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Political Science and Public Administration SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS (2019-2020)

Each year, a select number of our top students are chosen as recipients for one of the Komarnicki Scholarship Awards for Political Science and Public Administration.  Here is a recent lineup of super stars selected for our awards:

Ruben Aguirre (Joseph Graves Award)

Alan Cardenas (Komarnicki Graduate Award)

Katrina Crouch (Mary Misiewicz Sadowski Memorial Award)

Briana Elizondo (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Lisette Farran (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Marcela Fuentes Anaya (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Gabriel Garcia (Irena Grabowska Kruszewska Memorial Award)

Ariella Guzman (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Noah Gutierrez (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Christopher Hibbert (June M. Kruszewski Memorial Award)

Joseph Muela (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Sandra Nehring (Komarnicki Top Graduate Award)

Jonathan Picado (Komarnicki Graduate Award)

Paola Quintana (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Edgar Rodriguez (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Kellyn Shute (Komarnicki Undergraduate Award)

Our departmental awards, made possible by the generous contributions of Dr. Z. Anthony Kruszewski, were named for the following inspirational individuals:

Marian and Alina Komarnicki Scholarships
When Marian and Alina Komarnicki immigrated to the United States in 1949, they had never heard of Texas Western College (UTEP’s former name). However, after learning about UTEP, they generously willed over half a million dollars to assist students with scholarships. The generosity of their gift is especially important given their inspiring story. As teenagers, the Komarnicki’s lives were forever transformed by the Nazi German invasion of their native Poland. Marian and his family were forcibly expelled from their home and transferred to a concentration camp. They were later allowed to settle in Warsaw. While in Warsaw, Marian, like many of his generation, joined the anti-Nazi resistance movement. One of his close comrades, Zbyszek, introduced Marian to his sister, Alina in 1941. Together they endured the harsh conditions in Warsaw until the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Zbyszek died during this battle against Nazism, leaving Alina with a permanent emotional scar. Both Alina and Marian were sent to forced labor camps after the Uprising. Their harsh living conditions ended when the U.S. Army liberated their camp. The Komarnickis married in 1947 and moved to the U.S. about two years later. They met Z.A. “Tony” Kruszewski in Chicago and began a fifty year friendship. Like the Komarnickis, Dr. Kruszewski did not have family in the U.S., so they and many other Polish immigrants with similar experiences formed “a substitute family of refugees,” as Dr. Kruszewski puts it. Many readers will know Dr. Kruszewski as a longtime member of the Political Science and Public Administration faculty. So it was natural for him to speak about UTEP in regular conversations with the Komarnickis. It was through these words that they discovered the transformative effects UTEP has on our students. They understood that social mobility was possible with higher education. They also understood the important role higher education has in building democracy. So it was not surprising that they wanted to help students with financial need and provided an endowment to the College of Liberal Arts. Their story is one of hardship and bravery due to events outside of their control, but events that they and others wanted to change. Their spirit of promoting change and transformation continues with their very generous gift. The department, college and university are truly grateful for their foresight.

Irena Grabowska-Kruszewska Scholarship
This award honors the inspirational mother of Professor Z. Anthony Kruszewski who offered housing to Jewish student Adam Tepper during World War II (1939-43). Later in 1945, she died in the Ravensbruck Nazi concentration camp. Mr. Tepper died as a Polish officer commanding the barricade against the Germans in the Warsaw uprising of 1944.

Maria Misiewicz-Sadowski Scholarship
This award honors the mother-in-law of Professor Z. Anthony Kruszewski who was an American-born woman. While living in German-occupied Poland, she made every effort to help the Polish Resistance. Among other things, she was an employee working in the coatroom of a Nazi hotel stealing pistols from the coats of Nazi officers.

*NOTE: Preference for our scholarships will be given to students who have completed their core requirements and who have a relatively high GPA in the major.  We seek to nominate and encourage applications from all qualified individuals.  We are also committed to diversity in our scholarship pool of recipients, including for Polish students applying for the M.A. program in Political Science and Public Administration with high recommendations and a recognized undergraduate degree from a reputable institution of higher education in Poland or the European Union.

For more information about these awards and the application material, contact or write to the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at:

Department of Political Science and Public Administration
The Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas at El Paso
Benedict Hall 111
500 W. Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é
El Paso, Texas 79968, USA
Phone: 915-747-5227