Portland Resident Appointed Junior Fellow at Library of Congress

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Kassel Galaty of Portland

DELAWARE, OH (06/04/2012)(readMedia)-- Ohio Wesleyan University senior Kassel Galaty of Portland, Ore., is one of 38 college students selected from more than 600 applicants nationwide to participate in the Library of Congress's 2012 Junior Fellows Summer Internship Program.

At Ohio Wesleyan, Galaty is pursuing majors in both history and pre-medicine and minors in chemistry and zoology. She intends to pursue a medical degree after earning her undergraduate degree.

Galaty previously was awarded an Ohio Wesleyan Theory-to-Practice Grant, which gave her university funding to travel to Europe in December and January to conduct "A Comparative Study of Public Health Systems and Policies in Sweden and Spain." The hands-on learning project was conducted with junior Katharine Johnson of Ashville, N.Y.

Of the experience, Galaty said: "We learned that Sweden's health care is changing and becoming more privatized as a response to the economic climate, but also because of the growing market of citizens who are interested in having access to private care. ... Spain is a little bit different. Everyone we talked to is in full support of the public health care system there. ... Obviously, there has been some concern over how to continue to provide this treatment during an economic recession, and the solutions we heard proposed ranged from co-pays for patients, to increasing doctors' hours, to closing redundant hospitals, to being less liberal with bandages."

Galaty also has served as an editorial assistant for The Historian, a national journal that reviews books in all fields and time periods of history.

During her paid Library of Congress internship, Galaty will spend 10 weeks working in the Preservation, Research and Testing Division. According to the Library: "Working under the direction of Library curators and specialists in various divisions, the Junior Fellows explore and increase access to the institution's unparalleled collections and resources. They are exposed to a broad spectrum of library work: copyright, preservation, reference, access standards, information management and digital initiatives."

Located in Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution. It seeks "to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions." Read more about the Library of Congress and its 2012 Class of Junior Fellows Summer Interns at http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2012/12-111.html.

Read more about Ohio Wesleyan's Theory-to-Practice Grants at http://choose.owu.edu/theExperience.

Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation's premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio's capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU's close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 47 states and 57 countries. Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2012 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, is featured in the book "Colleges That Change Lives," and is included on the "best colleges" lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.