The recipients of the 2008 American Graduate Fellowships are Jennifer Tate of Hendrix College (AR) and Jacob Swenson of Willamette University (OR). Each of these students will receive an award of $50,000 for a year of graduate study, renewable for a second year. Tate will pursue a doctoral degree in English literature at Washington University in St. Louis and Swenson has accepted an offer to study philosophy at the University of Chicago.

The American Graduate Fellowships (AGF) program is designed to promote and support advanced study in the humanities by talented graduates of small and mid-sized private liberal arts colleges and universities. The second annual AGF competition received applications from students at 41 different institutions across the nation. The applications were reviewed by a panel of distinguished humanities scholars, who selected a group of finalists representing six different fields of graduate study. (See below for full list of finalists.)

William Jordan, professor of history at Princeton University, and a member of the selection panel, said the “Fellowships provide a wonderful way to encourage bright and creative students at liberal arts colleges to attend first-rate universities for advanced degrees in the humanities.... I just wish we could give more Fellowships.”

Jennifer Tate graduated from Hendrix College with an English major in 2008 and will be studying English literature at Washington University in St. Louis. Her primary interests are in Victorian fiction and literary depictions of urban life. She was recently awarded the Hendrix College President’s Medal—the highest award given to a graduating senior at the college. Over the past summer and during a spring semester internship, Jennifer tutored and served as a student teacher for junior high school and high school students in Memphis (her home town), Little Rock, and Conway. Tate is an accomplished singer and has been singing in choirs since age ten. Provost Robert Entzminger of Hendrix College says of Tate, “Jennifer is among the very best students of English literature I have taught in 31 years at three different institutions.”

Jacob Swenson received his BA from Willamette University in 2007 with a major in philosophy and a minor in chemistry. He will begin work on his PhD in philosophy at the University of Chicago this fall. According to Randall Havas, professor of philosophy at Willamette, “Jacob is a student from whom one can learn much. Moreover, he is a young man of great intellectual and personal integrity.” Swenson is particularly interested in studying 19th and 20th century philosophy, epistemology, and the philosophy of religion. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys numerous outdoor activities, including hiking, skiing, and backpacking. Before beginning his studies at Willamette, he spent a year living and working in Senegal, West Africa.

Other American Graduate Fellowship finalists will pursue graduate work at distinguished universities including Yale University, Vanderbilt University, and Oxford University.

Guidelines and application forms for the 2008–2009 competition, as well as information about the eligible fields of graduate study and the list of private research institutions at which the Fellowships can be used, are available here on the CIC website. The application deadline is October 15, 2008, for graduate study beginning in fall 2009. The American Graduate Fellowships are funded by a generous grant from the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation, Wichita Falls, Texas.