A 2021 graduate of Florida State University is the recipient of a coveted Marcus L. Urann Fellowship, awarded to first-year graduate students who are pursuing post-baccalaureate degrees across all academic disciplines.
Hannah Hetzel-Ebben graduated from FSU in May with a degree in vocal performance and is now in her first year of medical school at Case Western Reserve University. The fellowship, which includes $20,000, is bestowed by the honor society of Phi Kappa Phi.
Hetzel-Ebben, who is originally from Lexington, Kentucky, said she was thrilled with the award.
“I am so grateful for this opportunity,” she said. “It’s quite an honor.”
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi currently awards six $20,000 fellowships nationally. Individual Phi Kappa Phi chapters nominate one candidate from among its local applicants for a Urann fellowship.
Hetzel-Ebben, who is aiming to be an ear, nose and throat surgeon, said the fellowship funding will go toward helping pay the expenses of medical school.
“A medical education is expensive, and it can be a limiting factor in determining where you go to school,” she said. “Having this fellowship allowed me to go to the university where I would excel the most and one that supports me the most. Funding for all the resources I’d need, like textbooks and things of that nature, would have had to come from a loan otherwise.”
She added: “I might not have been able to attend had I not received this scholarship.”
Hetzel-Ebben’s path — from vocal performance major to medical school — is a unique one. She credited faculty and administrators in the College of Music for helping her navigate her way through.
“I really feel like FSU did everything in their power to constantly support me in my wild path,” she said with a laugh. “They don’t see many people go through this way.”
While at FSU, Hetzel-Ebben was involved in numerous research projects, including studying short-term and working memory in second and third grade children and the muscular biophysics of the Florida carpenter ant.