Jefferson Scholars Foundation Awards Fellowships to 20 Graduate Students

Twelve graduate students at the University of Virginia have been selected to receive Jefferson Fellowships and eight graduate students from six universities have been selected to receive National Fellowships. The Jefferson Scholars Foundation selected all 20 recipients based on their demonstrated record of academic achievement and their commitment to becoming the next generation of outstanding teachers, researchers, public servants and business leaders.

Established in 2001, the Jefferson Fellowship is the premier graduate fellowship offered at the University. The foundation has established partnerships with, and has Jefferson Fellows studying across, three schools: the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Darden School of Business and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

“Graduate studies vary drastically from one program to the next, so over the last several years the foundation has set out to tailor not only the fellowship package for each school, but also the selection process,” said Ben Skipper, director of graduate and undergraduate programs at the foundation. “Ultimately this helps meet the needs of the individual schools and produces a successful cohort of Jefferson Fellows who are vital members of both the University and the foundation communities.”

This fall the foundation assumes responsibility for the well-established National Fellowship Program, created 15 years ago by Brian Balogh, Dorothy Danforth Compton Professor of History at UVA, and designed to support the dissertation years of some of the most outstanding Ph.D. candidates in the country. National Fellowships support outstanding scholars at top institutions across the country, including UVA, who are completing dissertations in American history, politics, public policy and foreign relations. These fellows will convene at the foundation twice a year for a spring and fall conference, and will be joined by leading scholars, researchers and faculty in their fields.

“Not only will grounding this remarkable group of world-class scholars in the Jefferson Scholars Foundation community directly aid our mission as an organization, but it will also further enhance the interdisciplinary vibrancy of our existing programs by providing new opportunities for Jefferson Scholars and Fellows to engage with scholars at other top institutions,” said Jimmy Wright, president of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation.

“All 20 of this year’s fellowship recipients exemplify the three criteria that are the pillars of the foundation’s mission – scholarship, leadership and citizenship,” Skipper said. “I have no doubt they will further the quality of education and intellectual life of the University.”

For a complete list of the 2017 Jefferson and National Fellows, click here.