Sophomore Julie Uram selected as 2018 Newman Civic Fellow

Tuesday, March 6th, 2018

Campus Compact, a Boston-based non-profit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education, has announced the 268 students who will make up the organization’s 2018 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows, including Drake University’s own Julie Uram.

Uram is a sophomore from Rockford, Ill., double-majoring in environment sustainability and rhetoric and social change. She is a service learning ambassador for Drake’s student-run Next Course Food Recovery Network, which recovers untouched dining hall food and delivers it to agencies in Des Moines. She wants all Drake students to have general understanding of food insecurity and nutrition.

In support of her nomination for the Newman Civic Fellowship, Drake University President Marty Martin said, “Julie is passionate about using her knowledge of rhetoric and environmental science to help others understand social systems and social issues in ways that are sensitive to inequalities and considerate of sustainable development.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship, named for Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman, is a one-year experience emphasizing personal, professional, and civic growth. Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference of Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The fellowship also provides fellows with access to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.

“Through various sociology courses at Drake, I have come to realize the terms ‘hunger,’ ‘community,’ and ‘obesity’ to be emotionally powerful yet complex social constructs that allow vague understandings about food insecurity and nutrition to continue,” Uram said. “My constant goal is to use my knowledge of rhetoric and environmental science to help others understand social systems and social issues in ways that are sensitive to inequalities and considerate of sustainable development.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship is supported by the KPMG Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation. Prior Fellows from Drake University include Gabriella Gugliotta (2017), Laura Leben (2016) and Hector Salamanca Arroyo (2014).

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate and engage with such an extraordinary group of students,” Campus Compact President Andrew Seligsohn said of the 2018 cohort. “The stories of this year’s Newman Civic Fellows make clear that they are bringing people together in their communities to solve pressing problems. That is what Campus Compact is about, and it’s what our country and our world desperately need.”