Joseph Anthony Carnevale, a junior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, has been named a 2010 Truman Scholar by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, the foundation’s president, Madeleine K. Albright, announced on March 30. Carnevale plans to use the scholarship to attend medical school and simultaneously earn a master’s degree in public health, and hopes to work as a physician with an advanced global public health foundation in the developing world.
“I would like to say that Joey Carnevale has received a superior education at Fordham, and tremendous support from the Office of Prestigious Fellowships,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “All true, and completely beside the point. To spend thirty seconds with Joey is to understand that he is destined for exceptional achievement. He has the gifts of great intellect and unassuming leadership, both of which he deploys relentlessly in the service of others. As the president of a Jesuit university, I come across a goodly number of selfless young people, but few who are as determined as Joey to make a difference for others in life.”
A pre-med double major in natural sciences and theology, Carnevale was one of just 60 scholars nationwide, from a pool of more than 575 candidates. The Eagle Scout has managed to maintain a 3.9 GPA while performing extensive service in China, Kenya and the United States. He has supplemented his formal education with stints as a support staffer at St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital, and served as an intern with the William J. Clinton Foundation. In his free time, Carnevale is captain of the Lincoln Center campus club soccer team, and plays on the intramural softball team. He also founded the International Studies Club. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Sigma Nu, the National Jesuit Honor Society.
When asked how he found time to sleep, Carnevale said “I sleep four or five hours a night!” in a tone that suggested that was an entirely reasonable amount of rest. After admitting that it might be difficult to work a full night’s rest into his schedule he said, “Anyway, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
A Providence, Rhode Island, native, Carnevale comes by his medical interests honestly: his father, Dr. Robert Carnevale, is a cardiologist, and his mother, Joanne Carnevale, is a nurse practitioner. He also has two older sisters and an older brother.
Of his career plans, Carnevale said, “My focus is on organizations like Partners in Health and Doctors Without Borders, but specifically I like Inter-Community Development and Involvement because of its integration of healthcare and education to empower under-served communities.”
Fordham has had seven Truman Scholars (including Carnevale) and six finalists since 1987. Carnevale is the first from Lincoln Center in that period. Truman Scholars are elected by sixteen independent selection panels on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability, and likelihood of ‘making a difference,’ according to the foundation. Each scholarship provides up to $30,000 for graduate study. Scholars also receive priority admission and supplemental financial aid at some premier graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, and special internship opportunities within the federal government. Among other requirements, recipients must be committed to careers in government or the not-for-profit sector.
