Batten student DeAnza Cook is one of two undergraduate students recently awarded a prestigious fellowship from the Miller Center. The Undergraduate Research Prize Fellowships are awarded to students every academic year to conduct research alongside Miller Center faculty and staff. Cook will be working on a project centering on presidential history and politics, particularly focusing on the upcoming 2016 election. Currently a rising third-year student, Cook is double-majoring in public policy and history and is a part of the Distinguished Major Program. She is also a member of the Virginia Collegiate Mock Trial Team and serves on the Executive Board of the Black Student Alliance.

The fellowship award will allow Cook access to many of the Miller Center’s resources and scholars. Working with academic programs like the Presidential Recordings Program, which records and interprets White House tapes from Presidents John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and others, as well as the Presidential Oral History Program, which has oral histories of every presidential administration from President Jimmy Carter to the present. Having access to these resources will allow Cook to delve deeper into her research. She will also assist and support initiatives related to the study of the presidency and the 2016 election at the Center. Cook will help faculty and staff with research, creating blog posts, tracking presidential primaries and following media coverage.