A new student scholarship was established to award a talented and deserving student(s) enrolled in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences. The Marjorie Rose and Abdullah (Al) Nasser Scholarship supports student(s) based on the criteria of compelling family/personal circumstances and academic achievement. Highest consideration is given to those who have unique and challenging obligations. The award is available to all declared Psychology students (first year as well as continuing students).

The scholarship is a gift from Charles Nasser, a 1976 graduate of the department, in honor of his parents, Marjorie Rose and Abdullah (Al) Nasser Scholarship. A self-admitted “wild teenager” and high school dropout, Nasser was drafted by the US Army at 18, an event he credits with turning his life around. Nasser eventually used GI Bill funding to complete his high school diploma, and support himself at UCSB, going on after graduation to a distinguished career in public service in the Los Angeles area. He generously endowed The Nasser Scholarship to help support graduate students striving for academic achievement despite challenging personal, family, economic, or health circumstances.

The inaugural recipient of the award is first year social psychology graduate student, W. Anthony Scroggins. Despite being in his first year of graduate school, Anthony has already established several lines of research, served as a very popular teaching assistant, and won an award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Anthony was recruited from UC Davis, where he graduated with a 4.0 GPA, Dean’s List honors, and Distinction in the Psychology Major. “Even more impressive than this list of academic accomplishments is the unique combination of challenges that Anthony overcame to achieve them,” notes Professor Diane Mackie, Anthony’s primary research advisor.

His family struggled against mental illness, unemployment, and poverty and Anthony worked for two years after high school to support himself before deciding to enlist in the US Army in 2004. While stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany, he stopped an attempted murder, physically disarming the assailant. His bravery earned Anthony the Soldier’s Medal (the highest medal awarded outside of combat) from the Army as well as awards for heroism from the city of Mainz, the state of Rheinland-Pfalz, and the German Ministry of the Interior.

Ironically, while emerging from this incident unscathed, Anthony later broke his foot so severely that even after several operations, he was left with chronic pain and some mobility restrictions. The Army medically discharged him and at the age of 26, Anthony was faced with a career change. He entered UC Davis, where he supported his studies by winning awards designed for non traditional re-entry students and those disadvantaged in their access to college education. With these outstanding academic accomplishments and some partial support from the GI Bill, Anthony has set his sights on a Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara.