Patrick Burchat, of Templeton, uses Steinbrecher Fellowship to research the use of propaganda in Cuba

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Patrick Burchat, fifth from the left, poses with others affiliated with Clark University’s Steinbrecher Fellowship Program.

WORCESTER, MA (07/29/2013)(readMedia)-- Patrick R. Burchat, a Canadian citizen currently residing in Templeton, Mass., is one of nine Clark University undergraduate students who were recently named Steinbrecher Fellows; all will undertake projects this summer and during the 2013-2014 academic year. The Steinbrecher Fellowship Program was established in 2006 to encourage and support Clark undergraduates' pursuit of original ideas, creative research, and community service projects.

Burchat is exploring Cuba's use of propaganda to attempt to divert the attention of its citizens from the country's economic problems and open-market style reforms.

Burchat will consult a wide range of academic writings on the use and form of propaganda in general, and particularly within the Cuban context. He will spend a week in Cuba, facilitated through the tour group WoW Cuba, during which time he will take pictures of murals, posters, portraits and slogans, and experience the music, movies and newspapers in a closed society. He will also interview the citizens of Cuba (tour guides and low-level government employees) about their country's reforms and economy. His project is under the guidance of Political Science professor Michael Butler.

Burchat said the Steinbrecher Fellowship has allowed him "to continue pursuing [his] passion through research."

In a letter of recommendation professor Butler wrote on Burchat's behalf, he said the student's project "will lend itself well to a presentation, talk, and/or slide show of great interest to our community."

Political Science Professor Mark Miller also recommended Burchat for the fellowship, saying he is a "deep thinker who is quite willing to challenge conventional wisdom. He works very hard on his studies and takes his education very seriously."

Burchat is a member of the Class of 2015. He majors in political science and economics. He is a member of Clark's Model UN and Mock Trial teams. He is also part of the Global Scholars Program. He is the son of Randy and Ann McWade-Burchat of Templeton. Burchat is a 2011 graduate of Narragansett Regional High School.

The Steinbrecher Fellowship Program was established in memory of David C. Steinbrecher, class of '81, by his parents, Phyllis and Stephen Steinbrecher, class of '55, and is funded by generous gifts from the Steinbrecher family and friends of David.

"A record-breaking number of students applied for these important fellowships this year. After carefully reviewing each of them and deliberating on all of them, the Selection Committee chose the nine most outstanding proposals," said Sharon Krefetz, professor of political science and director of the Steinbrecher Fellowship Program. "Each of these Fellows will embark on a project that has the potential to make a significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge in his or her field, or one that can help improve the lives of disadvantaged people living in the U.S. or abroad."

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a small, liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark's pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. Clark's faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to complex challenges in the natural sciences, psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University's motto: Challenge convention. Change our world. 

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