Sarah Curran of Gorham, a Spanish and women’s studies major at the University of Maine, has been awarded a Margaret Chase Smith Public Affairs Scholarship for the 2001-2002 academic year.

Recipients are chosen on the basis of academic accomplishment and the quality of the research project proposal submitted with their application materials. Curran’s research project will investigate the programs Maine school systems use to help students for whom English is a second language. By identifying the characteristics that an effective support program should have, she will develop guidelines for Maine school systems in order to ensure that these students have the tools necessary to succeed in a system in which they are inherently disadvantaged.

Ginger Russell has been elected to Sebasticook Valley Hospital’s board of trustees.

Russell grew up in Hartland and Unity and now resides in Unity with her husband, Charles. She is a graduate of Kents Hill School and the University of Maine with a degree in elementary and secondary education. She taught second- and third-grade reading in Pittsfield. She was the co-owner of Calico Cat Nursery School and previous owner of the Corner Cupboard in Pittsfield. From 1983-97 her family owned and she worked at Maine X-Ray.

Russell is particularly interested in women’s health, and bringing better health services and education to the community. This past spring she and her husband served on the SVH golf committee, helping to raise over $20,000 for the new SVH Outpatient and Women’s Health Center. She also serves on the board of trustees for Maine Central Institute. Russell previously served two terms on the SAD 53 school board and was the chair of the Independent X-Ray Dealers Conference committee for planning national conferences. She has an adult daughter and avidly quilts and reads.

The following University of Maine students have been entered into Phi Gamma, UMaine’s chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the international honor society in history, which enters members’ names on the rolls of the prestigious international society. Peter Bosse, Betty Cuff and Lynne Manion of Old Town; Susan Powers, Jonathan Arnold, Stephanie Harp, Sara Martin, Peter Lodge, Suzanne Moulton and Martha Eastman of Bangor; Robert Lindsey Jr. of Veazie; Karen Tolstrup of Brewer; Deborah Pulliam of Castine; Anastasia Harper of West Gouldsboro; and Nancy Alexander of Ellsworth.

Phi Alpha Theta convenes a New England regional conference each year and holds an annual joint meeting with the American Historical Society, both open to members from all chapters. The international organization also offers competitive scholarship opportunities and annual competitions for scholarly books and papers written by its members.

Induction into Phi Gamma is based on overall grade point average and academic accomplishment in the required number of completed history courses.