'Grateful and humbled': UNC senior to spend a year in Asia as a Luce Scholar

When Wesley Price received the call that he had been accepted into the Luce Scholars Program, he said he had to put the phone down and take a walk to gather himself. 

Price, a senior and Morehead-Cain Scholar majoring in biology and political science, is one of 18 scholars nationwide who were chosen for the Henry Luce Foundation’s fellowship. 

Scholars in the program are placed in different regions of Asia, where they can choose which field to work in. Price said he plans to use his time in Asia to work on health policy innovations. 

He said he is excited for multiple aspects of the fellowship, including the relationships he’ll build with his fellow scholars.

“We won’t be living or working in the same place,” Price said. “But there’s a really incredible group of people who have been pulled together for this, and I am very grateful and humbled to be a part of it.”

Price also said he looks forward to expanding his language skills through the program’s placement. 

“The first two months of the program are spent in intensive language training,” Price said. “I think that component of this is relatively unique and I’m hoping it will allow me to engage more deeply in my placement location."

Though Price is not yet sure which region of Asia he will be placed in, he said he values the care the Henry Luce Foundation and the Asia Foundation take in working with the scholars to pick a region that will be the best fit for them.

As a well-traveled undergraduate student — having spent time in both Nairobi, Kenya and in Santiago, Chile — Price said he feels prepared to travel and spend a year living in Asia, but also recognizes that there will be struggles. 

“I’m hoping that the extended period of immersion this program offers will allow me to take some of the pressure off,” Price said. “It will hopefully allow me to dive in and set down roots more than I would have with a shorter stint. 

Professors who have taught Price said they are confident he’ll be a great fit for the Luce Scholars program.

“He immediately stood out to me among an impressive group of students as someone who has an aptitude for critical thought and analytical thinking,” political science professor Sarah Treul said.

Treul also said Price’s contributions to the community make him a good fit for the Luce program. 

“He was on the ground floor of conversations to launch a student-led program called Civics in the Triangle,” Treul said. “This program took UNC students into the Triangle area elementary schools to teach civics and is still in place today.” 

Political science professor Jonathan Hartlyn said he feels that Price’s wide range of interests probably drew the attention of the Luce Scholars program selection committee. 

“He has broad interdisciplinary skills and interests," Hartlyn said. “He has broad interests in international travel and adapting to new environments and to work with a wide variety of different people as well as his strong academic achievements.”

With the coronavirus spreading through multiple regions of Asia, Price said he is concerned about what that will mean for his time there next year. But he said he is confident the Henry Luce and Asia foundations will make the appropriate choices necessary to facilitate the program. 

“I am concerned in the sense that COVID-19 is of global concern, but I think in working together with the Luce Foundation and the Asia Foundation will help to ensure that the element of personal safety is not at risk,” Price said. 

Ultimately, Price said his long-term goal is to become an academic health economist, specifically in health policy and program evaluation. He said there is a plethora of health policy building and collaboration occurring in various regions of Asia at the moment.

He said he hopes the connections and language skills he’ll develop over the next year from the program will help him amplify the health breakthroughs happening in parts of Asia.

“Having an on the ground understanding of Asia will be increasingly important,” Price said. 

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