February 2, 2005 Print this page

La Salle University Senior is the Sole Recipient of a Prestigious Two-Year Scholarship to Study History at Cambridge University

A La Salle University senior with a passion for American colonial history has been selected for a highly competitive full scholarship to Cambridge University in England.

Michael Gallen with John Grady, Director of the Honors Program

Michael Gallen, a student in La Salle’s Honors Program, will study history at Cambridge’s St. John’s College on a Davies-Jackson Scholarship valued at nearly $50,000. The two-year program will begin in the fall and culminate for Gallen with a Cambridge B.A. degree, the equivalent of a master’s degree from an American university.

“I’ll have the ability to work with top scholars in history, and it will give me a change of scenery,” said Gallen, who lives in Kensington and has never traveled outside of the United States. “It’s a bit of a leap. I’m nervous but excited.”

More than 40 students from colleges around the country applied for the scholarship this year, but that doesn’t begin to describe how competitive this award is. The Davies-Jackson is so prestigious that it is only granted when the committee feels it has found a worthy candidate. Since the scholarship’s inception in 1990, the committee has elected not to give a scholarship six times. Gallen is the first La Salle student to receive the honor.

“It was a chance, I thought, of getting to Cambridge. I won’t deny that the prestige was a factor,” Gallen said of his decision to apply for the scholarship.

The Davies-Jackson Scholarship is intended for students who, in addition to having stellar academic records, attend liberal arts colleges, often in urban areas, and are among the first in their families to attend college.

The award, which is supported by an anonymous benefactor, covers tuition, room, and board for two academic years, plus living expenses during the summer. Travel to and from England is also included.

Gallen, who will become the first college graduate in his family when he leaves La Salle in May, is an alumnus of Northeast Catholic High School. It was in high school that his passion for American colonial history was kindled, and he chose La Salle for the opportunity to explore that interest further.

“I was attracted by the Honors Program and the courses offered here,” Gallen said. “They’ve all been very appealing and very engaging.”

While maintaining high grades, Gallen has been editor of Histories, La Salle’s student-produced history magazine, written for Politicus, the political science magazine, and The Collegian, the campus newspaper, and been active in the Diplomat-in-Residence Program. He credits the Honors Program with expanding his mind, and his student work-study job in the University’s Archives with expanding his research skills.

“I tell each of my student workers that there is no ‘anonymous’ contribution to the Archives,” said Brother Joseph Grabenstein, F.S.C., director of the University Archives. “Michael’s detailed data entry—mainly his summarizing of La Salle’s alumni publications—will benefit our research- and database-minded clients for years to come.”

Gallen hopes to apply those skills in the historical sites of Europe and the libraries of Cambridge. He’s particularly eager to comb the records of Sir Robert Walpole, a colonial-era British prime minister who played a key role in relations with the American colonies in the decades leading up to the American Revolution. Gallen said he believes that his studies, and the experience of studying history in England, will give him a new perspective on his favorite historical period.

“I’m fascinated by how it all worked out. Revolutions, on the whole, do not work out,” Gallen said. “America was granted an immense stroke of luck.”

While this will be Gallen’s first time away from Philadelphia and his family, John Grady, director of the University Honors Program and Gallen’s academic and career adviser, said he suggested the Davies-Jackson Scholarship because he believes Gallen is up to the challenge.

“I see in Mr. Gallen a tremendous potential for scholarship in the humanities, an untapped well of talent that cries out for an environment conducive to the nourishing of this gift, and a person who has overcome enormous odds to achieve the considerable success he has,” Grady said. “I also see someone who should be rewarded for his focused application and just plain hard work by being allowed to claim citizenship in such an environment.”

Gallen will travel to England in September to settle in before classes begin in October. He has not yet received details on his housing, but he said he expects to be living in the St. John’s dormitories.

Founded in the 16th century, St. John’s College has 750 students and is one of the 31 colleges that comprise Cambridge University, which is one of the oldest universities in the world, dating back to the 13th century.