Grant Van Eaton, a University of Notre Dame junior from Austin, Texas, has been awarded a DAAD Undergraduate Scholarship, which will support 10 months of study at Eberhard Karls Universitt Tbingen in Germany beginning this fall.
Van Eaton is one of 62 students from 51 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada to be chosen from a group of 210 applicants to receive the prestigious scholarship for those interested in studying, conducting senior thesis research or completing internships in Germany. The program is administered by the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst or German Academic Exchange Service.
A philosophy and theology double major with a supplementary major in German, Van Eaton will study in Tbingen following a two-month intensive language course at the Goethe-Institut in Dresden, Germany, funded by an Undergraduate Language Study Grant from Notre Dame’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies , and a Summer Language Stipend from the University’s Department of German & Russian Languages and Literatures.
“This is especially exciting for me, as I will get the chance to study with some of the leading philosophers and theologians in the world,” Van Eaton said. “I will be focusing on German existential philosophy and the concept of experience as it relates to sacramental theology. To do this, I will take courses from both the Protestant and Catholic faculties of theology, an opportunity unique to Tbingen, as it is the only German institution that offers both.”
Van Eaton, who also sings in Notre Dame’s Liturgical Choir, plans to pursue graduate studies in theology.
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on June 22, 2006.