Penn junior Misha McDaniel named a Beinecke Scholar

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University of Pennsylvania junior Misha McDaniel has been awarded a 2020 Beinecke Scholarship to pursue graduate education. 

McDaniel is one of 18 Beinecke Scholars chosen from throughout the United States and the 13th recipient from Penn since the award was first given in 1975. Each 2020 scholar receives $4,000 upon completion of undergraduate studies and an additional $30,000 to support graduate study. 

At Penn, McDaniel, who is from Atlanta, is majoring in English literature with a concentration in creative writing, minoring in Africana Studies, and has a certificate in French in the College of Arts and Sciences. She plans to use the scholarship funds to pursue a Ph.D. in literary studies.  

As a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, McDaniel is continuing her research in contemporary African-American speculative literature. She spent the fall semester in the Penn in London program at Kings College London.

McDaniel is a Questbridge Scholar, a PennKIPP Scholar, and a Robeson-Cooper Scholar and is on the Dean’s List. Also, she is involved with Penn’s African American Arts Alliance, and is on the English Undergraduate Advisory Board. She has also worked as an office manager at Harrison College House, planning and marketing off-campus events for residents.

The Beinecke Scholarship Program was established in 1971 by the Board of Directors of The Sperry and Hutchinson Company to honor Edwin, Frederick, and Walter Beinecke. The program seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue opportunities and to be courageous in the selection of a graduate course of study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. 

McDaniel applied for the Beinecke Scholarship with assistance from Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

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