Wien International Scholarship is a scholarship instituted by Brandeis University (Waltham, Massachusetts) for international undergraduate students.

[edit] Origin

The Wien International Scholarship was established in 1958 by Lawrence A. and Mae Wien. The Wien family had three objectives: to further international understanding, to provide foreign students an opportunity to study in the United States, and to enrich the intellectual and cultural life at Brandeis.

[edit] Award

The Wien Scholarship offers full or partial tuition awards; these awards are need-based and require the applicants to present outstanding academic and personal achievement.

Each year, the recipients of the scholarship take a week-long tour of a destination in the United States. In previous years, the students have visited the United Nations in New York City, and have done relief work in New Orleans, LA following Hurricane Katrina.

In April 2008, the University hosted a 3-day long celebration for the 50th anniversary of the program. Several prominent alumni, as well as intellectuals like Vartan Gregorian attended the event.

[edit] Prominent Awardees

Phillipe Djangone-Bi: Ambassador of the Ivory Coast to the United Nations
Geir H. Haarde: Prime Minister of Iceland
Wakako Hironaka: Member of the Diet of Japan (1986-), State Minister, Director-General of the Environment Agency (1993-94)
Ava Lyn Koh: British Chinese Singaporean movie star; director of MUT Theatre
Osman Faruk Logoglu: Former Ambassador to the United States from the Republic of Turkey
Janet Akyüz Mattei: Turkish-American astronomer and former director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson: Vice president of Time Warner Digital Media, former CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment and responsible for the introduction of PlayStation
Vineeta Rai: Indian Administrative Service officer; Former Revenue Secretary, Government of India; Voted one of 25 Most Powerful Women in Business in India^[1]
Dimitrij Rupel: Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
George Saitoti: Former Vice President of the Republic of Kenya and former Minister of Finance, Government of Kenya
Shen Tong: Chinese dissident; student leader a the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989