Dr. Paula Warrick joined the Career Center in 1999 and has worked with successful scholarship applicants for an array of study abroad grants, tuition scholarships, and prestigious internships. She has seen the application process from multiple sides, having both mentored students and applied for fellowships herself. Paula won her first nationally competitive scholarship as a high school senior and went on to receive a lecturing fellowship from the National Gallery of Art in Washington and a dissertation fellowship from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York. She is a firm believer in the rewards of the application process, including the chance to develop more realistic career goals and close relationships with faculty.

Paula is also an adjunct professor of Liberal Studies at Georgetown University. Before coming to American, she taught Art History at the University of Kentucky, the University of Virginia, and Rice University.

Paula serves as the President of the National Association of Fellowships Advisors (NAFA) until July, 2009.

Joan Echols joined the Office of Merit Awards as Program Associate in 2003. She has an extensive background in career development at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels. Joan has had more than ten years of experience in higher education, most recently as Director of The Graduate Career Center at George Washington University's School of Business and Public Administration. Earlier in her career she was Assistant Director in the Career Development Office at Lehigh University. Her experience includes seven years in the private sector as Manager of College Relations at an international consulting firm. Joan also has a strong background in writing. She worked for a publishing firm as editor of a major legal newsletter and contributed to a book on career development.

Joan's background in career development is a benefit in managing the Early Identification Program, an academic enrichment program for outstanding sophomores. She also works with undergraduate applicants for the Harry S. Truman and Morris K. Udall Scholarships.

Joan has a Master's degree in Higher Education Administration and Counseling and a Bachelor's degree in English Literature.

Dr.Chris Swanson joined the Office of Merit Awards in 2006 as Merit Advising Fellow. He holds advanced degrees in dramaturgy from the Yale School of Drama, and was the recipient of a Fulbright grant to do doctoral research in Vienna. He worked for three years for the Chicago Humanities Festival as a producer and editor. Later, he was an adjunct professor teaching subjects such as theater theory and criticism at DePaul University in Chicago. He now splits his time between American University, and the Catholic University of America where he teaches theater courses.

Anne Hamilton joined the Office of Merit Awards in July 2006. After completing her Peace Corps service in Thailand in January, she received admission to American University 's School of International Service where she will begin her Masters in Fall 2006. As a community development worker in Thailand , Anne worked with organic farmers and women's groups and served as the Chairperson for the Gender and Development Global Initiative Group for which she organized the first USAID-sponsored conference for Peace Corps Thailand. Anne received her B.A. in English from the University of Iowa, where she studied at the Undergraduate Writers Workshop. She is fluent in Thai and is currently studying Arabic.