by Beth Fox
Instead of enjoying baseball, hotdogs and apple pie this summer, three Vanderbilt
seniors will be taking in cricket and fish and chips.
Katie Dissmeyer Sunny Durack Kaira King
Katie Dissmeyer, Sunny Durack and Kaira King are leaving this summer for
London, where they will participate in a one-year training program at Lloyd's
of London. They were awarded the Walter C. Wattles Fellowship, a work/study
program started in 1969 by Wattles, a Vanderbilt alumnus, to offer women
the opportunity to train in a formerly male-dominated environment.
"I am so excited about this," Dissmeyer said. "I'm honored
to be a part of a program that Vanderbilt has been involved with for so
long."
The three women begin their intensive 12-month training program in the world
of international insurance brokerage and underwriting July 1. Specifically,
they will be representing Aon Group Limited and Hill Aerospace and Underwriting,
evaluating risk of potential clients and spreading risk among different
syndicates.
Training in an insurance marketplace doesn't necessarily mean the women
are seeking a future in the business, however. King hopes to attend medical
school when she returns to the States, but "I have an open mind. If
I enjoy what I'm doing, I'll stay with it." Neither Dissmeyer nor Durack
had planned careers in insurance prior to the fellowship, but both are now
open to pursuing brokerage opportunities if they become available.
The year in London is not just an educational experience in business, but
in British culture as well. The women will be living together, sharing a
three-bedroom flat on the Thames River in the heart of London. There they
will be exposed to the best of both worlds, Dissmeyer points out - they
will have the experience of British life and have the comfort of American
friends, too.
None of these three women, however, are strangers to foreign culture. All
have traveled extensively and studied overseas. Dissmeyer, a human and organizational
development major, studied in New Zealand in high school and in the fall
of 1996 studied in 10 Asian, Middle Eastern and African countries. Durack,
a double major in fine arts and Spanish, studied in Spain in the fall of
1996 and has worked in Costa Rica and London. An anthropology major and
chemistry minor, King traveled and studied in London last summer as part
of the Humanities-in-London program.
"I look forward to going back to a familiar environment," King
said. "And I've been talking to the Vanderbilt graduates who are there
now, so I'm even more excited. I'm ready to go."
The three current Vanderbilt Wattles Fellowship winners training in London
are Melanie Dayani, Caroline Kibler and Katie Noyes. Every year, the fellowship
winners stay in the same flat, making the home away from home a Vanderbilt
tradition. When Dissmeyer, Durack and King arrive in London this summer,
they will have a week to spend with the current participants, who will show
them around and give them advice.
"They've already called and sent letters, telling us what to expect,"
Durack said. Former participants often keep in touch with each other and
offer support to current participants, as well as assist in the selection
of fellowship winners.
In addition to the past participants, Wattles himself carefully selects
each winner on the basis of their academic, extracurricular and personal
qualifications. Participants also must take the Lloyd's Market Procedures
and Practices examination. In 1998, 32 women applied for the fellowship;
the alternate candidates this year are Tricia Cashin, Lashanna Farley and
Lore Molsen.
