Auburn graduate chosen as finalist for Marshall Scholarship

Auburn University graduate Ashton Richardson has been chosen as a finalist for the prestigious Marshall Scholarship. If awarded, Richardson will pursue a doctorate of philosophy in international development at Oxford University.

"We are proud and excited that Ashton has been named a Marshall scholar finalist," said Melissa Baumann, assistant provost and director of the Honors College. "His hard work, dedication and leadership skills embody the Marshall Scholarship as well as Auburn’s land-grant tradition."

Originally from New Orleans, the former linebacker for the Auburn Tigers is a December 2012 summa cum laude graduate of the College of Agriculture and an Honors College research scholar. While at Auburn, Richardson majored in animal sciences and wrote his Honors thesis, "Comparison of Articular Cartilage Thickness in Cadaveric Equine Limbs," under the direction of Dr. Reid Hanson with the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Richardson is a second-year student in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and serves as president of the Texas A&M Student One Health Association.

"Pursuing an advanced degree in international development at Oxford University will situate my biological studies within a larger social, political and economic framework," Richardson said. "The multidisciplinary training of this program will provide me a skill set which will allow me to bring the issues of poverty and food security to the table in effective political discussions and to reach people far beyond the agricultural sector. My hope is that the unmatchable education and multicultural experience I will receive at Oxford will result in people being fed, disease being mitigated and the next generation breaking the cycle of poverty through education."

Named for former Army Chief of Staff and Secretary of State Gen. George C. Marshall, the scholarship provides 40 of the most outstanding undergraduates in the country an opportunity to study at any university in the United Kingdom. The award focuses on exceptional academic merit and the potential a student may have to become a world leader and ambassador.