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Mark Duerksen '08 Receives Grant to Study in Uganda
A Woodberry alumnus is among 24 University of Virginia undergraduates who have received Harrison Undergraduate Research Awards, which will assist them in conducting independent research this summer.
Mark Duerksen ’08 of Richmond, a third-year political and social thought major in the College of Arts & Sciences with a minor in studio art, will travel to Kampala, Uganda, to research contemporary Ugandan artists.
The research awards support students who present detailed plans for research projects that have been endorsed by a faculty mentor. A Faculty Senate committee selected the winners, who receive up to $3,000. Faculty mentors who oversee the projects receive $1,000.
"My plan is to view what the Ugandan artists are creating and hear from them what the ideas are behind their work," Duerksen said. "I will film a short documentary and write a research paper on the artists I encounter."
The son of Susan Duerksen and Matthew Duerksen, he is a graduate of Woodberry Forest School. At U.Va. he has been a member of Alpha Phi Omega.
This will be the second outing to Uganda for Duerksen, who studied there during his second year and interned at the National Museum of African Art. He has also worked on an independent study of contemporary African art over the last semester and summer.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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