Special to The Hays Daily News

Lawrence -- Jenny Faber, a University of Kansas student from Hays, was selected as a 2008 Undergraduate Fellow of the Fund for Theological Education.

She is the recipient of a grant to be used toward her ongoing education. In addition, she will have an all-expense trip to a national conference where all 50 visiting juniors and seniors who were selected will gather.

Faber was selected from a more than 300 nominees representing 26 denominations and 96 undergraduate institutions across the United States and Canada. She was only one of three students selected from a public university.

The Undergraduate Fellow Program identifies students who demonstrate exceptional gifts for ministry and are seriously considering graduate programs for full-time positions with the church.

They are chosen on basis of their imagination, creativity, compassion, a capacity for critical thinking, leadership skills, personal integrity, spiritual depth, dedication to a faith tradition and a passion to serve the needs of others.

Faber is a senior with a Germanic languages and literature major along with a major in religious studies. She was nominated by the Rev. Thad Holcombe, campus minister for the Ecumenical Christian Ministries at KU.

ECM is the cooperative ministry of the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, Religious Society of Friends and the Church of the Brethren.

"Jenny raises the difficult faith questions of a woman living in a culture increasingly in transition," Holcomb said. "She has brought to ECM an intellectual curiosity combined with an ability to connect her head with her heart."

Faber, a member of the Episcopal Church, is on the ECM board. She has also served as co-coordinator of the Faith Forum: A Liberating Take on Christianity and Human Sexuality Committee. In addition, she has been a participant in Alternative Spring Breaks to northern New Mexico and other ministry programs of the ECM.

Faber has also been a recipient of the Zelma McIlvain Scholarship as an outstanding student in religious studies as well as the Harley S. Nelson Scholarship (Honors Department) from the German Department.