New Haven Resident William "Liam" Prum Awarded Prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
Hamitlon College Senior is a Government Major
Clinton, NY (03/24/2021) — New Haven resident and Hamilton College senior William "Liam" Prum has been named a Watson Fellow, receiving a $36,000 stipend to pursue a "year of independent, purposeful exploration" abroad. The prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is awarded to graduating seniors nominated by one of 41 partner institutions.
Prum, a government major and environmental studies minor at Hamilton, will undertake a project titled Food Sovereignty, Traditions, and the Pressure to Adapt. He plans to travel to Ethiopia, India, Guatemala, and Peru where, he said, farmers are "threading a needle between tradition and commercialization to make a living from the soil."
"Farming communities throughout the world are navigating the intersecting challenges of climate shocks, corporate control of food production, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and globalization," Prum said. "I will visit farming communities worldwide to understand why [they] blend agricultural traditions and modernized practices. This experience will stretch my mind as I explore foreign cultures and talk to a variety of stakeholders in vastly different countries and cultures. I'm ready to learn and have my understanding of food ways turned upside down."
Prum is president and past treasurer of Slow Food Hamilton and a barista at Cafe Opus. He was a government relations intern for the World Wildlife Fund in 2019 and studied through Arcadia University's program in the United Kingdom in 2016. Prum graduated from The Hopkins School.
Originally founded in 1793 as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, Hamilton College offers an open curriculum that gives students the freedom to shape their own liberal arts education within a research- and writing-intensive framework. Hamilton enrolls 1,850 students from 49 states and 49 countries. Additional information about the college can be found at www.hamilton.edu.
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Hamilton College senior and Thomas J. Watson Fellowship recipient William "Liam" Prum