Senior history major goes global, thanks to generous grant from notable alumna

History major and TCNJ senior Stephanie Smith is going global this month, thanks to a generous grant from a notable alumna.

Smith is the first recipient of the Mary G. Roebling International Travel Fund, which provides financial assistance to high-achieving students enrolled in the School of Culture and Society.  The fund was established in 2005 with a $100,000 gift from Gale Wayman ’70 in honor of Wayman’s late mentor.  Roebling was a trailblazer in her own right, distinguishing herself as one of the nation’s top banking executives and as one of the Trenton-area’s most passionate philanthropists for over half a century.  The award was announced at the Founders' Day Leadership Convocation on February 9, 2007.

In many respects, Wayman has followed in her mentor’s charitable footsteps.  In 2003, she received a master’s degree in international politics and security studies from the University of Bradford in England.  In addition to endowing the Mary Roebling Fund, Wayman continues to support and promote a fledgling international peace studies program at TCNJ, and also provides entrepreneurial mentoring to women around the world.

Smith said she’s “very excited” about receiving the Roebling grant.  “I actually applied for the award in order to do research in London for my honors thesis in history,” explained Smith.  “My project is about the first purpose-built mosque in England--it's called the Shah Jahan Mosque in the town of Woking in Surrey, about 30 miles west of London.”  Not surprisingly, there aren’t too many resources about the topic here in the United States, but Smith managed to locate a number of resources across the pond. 

“With the encouragement of my advisors, Dr. Cynthia Paces and Dr. Jo-Ann Gross, I decided to apply for the grant in order to travel to London to look at these sources, and also get a chance to visit the mosque itself,” Smith said.

“Stephanie has a passion for learning that enables her to see connections among many different disciplines.  Her work embraces her love of history, literature, architecture, [and] European and Islamic studies,” said Dr. Paces.  “The breadth of her knowledge and interests makes her an ideal recipient of the Roebling grant,” adding that “it has been a great pleasure to be Stephanie's teacher for the last four years.”

Unlike many of her peers, who will be spending their spring breaks in tropical locations, Smith will be researching the Shah Jahan Mosque’s social significance in a particular time in history at the British Library in London and at the Surrey History Centre. 

Though her academic interests may lie in the past, Smith has a good grasp on her own personal future.  “My career interests have always dealt with the area of historic preservation and architectural history,” she said.  “I plan on entering the preservation field after graduation to work for a year, and then head onto a historic preservation graduate school program,” eventually working for a preservation advocacy group, or for the state at the preservation office or in the Smart Growth Office, where Smith would assist in the area of downtown revitalization.