UCSD Student Receives Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship of up to $30,000
Per Year from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

October 5, 2006

By Jan Jennings

Vietnam native Quang Phung, a student at the University of California, San Diego, has been awarded an Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship of up to $30,000 per year from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. Phung transferred to UCSD from San Diego Mesa College.

Phung is one of 38 recipients who come from 17 states and eight foreign nations to be selected for the award from among 676 nominees. Selection criteria include academic excellence, financial need, will to succeed, leadership ability, service to others, and interest in or appreciation for the arts.

“We hope these scholarships will allow the students the opportunity to fulfill their educational goals and become the individuals they aspire to be,” said Matthew J. Quinn, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s executive director.

Phung’s career interest is molecular biology and he says he wants to become an AIDS researcher to help search for a vaccine to stop the epidemic. Growing up in Ho Chi Minh City, Phung dreamed of attending a research-based U.S. university – despite the financial and linguistic challenges. To that end, he devoted three hours after school each day to study English-Vietnamese grammar books and tapes. He won an international high school exchange competition, chose to attend high school in San Diego, moved in with an uncle and continued studies at Mesa College where he earned top grades.

In addition to his academic achievements at Mesa College, Phung was a student senator and vice president of the International Student Club. He helped with petitions to reduce health care fees and created a drive to collect school supplies for students displaced by hurricanes.

Phung notes, “The lesson my mother taught me – great ability always comes with great responsibility of helping less fortunate people to live a better life – is always in my heart as a motivation for my efforts and achievements.”

Phung is an echo of Jack Kent Cooke who also dreamed of pursuing a formal education and asserted that “destiny demands you do better than your supposed best.” A native of Canada, Cooke had to leave high school during the Depression to work to support his family. He later worked as a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman before joining a radio station. In time, he partnered to operate radio stations and newspapers throughout Canada. He became a U.S. citizen in 1960.

Among his career holdings were television stations and newspapers, the Chrysler Building in New York City, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Redskins and throughout his career he followed a pursuit of education. He died in 1997.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, based in Lansdowne, VA, is a private, independent foundation established in 2000 by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke to help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education. In addition to the Undergraduate Transfer Program, the Foundation’s programs include scholarships to high school students and graduate students, and grants to organizations that serve high-achieving students with financial need.

For further information contact Becky Obayashi at (858) 534-1067 or robayashi@ucsd.edu.

 

Media Contact: Jan Jennings, (858) 822-1684