Senior given high honor

When she’s not busy studying for classes for one of her three majors and two minors, preparing for another trip abroad or organizing things for the student group she founded, senior Rebecca Burns is experimenting in her kitchen.

“I like to cook,” Burns said. “I really like Thai food, so sometimes I just throw some coconut milk in a pan and see what happens.”

But despite her culinary ambition, it was Burns’ achievements both inside and outside the classroom that earned her the Herman B Wells Senior Recognition Award.

Burns received the award from IU Executive Vice President and Provost Karen Hanson at a recent dinner and was recognized for the achievement at the IU-Bloomington Honors Convocation on March 29.

Burns is a triple major in international studies, English and African studies and is also minoring in French and African languages. She will graduate Phi Beta Kappa, the highest academic honor in the College of Arts and Sciences, this May.

“It’s amazing how much she’s done while maintaining a near-perfect grade point average,” said Greg Buse, a project specialist in the Office of the Provost.
Burns traces her interest in Africa back to the area where she grew up because there
were “a lot of refugees from South Sudan.”

After her family moved from Reading, Mass., to Indiana while she was in high school, she came to IU as a Wells Scholar in 2005.

Within her first few months on campus, she had already founded a chapter of STAND, a student branch of a nationwide advocacy group to stop genocide in Darfur.

“You show yourself that there are useful forms of civic engagement,” Burns said. “You have to engage with the political system if you’re going to be a responsible member of society.”

Her work with advocacy groups helped get divestment resolutions passed by the Bloomington City Council, the University Faculty Council at IU and the Indiana General Assembly, all of which require a withdrawal of funds and investments from companies that worked with the Sudanese government.

People may not be aware that their money is indirectly tied to human rights issues, she said.

Burns also traveled while at IU. She spent a semester in Tanzania and traveled to Cambodia and Vietnam last summer. She hopes to someday do field work in Africa.

After graduation, Burns will attend the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and hopes to pursue a Ph.D.

But for now, Burns said she is enjoying spending time with her family and friends in Bloomington and taking the time to read for pleasure whenever she gets the chance.

After she leaves campus, she said she will remember how IU impacted her life.

“IU has changed a lot of my viewpoints,” Burns said. “It exposed me to a lot of broader issues that I wasn’t really aware of.”