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2010 Portz Fellowship
The National Collegiate Honors Council announces the first recipient of the Portz
Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship for undergraduate honors students. Peter Merzbacher, a
student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, was selected from a strong field of
applicants. The award is named for Dr. John and Mrs. Edythe Portz, pioneers in honors
education whose support of imaginative ventures in undergraduate education has benefited
college students in Maryland and throughout our nation. The highly competitive award is open
to undergraduate honors students at NCHC’s 800+ member institutions in the United States and
beyond.
Mr. Merzbacher’s winning research project is entitled “The New Growth Initiative: Social,
Economic, and Ecological Renewal through Spatially Resourceful Urban Agriculture in
Springfield, Massachusetts.” In awarding Mr. Merzbacher the Portz Fellowship, Dr. Patrice
Berger, Chair of NCHC’s Portz Fellowship Committee and Director of the Honors Program at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, stated, “There was consensus among the readers that the
project…was well conceived and exceptionally well presented. They also praised the credentials
Mr. Merzbacher presented to bring this project to completion.”
The Portz Fellowships support original and extended interdisciplinary projects for up to eighteen
months. At the completion of his research project, the Portz Fellow recipient will present his
research at the NCHC’s annual conference.
If you would like more information about the Portz Fellowship or would like to schedule an
interview, please contact Dr. Patrice Berger at pberger1@unl.edu or call 402-472-5425.
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