Thomas M. Weser Award
Thomas M. Weser Award honors one international student each year who has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to intellectual life, cross-cultural appreciation, and personal integrity. Weser Award recipients are typically active in student organizations and community service projects outside of the classroom and maintain a solid record of academic performance at the undergraduate or graduate level.
Each spring, one outstanding Vanderbilt University international student receives the annual Thomas M. Weser Award. The award was established in 1989 in memory of Thomas M. Weser, an exchange student from Germany who was killed while attending Vanderbilt University. Each year since, the Weser Award has recognized an international student who has made a significant contribution to the life of the university in the footsteps of Thomas M. Weser.
Weser came to Vanderbilt on the Regensburg Exchange Program in the fall of 1988. On February 5, 1989, the 22-year old student was robbed and killed. Weser’s death drew national attention to the crime rate at Vanderbilt and shocked the university community. A number of security improvements were made as a result of the incident. The university installed a plaque in Weser’s memory on the Highland Avenue side of parking lot 20 (now 25th Avenue Garage) where he was killed.
The idea for an annual award in Weser’s memory came from a group of his fellow students. Each year, a committee selects from among those nominated a student who has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to intellectual life, cross-cultural appreciation, and personal integrity. Weser Award winners are typically active in student organizations and community service projects outside of the classroom and maintain a solid record of academic performance at the undergraduate or graduate level.
This award is a part of Vanderbilt Awards for Leadership Excellence (VALE).
Nominations for this award may be made by Vanderbilt students, staff, and faculty through Anchor Link.
Thomas M. Weser Award Past Recipients
2021 Kevin Ifiora (Nigeria)
2020 Amy Chen (New Zealand)
2019 Troy Jiang (China)
2018 Somto Dimobi (Nigeria)
2017 Cici Xuning Zhang (China)
2016 Alejandro Arango (Colombia)
2015 Catalina Lizarralde Marino (Ecuador)
2014 Ruidan Ma (China)
2013 Li Qu (China) and Huilin Sun (China)
2012 Junyu Lei (China)
2011 Jiakai Jeremy Chua (Singapore) and Menghan Hu (China)
2010 Salih Yilmaz (Cyprus)
2009 Ariel Xinyue Liang (China)
2008 Sharran Srivatsaa (India)
2007 Srivatsan Pallavaram (India)
2006 Yang Geng (China)
2005 Naved Mahmud (Bangladesh)
2004 Sarita Mohanty (Canada)
2003 Juan Diego Casaretto (Uruguay)
2002 Ibrahim Al-Mojel (Saudi Arabia)
2001 Muhammad Firdaus Abdul Monir (Malaysia)
2000 Kofi Dadzie (Ghana)
1999 Liguo Song (China)
1998 Claudia Seymour (Bermuda)
1997 Lily Ustariz P. (Honduras)
1996 Gerardo A. Montero (Venezuela)
1995 Ji Li (China)
1994 Yasemin Yardimci (Turkey)
1993 Alexander Zijdenbos (Netherlands)
1992 Md. Saleh Zein-Sabatto (Syria)
1991 Regine Schwarsmeier (Germany)
1990 Jan Van Egeraat (Netherlands)