FARMINGTON, Maine —The University of Maine at Farmington has  announced that Chiaping Wen, a UMF senior from Norway, Maine, majoring in interdisciplinary studies, with a concentration in international and global studies, has been selected as a 2012 George J. Mitchell Peace Scholar.

Wen received one of only two single-semester Mitchell Peace Scholarships awarded annually by the University of Maine System.  The seventh UMF recipient of the Mitchell Peace Scholarship since 2004, Wen will attend the University College Cork in Ireland, in the upcoming 2012 fall semester. During that time, all academic fees will be waived, and she will receive free tuition, room and board and a $1,000 travel stipend.

Born in China, Wen and her family immigrated to Maine when she was eight. She is a graduate of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and a Dean’s List scholar at UMF. In addition to her studies, she is very involved on campus, where she is treasurer of both the UMF chapter of Alpha Lambda Delta—an academic honors society—and the UMF Multicultural Club.

Wen is an active member of Rotaract—a student branch of Rotary International dedicated to meeting the needs of the community—and has participated in their Habitat for Humanity efforts and other community service projects. She is also involved with the nationally recognized Girls Talk/Teen Voices program, a literature-based mentorship program started at UMF for young girls, where she enjoys mentoring a student from Mt. Blue Middle School.

During her time at UMF, Wen has undertaken various research projects on China, including a study of the environmental and economic impact of imported e-waste in China. Building on her studies, she is interested in examining China’s social and economic growth and the impacts it will have on the U.S. and Ireland. Her research plans will be supported by her course selections at University College Cork, where she hopes to obtain a better understanding of U.S., China and Ireland relations and how business functions in each country.

The George J. Mitchell Peace Scholarship was created in 1998 in tribute to Senator Mitchell for his work in helping to facilitate a peace accord between the governments and people of Ireland and Northern Ireland and his lifelong devotion and commitment to public service.

The University of Maine System and the Maine Community College System each award one full-year scholarship or two single-semester scholarships per year. The first peace scholarship exchanges took place during the 1999-2000 academic year.