WILLIAMSTOWN, MA -- "It was cold and rainy
outside. I was sitting at my desk," said Aroop Mukharji, when
he received the call on his cell. "I have this silly tropical
island ring tone that started blasting through the office."
Flustered, he answered. The caller informed Mukharji that he
had won a prestigious Marshall Scholarship. "My immediate vocal
reaction was garbled gibberish and disbelief. He must have
mistaken me for another Aroop Murkharji Mukharji."
The Marshall Scholarships offer talented young Americans the
chance to study for two years in the United Kingdom at the
university of their choice. One of 35 new Marshall Scholars
nationwide, Mukharji graduated in June from Williams College.
He will study in his first year of the Scholarship at the London
School of Economics for a Masters in International Relations and
the second year at King's College London for a Masters in
International Conflict Studies.
Commenting on the 2010 class of Marshall Scholars, British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald said: "It gives me great pleasure to congratulate this year's Marshall Scholarship recipients, who represent the finest and brightest young American minds across a dazzling educational waterfront.
"I know that all these young men and women will be excellent ambassadors for the United States - and I hope they will draw on their British experience as they go on to highly successful careers and lives," said Sheinwald. "If their predecessors are anything to go by, many of them will shape the cultural, political and economic futures that our two countries will forge together."
Mukharji hopes to prepare for a career in global politics and international law.
"Whether through state service or work for an international institution like the U.N.," he said, "I’m eager to explore various options that address international politics, conflict resolution, and decision-making."
At Williams he majored in mathematics and political science. He was a member of the Williams tennis team, academic tutoring, research, and student governance. A member of the Gargoyle Society, an academic honorary society, Mukharji was voted "Mr. Williams" in his sophomore year and elected class speaker at graduation. He also spent his time singing in the Williams Octet and in songwriting.
"The primary appeal of political science," Mukharji wrote in his application for the Marshall Fellowship, "is the juncture at which such policy meets international law. The two spheres inform each other and are inextricably linked, but are also often remarkably difficult to reconcile. I want to explore the complex dynamic between law and politics to understand world relations and how can we strengthen international law."
He assisted international affairs professor Michael MacDonald in research on the Iraq War and that, he said, helped prepare him "in a big way for the fellowship I am on at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace." He is currently a junior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, D.C. where he aids senior experts on their foreign policy research.
In addition to MacDonald, Mukharji cites as especially important influences professor of mathematics and Gaudino Scholar Edward Burger, professor of Asian studies George Crane, professor of philosophy William Dudley, professor of math Frank Morgan, and former Williams president and professor of economics Morton Owen Schapiro (now president of Northwestern University).
Burger summed up the faculty's assessment of Mukharji's future success by saying, "Aroop is a wildly imaginative and creative individual who is intellectually open enough to be challenged by the world and original minded enough to challenge how the world works."
Williams College is noted in the U.S. for its tutorial system and Mukharji took two tutorials at Williams, one on The Philosophy and Economics of Higher Education with Schapiro and Dudley and the other on Ancient Chinese Thought with Crane, who said, “Aroop is a marvelous student. In my tutorial on ancient Chinese philosophy, he was a lively and well-versed participant. I’m sure he’ll thrive, as he already has, in the most rigorous academic settings.”
Mukharji is the son of Drs. Jyoti Mukharji and Jhulan Mukharji of Prairie Village, Kan.
Mukharji said his "life approach is colored by the complimentary influences of his two brothers Arnob - who kept me grounded; his sheer love of life is infectious - and Auyon, who graduated from Williams in 2007, a paragon of achievement, a fierce rival and a person I admire greatly."
Named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the Marshall Scholarship Programme began in 1953 as a gesture of gratitude to the people of the United States for the assistance that the U.K. received after World War II under the Marshall Plan. Today, the Marshall Scholarships continue to serve not only as a living gift from the U.K. Government to the U.S. for the Marshall Plan, but also as a way to deepen and strengthen the transatlantic relationship through education and cultural exchange.
Recent editorial co-wrtten by Mukharji on Democracy in Colombia that appeared in a recent edition of The Washington Post.
Article originally published on Williams College homepage
