CU landscape architecture senior awarded Edward Murray Scholarship

Jones-Camel

Elizabeth Violet Jones-Camel, a Cornell senior in landscape architecture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is the 2003-04 recipient of the Edward M. Murray Committee on the Arts Scholarship.

The award is administered by the Cornell Council for the Arts and the Cornell Council's Committee on the Arts. Recipients are chosen by faculty members within their own colleges and departments. The scholarship provides financial assistance for artists showing exceptional promise in their fields.

Landscape architecture faculty selected Jones-Camel "because of the combination of talent and initiative she has shown," said Kathryn Gleason, chair of the landscape architecture department.

Jones-Camel, a single mother throughout her college career, transferred to Cornell in 2000 after attending Tompkins Cortland Community College for two years. In 2002, Jones-Camel served a nine-month apprenticeship with the Ithaca-based firm, Trowbridge and Wolf Landscape Architects. Jones also was active in the Ithaca community, serving as a board member for, and later as president of, the Ithaca Community Gardens.

"Violet has turned the constraints of her situation into opportunities that have significantly furthered her education as a designer," said Gleason. "We would like to recognize her achievements at this stage of her studies."

Jones-Camel said she plans to attend graduate school once she has finished at Cornell.

"I would like to work on designing master plans for cities that incorporate nature, the arts and environmental sustainability," she said. "Eventually, I would like to teach in college, sharing my knowledge and interests with future generations."

The Edward M. Murray Committee on the Arts Scholarship is presented annually to undergraduate majors in arts and culture-related programs. Murray, who died in 2000, was a Cornell professor of music theory as well as a conductor, composer and pianist.

The COA established the award in 2000, through the guidance of its former chair, Sidney Goldstein '52; alumnus James Byrnes '63, MBA '64, CEO of Tompkins Trust Co.; and Elizabeth Trapnell Rawlings.