Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Student in history and political science awarded Truman Scholarship

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Thomas Dowling, a junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was awarded a $30,000 Truman Scholarship. Dowling was one of 62 Truman Scholars selected from a pool of 768 nominees from colleges and universities across the country.

Dowling, from Chicago and a graduate of St. Ignatius College Prep, was selected by the Truman Foundation based on his leadership ability, potential for influencing public policies, community service, extracurricular activities and the suitability of his plan of study for a career in public service. Scholarship recipients will receive their awards May 28 at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.

A history and political science major with a focus on civic leadership, Dowling aspires to represent his South Side of Chicago home district in the state Legislature and to get residents more involved in the political process. He has worked to register voters and has participated in political campaigns.

Dowling founded a civic education nonprofit, YOUTHink Politics, to provide a hands-on way for high school students to become engaged in the political process. He solicited funding, gained incorporation for the organization and has been reaching out to various high schools in the state to provide programming.

As a first-year student at Illinois, Dowling worked on Urbana resident Carol Ammons’ successful campaign for the state House of Representatives. He also took a leave of absence from the university in spring 2016 to work as an organizer for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign in Iowa. Dowling’s subsequent service as a media intern for the Sanders campaign in Washington, D.C., augmented his prior experience writing political news and op-ed pieces as a college correspondent for USA Today. While in Washington, he also served an internship at the Center for American Progress, where he worked on rapid-response research and communications projects for the progressive nonprofit.

Back in Illinois, Dowling was selected as Ammons’ deputy chief of staff. Following that experience, he returned to the nation’s capital to participate in the Illinois in Washington Program, where he gained an internship with the AFL-CIO for five months constructing strategies to help workers unionize and get more involved in the political process.

“I am committing my life to public service because I saw the importance of effective representation firsthand, a lesson I will bring with me throughout my future career in the Illinois Legislature,” said Dowling, a first-generation college student.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation was created by Congress in 1975 to be the nation’s living memorial to the former president, with a mission to select and support the next generation of public service leaders. The Truman award has become one of the most prestigious national scholarships in the United States. Beyond the $30,000 scholarship toward graduate study, recipients of the Truman Scholarship also participate in professional development programming to help prepare them for careers in public service leadership.

For more information, contact David Schug, director of the National and International Scholarships Program, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, at (217) 333-4710 or topscholars@illinois.edu.   

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010