DURHAM, N.H. -- Three students in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire have been named the 2010 B. Thomas Trout Scholarship recipients. The students will receive scholarships to be used toward their study abroad program expenses in the 2010-11 academic year.

The 2010 B. Thomas Trout Scholarship recipients are Joshua Albair, a linguistics and computer information systems major from Durham; Rebecca Coleman, an English and classics major from Manchester, and Michele Millers; an English teaching major from Somersworth. The students will use their scholarships to study abroad in London.

"As a first-generation, low-income student, I have never had the means to travel outside of the U.S., apart from a few trips to Canada. No one in my living family has ever traveled outside the borders of the U.S. and the opportunity to study abroad in London is going to make an impossible dream into a reality. I have never felt that traveling was within my means financially, yet with the help of this scholarship, my Pell Grant, and some careful financial planning, this trip will become feasible," says Albair, who will conduct research in London that supports his goal of earning a doctorate in linguistics.

Coleman, whose family had been hit hard by the recession, says her scholarship will allow her to "see the classical architecture that I've been studying in books."

Like her classmate, Millers has been faced with financial struggles. She is paying for college with financial aid and working a minimum wage job. However, she is optimistic that she will be able to finance her trip, an opportunity she says she does not want to let pass by.

"I can think of no better place to complete my British literature requirements than in its birthplace," Millers says.

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.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling more than 12,200 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.

-30-