Baylor senior 1 of 32 nationwide to win prestigious Marshall Scholarship

Just how big a deal is the Marshall Scholarship?

Created in 1953 by an Act of the British Parliament, the program brings up to 40 talented young Americans each year to study for a graduate degree in the United Kingdom. Prominent former Marshall Scholars include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; New York Times writer Thomas Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner; and scientist/inventor Ray Dolby, a pioneer in movie and television sound.

Only 32 American university students were so honored this year — and one of them is a Baylor Bear.

Jacob Imam, a senior University Scholar from Redmond, Washington, was named a 2016 Marshall Scholar earlier this week — the only one of the 32 to come from a Texas university. The award will fund his graduate work at Oxford beginning next fall, after his graduation from Baylor in May.

“Education is primarily about forming people to understand how life might be made more human,” says Imam. “[My Baylor professors] have cultivated in me a greater awareness of true humanity, as seen in the person of Christ, and thus have formed my whole person, not only the life of the mind.”

Imam is the third Baylor student selected as a Marshall Scholar since 2001. Cinnamon (Gilbreath) Carlarne, BA ’98, won the Marshall in 2001 and studied at Oxford; she is now a professor at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. Jamie Gianoutsos, BA ’06, received the Marshall in 2006 for study at Queen’s University of Belfast and at Cambridge; she is now a history professor at Mount St. Mary’s University.

Sic ’em, Jacob!