Athens, Ga. – Two University of Georgia students, Samantha Meek and Mark Smith have been accepted as 2007-2008 Undergraduate Fellows with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. They will participate in an undergraduate fellowship program that teaches students about terrorist threats directed at America and allied democracies around the world.
As FDD Fellows, Meek and Smith will travel to Israel in July for an intensive academic program focusing on issues relating to the terrorist threats to democracies around the world and the varied methods democracies are employing to fight the war on terrorism. In addition to the trip to Israel, Meek and Smith will travel to Washington D.C in January to learn more about America’s leadership role in the war on terrorism.
For the duration of the program, the FDD Fellows serve as anti-terrorism/pro-democracy activists on their respective campuses. To that end, every fellow conducts a series of events aimed at educating the citizenry about the threat of terrorism.
“The program gives its participants unbelievable access to various high-level intelligence and government officials from around the world and in particular the Middle East,” said Steve Shellman, assistant professor of international affairs and director of the Summer Workshop on Teaching about Terrorism which is also supported by FDD. “The University of Georgia should be proud to have its amazing students affiliated with such an esteemed program focused on global security and the fight against global terrorism.”
Meek and Smith are currently pursuing degrees in international affairs in UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs.
“I am excited about the fellowship,” Meek said. “It is an amazing opportunity to meet some of the prominent people in the field and get an inside look at how counterterrorism policy is created and implemented from the countries leading the fight.”
FDD is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Washington D.C. that seeks to educate Americans about the terrorist threat to democracies worldwide. For more information on FDD, visit http://www.defenddemocracy.org/.