| MARCH 2003 |
The Watson Fellowship Program:
Fuel for CC's Dream Chasers
By Lisa Ellis '82
Norv Brasch ’78 remembers standing on the ship deck of the Queen
Elizabeth docked at New York’s 59th Street terminal pier the
year he graduated, excited beyond measure about the yearlong
European Watson Fellowship he was embarking upon.“As the ship was slowly towed down the Hudson, I stood in awe as the sun set and a full harvest moon rose, snapping a mental picture of the moon perfectly framed by a pair of gleaming new office towers rising above the financial district,” says Brasch, referring to the former World Trade Center buildings.
Twenty-five years later Brasch is executive director of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program, a two-year rotating directorship that can only be filled by a former Watson Fellow.
Brasch says the tragedy of 9/11 reaffirmed the importance of one of the basic tenets of the Watson Fellowship Program: the internationalization of American students. “If we ever needed to reprove the value of the program, September 11 and its aftermath proved it to us again. The American-centric view of the world is increasingly dangerous. The more young Americans understand the subtleties of foreign cultures, the greater the chance for working in a globalized environment, instead of trying to dominate it.”
The program, funded by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, gives new graduates a life-changing opportunity to travel abroad and explore cultures and topics for which they have a long-standing passion, even if that interest doesn’t relate to their academic studies. The project must be personally challenging, for Brasch believes that when students spend time alone, they learn who they truly are. “Students learn to rely on their own internal compasses instead of doing what others might want them to do,” he says.
The foundation has invested in over 2,300 young people since the program’s inception in 1968 and the fellowship remains highly selective. The program canvases 50 small private colleges for applicants and each year around 1,000 students from across the country apply. Brasch and others interview a winnowed pool of nominees and ultimately select up to 60 fellows, based on the strength of their project and personal character.
How do you know a Watson Fellow? “We know it when we see it,” says Brasch. “There’s a drive in Watson Fellows that distinguishes them from the pack. We’re looking for extraordinary people with extraordinary promise — internationalists and leaders.” Given current world tensions, fellows are allowed to adapt their itineraries to respond to changing events, but must stay out of the United States for a full year.
The independent study topics are diverse. The group of 2002 fellows currently in the field is exploring everything from the cultural significance of spice production to sea turtles and ecotourism.
For Brasch, one of the oddities of directing the program is “that your life rewinds back to your own fellowship year. When visiting one of our 50 schools, the lead question is inevitably about my own fellowship – no one much cares what I’ve been doing for the quarter-century since.”
A CC physics major, Brasch spent his fellowship year in Europe searching out sights of scientific interest, visiting places where one can still see tangible evidence of great moments in science. “Just as the cultural roots of our society take us back to Britain and the continent,” says Brasch, “so does our scientific heritage. Europe is the fountainhead of modern Western science.” Brasch traveled to Italy, Greece, Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany, England, and the country then known as Czechoslovakia. In addition to his daytime project, Brasch enjoyed over 60 opera performances throughout Europe.
After returning from his European adventure, Brasch combined his passion for science with his interest in journalism and wrote, “Birthplaces of European Science,” a guidebook to the homes and laboratories of important scientists, where one can “stand in the footsteps of their genius.”
CC has participated in the Watson program since 1971 and is historically successful in the program, ranking near the top in fellowships awarded. Brasch believes this success can be attributed in part to the adventurous type of student that CC attracts and students’ intense immersion in a single subject on the Block Plan, which is consistent with a Watson Fellowship year.
CC chemistry Professor Keith Kester, the college’s liaison for the program, considers the fellowship “another opportunity for experiential learning that complements the upsurge in community-based learning at the college.”
The college has two Watson Fellows participating in the 2002 program. Micah Lang ’02, an environmental science major, is studying world water scarcity and the feedback between water, culture, and environment. His fellowship takes him to Peru, Cyprus, Kenya, and Namibia, where he is currently based. After his first two stops in Peru and Cyprus, Lang reports that his “search for common themes was arduous, thorough, and largely unsuccessful, but along the way I glimpsed two extremes in the water management spectrum and dispelled a number of personal misconceptions regarding traditional cultures and water use.”
For her project, Felisa Gonzales ’02, a neuroscience major and Boettcher scholar, travels to Brazil, Guatemala, and Bali to examine psychological and religious beliefs concerning spiritual possession. Her interest stems from her experience growing up in New Mexico with the charismatic Assemblies of God church.
At CC, Gonzales says she began to critically analyze her religious beliefs and found cultural psychology a valuable tool in “reconciling my educational beliefs with my religious beliefs.” The Watson Fellowship allows her to continue this self-exploration in broad new ways: “A lot of who I am stems from what I was taught. I’m on a religious journey to find intersections between psychology, religion, and sociology, but also to find my own religious truth.” Gonzales is looking to replace Bali, her third stop, with another location as the U.S. Department of State has issued a travel warning for Indonesia.
It is not as easy to be a solo traveling American anymore. Brasch says the program “follows to the letter the State Department travel warnings, but beyond that we are not shutting down the world. By sharing their international experiences and new worldview, our fellows broaden the understanding of those they connect with here and overseas.”
Brasch believes that only the fellow knows for sure whether he or she “succeeded” or “failed.” The only certainty is that the fellow will not come back the same person that left. “No matter what the trajectory of life after a Watson Fellowship,” says Brasch, “it is a transformative experience that always stays with you.”
Traditional With a Twist
After he completes his term as executive director in June, Norv
Brasch will return to Denver with his wife, Kate, and their
four sons. Brasch will turn his attention to Jurisystems Corporation,
a Denver-based consulting and development company that he founded
and that specializes in legal practice systems. Brasch considers
his path from a traditional legal practice into the technical
side of the profession typical of a Watson Fellow’s broadened
view of career opportunities. “Even the former Watsons who end
up in traditional careers always add a twist to the tried and
true path,” says Brasch.Brasch returns to his alma mater this summer for the annual conference for returning 2002 Watson fellows, hosted by CC this year. At the event, the fellows — most of whom have not met prior to the conference — will swap stories and impressions from their year overseas. For more information about the Watson Fellowship Program, see www.watsonfellowship.org.
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