Providence, R.I.--Two Providence College students will travel to England, Italy, Hungary, and the Philippines this summer as the first recipients of the Father Philip A. Smith, O.P. Student Fellowships for Study and Service Abroad.

Claire Pevoto '10 of Austin, Texas, and Elizabeth Weber '10 of East Longmeadow, Mass., both received the fellowship honor named after the late Rev. Philip A. Smith, O.P. '63, who served as PC's 11th president from 1994-2005.

The fellowships are designed to encourage juniors and seniors to deepen their understanding of the Catholic and Dominican intellectual tradition and the philosophy of Christian service. They enable students to participate in summer study or service at both Catholic and Dominican sites outside the United States.

The fellowships are funded in part through a gift from Katherine Tellier Murray '83G and her husband, Thomas Murray. Katherine served as a member of the College's Board of Trustees from 2000-2008.

Pevoto, a humanities major, will volunteer in the Philippines at Bahay ni San Jose--House of St. Joseph--in the province of Nueva Ecija. The house is an orphanage for poor and disabled children run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Joseph.

She also will undertake a program of directed reading with Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., a native of the Philippines and an assistant professor of biology and special lecturer of theology at PC.

"Hopefully, I'll be able to serve those kids in some small way and share some stories of that love in action when I get back to PC, so that we here can see, in the stories of others and in a context so far removed from our own, the immense power of grace," Pevoto said.

Weber, a philosophy major, will travel to England and undertake tutorials in philosophy and theology with Dominicans at Blackfriars Hall in Oxford. She also will participate in two projects sponsored by the English Province of Dominicans--the Las Casas Center and the International Young Leaders Network.

This will take her to Rome and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum) for a colloquium on "Globalization" and to Budapest's Sapientia Institute for a colloquium on "Emerging from Communism."

"This fellowship offers more than just a chance to study abroad. It is a chance to experience the Catholic and Dominican world in a new way, beyond what I know at PC," she said.

She added, "Like the black and white of the Dominican habit, this fellowship unites apparently opposite ideas. It involves both independent and communal aspects, connects thought and action through academics and service, and recognizes the importance of things of this world and of another world."

Upon their return to campus in the fall, Weber and Pevoto will offer a presentation about their experiences to the College community.

--30--