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CORVALLIS, Ore. – A second-year student at Oregon State University is among 55 students nationwide chosen as 2023 Udall Scholars.

OSU’s honoree is Faith Townsend of Vacaville, California, and she was selected in the scholarship program’s environment category. Townsend, Oregon State’s 12th Udall Scholar overall and fourth in the last 10 years, is majoring in oceanography and environmental science in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. She is also pursuing a certificate in geographic information systems.

This year’s Udall Scholars were chosen from a field of 384 applicants nominated by 172 institutions. The scholars were selected based on their academic achievement, record of public service, leadership potential and commitment to a career related to the environment, Tribal public policy or Native health care.

The scholars represent 28 states, the District of Columbia and 14 Tribes. Each scholar will receive up to $7,000 for eligible academic expenses for the 2023-24 scholastic year.

In addition to having a Udall Scholar, Oregon State also had two students earn honorable mentions, both in the environment category: Emma Baughman, a junior in the Honors College majoring in environmental sciences, and Faisal Osman, a junior studying public policy with minors in business and sustainability. Baughman and Osman were two of 55 applicants to receive honorable mention status.

The Morris K. Udall Foundation was established by Congress in 1992 as an independent executive branch agency to honor the Arizona congressman’s impact on the United States’ environment, public lands and natural resources and his support of the rights and self-governance of Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Udall served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1961 to 1991. He died in 1998.

In 2009, Congress enacted legislation to also honor Stewart L. Udall, Morris’ older brother, for his half-century of leadership in environmental and Native American policy. Stewart Udall, who died in 2010, represented Arizona in Congress for three terms as well as serving as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969.

The agency is known today as the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation and is headquartered in Tucson.