Richter riches

The Richter University Honors Scholars Fellowships program is funded by the Richter Memorial Funds of Chicago. A renewable grant awarded for terms of three years, the Richter Funds provide about $60,000 per year to the university honors program. These fellowships allow up to 10 students from the university honors program to do independent study each year.

“The Richter University Honors Scholars Program allows us to enhance the educational opportunities for our students, improves our ability to attract excellent students to the university honors program and contributes to the university’s strategic goal of globalization,” Cordell said.

These perpetual charitable trusts were created by a longtime Bank of America client, J. Edward Richter, in honor of his parents. Bank of America is the sole trustee of the Richter memorial trust funds.

The Richter Scholarships are awarded twice a year, once for the winter term and again for the summer. Students provide a project proposal, including a detailed budget and timeline, and work with a faculty sponsor to develop and implement their projects. Student projects may focus on any topic but are usually international or multicultural. The first two students received grants for independent research projects in Cuba and Taiwan in early 2001.

Other schools that award Richter Scholars funds include Occidental College, Wake Forest University, Knox College, Northwestern University and Dartmouth College.

On Wednesday, Nov. 6, two former recipients of the Richter Scholarship, Matt Kuder and Christine Lee, presented their research in a Student Forum entitled “Representations of the Nanjing Massacre.” Kuder and Lee spent the past summer in Nanjing conducting independent research on the Massacre, which was a tragic event in Sino-Japanese history.

During the presentation, Kuder and Lee discussed their experience overseas while doing their research, and the Richter International Fellowship. To get the information for their research, the two scholars interviewed historians and professors that taught courses on the Nanjing Massacre. Their project focused on how children and the general public are being taught about the massacre.

First-year Vivien Chao thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. “The most interesting aspect about [Kuder and Lee’s] experience in Nanjing was how much networking helped them with their project in meeting prestigious scholars. They were able to interview people in positions they normally wouldn’t have access to as under-graduate students from the states,” Chao said.

While overseas, Kuder and Lee visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial site, along with several other small tributes that have been built around the city. The main memorial was set up on the site of “Jiangdong Men Wanrenken,” where 10,000 local residents were killed and buried by Japanese invaders at one time.