Kathryn Funderburg came to Trinity thinking of majoring in English. Her first semester, she took a class with history professor Nicole Marafioti on medieval Christianity and “completely fell in love with everything medieval.”
Now, Funderburg, a junior, is thinking of entering a master’s degree program that would blend her love for medieval studies with library science, a combination that would enable her to work in a special collections office or as an archivist.
Her dream seems possible with her selection this spring as one of only 20 Beinecke Scholars in the nation. As a recipient, Funderburg will receive $4,000 for her senior year and $30,000 toward the cost of graduate school.
Originally from Tyler, Texas, her major is history with minors in medieval and Renaissance studies, English, and African American studies. At Trinity, she also is a McNair Scholar and plans to spend this summer cataloging medieval manuscripts with her research cohort. She also is a Distinguished Representative for the Office of Admissions and is the historian for the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity.
She spent the fall semester in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she took an art history course, a medieval literature course in the Arthurian legend, and studied Welsh, Scandinavian, and medieval manuscripts. Her time in Scotland has nourished her research. Funderburg wrote an essay titled “Abbot Suger's St. Denis and the Cult of Relics” that she presented in March as part of the Medieval and Renaissance Student Colloquium and that will be published in the Expositor Journal of undergraduate prose. In addition, a short piece of fictional prose, “Nature 5, 2012,” will be published in the Trinity Review literary magazine, which also will feature her photograph, “Rust Soil, and Sky” on the cover.
She loves the area of medieval studies because it is multi-disciplinary, bringing in English, art history, literature, and religion. “Yes, it means writing a lot of papers, but it is better than taking science tests,” Funderburg said.
Funderburg said she was approached by Nicolle Hirschfeld, associate professor of classical studies and faculty sponsor for the Beinecke Scholarship, about applying for it. The process involved asking professors for recommendation letters, writing a personal statement, and filling out financial aid forms.
“I am happy to be chosen as Trinity’s nominee, and to have been chosen among all the nominees is wonderful,” she said.
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