Furman University

Virginia Batts

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Virginia Batts, a Furman University senior from Nashville, Tenn., has been awarded a 2011 Compton Mentor Fellowship.

Limited to a select number of colleges and universities, the Compton Mentor Fellowship is one of the most prestigious fellowships awarded to graduating seniors. Batts is the sixth Furman student to be named a Compton Mentor Fellow.

Batts’ project is titled “Achieving Water Use Efficiency in the Face of Scarcity and Climate Change: A Community-Based Approach in Rural Sangamner, Maharashtra, India.”  For her project, Batts will receive $30,000 to study water conservation in this area northeast of Mumbai for one year.

Compton Mentor Fellowships are granted to 10 recent graduates of participating schools to pursue projects in the fields of environment and sustainability, peace and conflict resolution, population and reproductive health, and climate change and energy policy.

Batts, an Earth and Environmental Sciences major who will graduate from Furman in May, is a 2007 graduate of University School of Nashville.  She is an Honors Scholar at Furman and participates in the Mere Christianity Forum,  where she is a member of the student board and serves as chair of Vista House Events.  She is also a member of Bartram Society, a student-led group that brings together individuals who share an interest in earth and environmental sciences.

She is the daughter of Christy and Walker Batts of Nashville.

For more information contact the Furman News and Media Relations Office at (864) 294-3107.