who beat me out was from the Naval Academy," Glissman said. "She told me that she had been groomed for the award since her freshman year. Coach Damuth got me up to speed in three months, and that was almost enough to close the gap and win." In her first two years, Damuth helped UNL graduate Jonathan Jones win a Truman then a Fulbright. "Jonathan was a total guinea pig," Damuth said with a smile. "I didn't know what I was doing so we just tried things to see what would happen. I'll always have a special place for him." Her infectious desire to push applicants over the top is causing a boom in major scholarship/fellowship applications. Three years ago, UNL had five students apply for Fulbrights. That tally grew to 20 a year ago and stands at 19 weeks into the fall semester. In the 2005-2006 academic year alone, UNL students won eight Fulbright, two Goldwater, and a Truman award. In 2004-2005, four Fulbright awards went to UNL undergrads. And, Damuth has become active on the national level, bringing the National Association of Fellowship Advisers annual conference to UNL last summer. "I had no idea what this would turn into," Damuth said. "I couldn't do it without all of my amazing colleagues across campus and, of course, all the wonderful students. "I'm just grateful for the opportunity to help out." 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