September 12, 2005 Source: University of Toronto:
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/050912-1617.asp First-ever Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholar to attend U of T American scholar thrilled to be studying at U of T and exploring the diversity of Toronto
Sep 12/05
by Michah Rynor Kyle Wyatt, a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, has become the first recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship — among the most generous scholarship programs in the U.S. — to pick a Canadian university to further his studies. Wyatt, 23, will use this funding at U of T to study the literature of the Great Plains region and he was deliberate in his choice of graduate school. “I have lived my whole life on the Great Plains so it is really important for me to go to grad school and study it for the first time so that I can critically understand this region that I call home,” he says. “Also, I thought it was important to more critically understand not only the Plains but the United States and by coming to U of T I’ll get a more objective perspective of my country.” Although Wyatt is of German-English ancestry, he has long been fascinated by the European representation of native Americans on the Great Plains, “and how those representations are similar or different from the native voice,” he says. So what impressed him about U of T was that, while focusing on the literature of the region, he can also “gain a strong background in more traditional areas such as Old English, Renaissance drama and Romantic literature.” He is also excited about studying with such well-known U of T professors as Daniel Justice — himself a University of Nebraska grad — and Simon Ortiz. Getting the scholarship was both an honour and a shock, Wyatt admits. “I had kind of forgotten that I had applied for it and so I spent the previous summer lining up loans for school and housing,” he says. “I had been an admissions counsellor for the University of Nebraska after graduation for two years and came back to the office one day from lunch to find a message waiting on my phone from the Cooke Foundation. I got married a month later so my wife and I feel it was a pretty nice wedding gift.” Laura Damuth, director of undergraduate research and fellowship advising at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, says U of T is fortunate to have such a dedicated student join its ranks. “One of the things I find impressive about Kyle is the way in which he commits wholeheartedly to whatever project he might be working on — from being an admissions counsellor for the University of Nebraska to researching Ponca chief Standing Bear,” says Damuth. Wyatt says he is a real fan of U of T — especially the size and scope of the library, the scholarly resources available and the proximity to downtown Toronto — but admits that there are some things he will have to get used to. “I grew up in a town of 2,000 people and there are more people living on my block in Toronto than there are people in Albion,” he says. “In fact, there are more grocery stores on my block than there are in my home town.” In his application to the Cooke Foundation, he ended the required narrative section this way: “Looking ahead, I eagerly anticipate the emotions awaiting me when I fly back into Lincoln for my first Christmas home as a graduate student. What will my beloved Great Plains mean to me when I return from my first term at the University of Toronto? I am excited to learn the answer.” The Cooke scholarships were founded in 2000 after the death of Toronto-bred business tycoon Jack Kent Cooke. The former owner of the NFL’ s Washington Redskins saw to it that the majority of his immense fortune would be used to establish a foundation so that students could “fulfill their greater destiny.” So far, 500 scholarships of up to $300,000 US per student have been awarded.
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