UNH Today

Three students in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire have been named the 2012 B. Thomas Trout Scholarship recipients. The students will receive scholarships to be used toward their study abroad program expenses in the 2012-13 academic year. 

The 2012 B. Thomas Trout Scholarship recipients are Joshua Ratliff, of Dover, who is majoring in French and political science; Catherine Bousquet, a psychology major from Newton; and Alexa Price, a history major from Stratham. 

Ratliff will use his scholarship to study at the University of Burgundy in Dijon during the 2013 spring semester. A full-time undergraduate who excelled in French during high school, Ratliff has been putting himself through college while working full-time during the summer and 30 hours a week during the academic year. “It is specifically because of this that I am so appreciative of the financial aid that allows me to study at UNH, and of any help that serves to allay my own obligations,” he said.

Bousquet’s scholarship will help fund her fall 2012 study abroad experience at UNH’s Justice Studies Budapest program. Bousquet’s father died in 2005 when she was in the eighth grade, and since then, her mother has worked tirelessly to support the family of three. Still, Bousquet, who graduated in the top 10 percent of her class, has funded her college education primarily with her part-time jobs and financial aid. “Having this chance of receiving a scholarship from the B. Thomas Trout Scholars Fund to aid in my ability to study abroad this fall is one of the greatest opportunities I can imagine,” she said.  

A high-achieving high school student, Price will use her scholarship to spend the summer of 2012 studying at UNH’s Cambridge (England) Summer Program. Price, whose twin sister also attends UNH, has taken out loans to pay for her college education. She plans to attend graduate school, which she will self-fund, after she finishes her undergraduate education as part of her plans for an academic career studying British history. “Since I came to UNH, I have been excited by the idea of studying abroad, and as I created a concentration in the history department, I found the Cambridge Program the most intriguing,” she said.

The B. Thomas Trout Scholars Fund was established in honor of Political Science Professor and Associate Dean B. Thomas Trout. Throughout his career, Trout actively and tirelessly promoted international studies as a vital part of the college curriculum. He was equally dedicated to the development of study abroad programs for undergraduates, convinced that expanding the range of international study opportunities for American college students was integral to their understanding of a complicated world. The fund supports academically outstanding College of Liberal Arts students, allowing them to participate in a UNH-managed study abroad program in the college.