Samuel Fury Childs Daly '09, a Milwaukee, Wis., native who has traveled extensively through Europe and Africa, won the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, which he will use to earn two master's, one in history and one in African studies, from Oxford.

"Sam is somebody who has tremendous intellectual curiosity and wants to use his knowledge to improve the world that we all live in," says Michael Pippenger, associate dean of fellowship programs and study abroad. "He has traveled all over Africa and has a real sense of wanderlust that his study abroad experience certainly helped with."

Daly stumbled into becoming an African studies major during a first-year language fair where, on a whim, he registered for Swahili. He now speaks Swahili, Yoruba, French and Spanish.

During his junior year, Daly spent a semester at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and another semester at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. He now works on campus for the Law School's Center for Social Justice and in the Oral History Project office.

The Marshall Scholarship will cover all expenses for two years of study. Daly said he was in a subway station, returning from tutoring a high school student, when he got the call that he won.

"I couldn't understand half of what they were saying, but I heard, 'Congratulations,' and the rest didn't really matter," he says.

Working with the Fellowships Office at Columbia, Daly went through dozens of drafts of his application and countless practice interviews.

"It is one of the best environments I've come across in my time here," he said of working with the office.

The Fellowships Office has helped students win three Rhodes Scholarships, three Marshall Scholarships and 18 Fulbright Scholarships in the last three years.

To read about Jisung Park '09, this year's Rhodes winner, go to www.college.columbia.edu/cct/jan_feb09/around_the_quads1.

To read about other recent scholarship winners, visit www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/jan_feb08/quads4.php and www.college.columbia.edu/cct/may_jun08/around_the_quads5.

By Ethan Rouen '04J