Editors: A photo of Allison Norwood is available for download at www.ohiou.edu/news/pix/norwood_allison.jpg

ATHENS, Ohio (April 26, 2000) -- Ohio University junior Allison Norwood of Bridgeport recently was named one of 309 undergraduate students nationwide to receive a prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for the 2000-01 academic year.

A pre-med major, Norwood applied for the Goldwater Award during the fall quarter with the help of the university's recently created Office of Nationally Competitive Awards. The office was created last fall to help students apply to top academic awards.

The Goldwater scholarship program, honoring the late Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, is designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. It is considered the premiere undergraduate award of its type. The scholarship covers the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

Finalists were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,176 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. Of the 309 recipients, 185 are men and 121 are women, and virtually all intend to obtain doctoral degrees.

"Allison is an outstanding candidate who prepared an excellent application," said Ann Brown, director of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards (ONCA). "She has strong academic credentials and impressive research skills."

Norwood expects to graduate in spring of 2001 and begin pursuing a medical degree.

"I am very honored to have been selected to receive the Goldwater Award," Norwood said. "This distinction is not only a recognition of my personal accomplishments, but a reflection of the positive life experiences that I have gained from Ohio University, my professors, my hometown and my parents."

Norwood also is one of 21 students involved in the university's highly selective Cutler Scholars program. Modeled on the Rhodes Scholars program of Oxford University, the Cutler Scholars program emphasizes the development of leadership potential and the reinforcement of civic responsibility. The scholarships are renewable for four years and provide full tuition and room and board. Each scholarship includes a stipend to cover structured summer internships and study abroad. Norwood is the first recipient of the Alan and Ruby Riedel/Cutler Scholarship, which is available to outstanding students from Belmont County, Ohio.