Nirant Gupta '11 in
Honored with a
2010 Truman Scholarship

Nirant Gupta '11 has been awarded a prestigious Truman Scholarship that will provide up to $30,000 for graduate study. He joins a select group of CMC students (nine in the past 20 years) who have also won the award.
The Scholarship recognizes college juniors with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to pursuing careers in public service. The Foundation also provides assistance with career counseling, internship and job placement, graduate school admissions and professional development.
Gupta plans to pursue a joint J.D./M.P.H (Juris Doctor, Master of Public Health) en route to becoming a public health policy maker. While the Scholarship helps pay for school, Gupta notes other benefits. "The Truman, above and beyond the money and the prestige, is about a group of people in this world who are going to go change it," he says. "I'll be connected to some of the most dedicated, intelligent young public servants in the nation. The network, rather than the money, is the real prize here."
Gupta says the joint degree program he hopes to pursueideally, at Harvardis relatively new and offered by just a few top-tier schools. "Harvard has one of the best J.D. programs as well as one of the best M.P.H. programs. I'd have the best of both worlds."
In applying for the Truman Scholarship, Gupta found an early champion in John J. Pitney Jr., CMC's Crocker Professor of Politics and the school's Truman Scholarship faculty representative.
According to Pitney, the Foundation received 576 nominations from 245 colleges and universities (four were CMC nominees, the total amount allowed from each school). On the basis of written application materials, the Foundation whittled that number down to 176 finalists from 122 different institutions who were then interviewed by regional panels. Of those finalists, 60 became Truman Scholars.
"Like other successful Truman nominees, Nirant had a very distinct cause: fighting obesity among children," Pitney says. "He could scarcely have chosen a more timely issue, which the president mentioned in his State of the Union address.
"Further," Pitney adds, "Nirant has put his passion into action. Thanks to his work as a community service coordinator, many people have benefited from health screenings. His winter internship at the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion was brief but extremely productive. He was able to give real assistance to senior federal officials."
Pitney says that even as a political activist, Gupta has kept extraordinarily focused. He chaired the Platform Committee of the California Young Democrats, whose 2009-2011 platform includes support for nutrition and physical education programs that combat the problem of childhood obesity.
"Last fall, Nirant took my course on the presidency and excelled in every way," Pitney says. "His papers were tightly-written and well-researched. He was always prepared to discuss course readings and their relationship to breaking news. And he was an enthusiastic participant in the class blog. He is currently taking my Congress class and his work to date is just as superb.
"In our Congress simulation," adds Pitney, "he is playing the central role of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell."
In addition to the mentoring of Pitney, professors Ward Elliott and Ken Miller held mock interviews for Gupta. Abhi Nemani '10, a Truman finalist last year, assisted in preparing Gupta for the interview. Truman alumni Andrew Lee '06, Nic Heidorn '05, and Madeline Zavodny '90 emailed helpful advice.
Gupta is dual majoring in government and economics with a considerable amount of time spent studying psychology.
"I think adequate public policy lies at the intersection of these three fields: understanding the economics behind a policy, the politics and laws surrounding it, and the psychological tools used to nudge' Americans towards more favorable outcomes."
Gupta says the people he's met and the professors he's learned from have profoundly shaped his outlook and beliefs.
"After taking a class with visiting professor of government Michael Uhlmann, the assistant attorney general to President Ford, I significantly moderatednot because I agree with many of his beliefs, but because I internalized the dictum that there are legitimate reasons for intelligent people to disagree."
Because CMC's government and economics departments are, in Gupta's view, generally conservative, he believes CMC is one of the best places for liberals to get educated. "I'm probably the most moderate person with my profile of work. In the Platform of the California Young Democrats, I fought to include support for charter schoolsa policy more moderate than base Democratic ideals."
Gupta says CMC provided him the opportunity to flourish and establish the credentials of a Truman Scholar. As a freshman, the Students for Obama group set him up with a winter internship with the Obama campaign in Nevada. That internship turned into a fulltime job, which Gupta accepted as he took a one-semester leave during the 2008 election. Such experience helped him gain positions with the California Young Democrats and the Department of Agriculture. Blogging for the Claremont Portside and working as professor Diane Halpern's research assistant provided further experience.
The 2010 Truman Scholars will assemble May 25th for a leadership development program at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., and receive their awards in a special ceremony at the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., on May 30.