SCHOLAR081807

U graduate wins Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship

Mohamed Bakri, who fled Sudan as a political refugee, will use the award to pursue a master's degree in public affairs.

By Jeannine Aquino, Star Tribune

Last update: August 17, 2007 - 10:41 PM

Mohamed Bakri endured political strife in Sudan, confronted language barriers in the United States and worked while raising a family on his way to graduating summa cum laude at the University of Minnesota.

Now Bakri, 44, is among 33 out of a pool of more than 970 nominated candidates to receive a slice of the "world's richest scholarship."

The Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship goes to about 30 seniors and recent graduates annually who are heading to graduate or professional programs. Each student will receive up to $50,000 to help cover the cost of tuition, room and board, books and other expenses. Bakri is the second U student to earn the scholarship.

He earned an undergraduate degree in sociology from the university and plans to work toward a master's in public affairs this fall at the university's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

Joachim Savelsberg, the sociology professor who nominated Bakri, said his former student is "very, very smart, an extremely dedicated person and much deserving of this award."

In his letter about Bakri to the foundation, Savelsberg wrote: "Having taught thousands of students at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere in the United States and Europe, and having advised dozens of honors students, I can hardly think of one who thinks as big, works as hard, and achieves by contributing answers to crucial questions in our time the way Mohamed does."

Savelsberg was alluding to Bakri's 95-page thesis on the future of democracy in Sudan, "Failed Societal Community? The Crisis of Democracy in Sudan: Sociological Perspectives on the Collapse of the First Democracy in Sudan, 1953-1958." That thesis won Bakri the College of Liberal Art's Turner Award for best summa thesis for 2006.

"I am very proud the University of Minnesota nominated me and pleased to receive such a generous scholarship," Bakri said in a university news release.

Bakri studied law at the Khartoum campus of Cairo University. He then became a journalist, starting as a writer and then becoming an editor for a prominent newspaper in Sudan. The political unrest in Sudan, however, drove Bakri from his job.

He became a political refugee in Egypt and eventually immigrated to the United States at age 38 with his family. He worked as a caretaker and painter while studying at a community college and then the university. He also volunteered as an interpreter for other refugees.

According to the university release, Bakri's long-term goals include "founding a research center dedicated to bringing a Muslim perspective to United States and international efforts to support the democratization of developing nations in the Middle East and Africa."

The Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship was established in 2000 to help "young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education." Recipients are chosen based on academic achievement, financial need, community involvement and leadership.

Cooke, who died in 1997 at age 84, was best known as the longtime owner of the Washington Redskins. He also owned the Los Angeles Lakers and various television stations and newspapers.

Jeannine Aquino • 612-673-4146

Jeannine Aquino • jaquino@startribune.com