Each year, Global Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison awards Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowships to outstanding graduate students whose work deepens international understanding and global social justice—while embodying the Wisconsin Idea, the belief that education should influence and improve the lives of people beyond the university campus. Scott Kloeck-Jenson, after whom this award is named, lived life by this principle.
This year’s fellows again represent a broad range of country interests and disciplinary approaches. Students will travel to Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. The following graduate students will conduct their research and internships in memory of Scott and his family (click on the links to learn more about each individual):
- David Bresnahan, a doctoral student in African history, whose current research interests focus on pre-colonial coastal East Africa.
- Erin Kitchell, a master’s student in geography, whose academic interests include land-use planning in pastoral zones, local responses to climate risk in the Sahel, and the role of social learning in decision-making about environmental issues.
- Vijay Limaye, a joint Ph.D. student in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Population Health Sciences, who will be working as an intern at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, India, exploring the health consequences of ambient air pollution (particulate matter and ozone), a growing problem in many Indian cities.
- Julian Lynch, is a Ph.D. student in anthropology and ethnomusicology, whose work focuses on festivals and music in India and their place within narratives of social change.
- Nancy Rydberg, a doctoral candidate pursuing a joint degree in Educational Policy Studies and Development Studies, whose current research focuses on how war, forced migration, displacement and war-related poverty relate to gendered changes in the material and social circumstances of communities living in northern Uganda.
- Bethany Wilinski, a doctoral student pursuing a joint degree in Educational Policy Studies and Curriculum and Instruction, who this summer will work as an intern for USAID in Ethiopia, assisting with an education project focused on facilitating home-school connections for children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
More information on each of the Fellows and their individual projects also can be found at http://global.wisc.edu/skj/fellows/.
The Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowship, now in its 12th year, and Global Studies have provided support to 102 students traveling to more than 50 countries, promoting peace and social justice through their research and work abroad.
Scott was completing doctoral work on rural poverty in Mozambique province of Zambezia on a Fulbright scholarship, joined by his family. There, he was also the field director for the Land Tenure Center’s Mozambique project. He was due to return to the United States in January 2000 to complete his dissertation at UW–Madison but, on June 23, 1999, Scott, his wife Barbara, and their two children, Zoe and Noah, were killed in a car accident in South Africa.
Upon his death, Scott’s remaining fellowship funds and contributions from his family and friends were pooled to support UW–Madison graduate students. That same year, Global Studies named its annual Summer Travel Grants Program in memory of Scott. Originally envisioned to last for five years, the fellowship is now into its second decade thanks to the generosity of friends and donors from the university and around the world.
More information on the Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowships is available online and now on Facebook. Or by contacting Steve Smith, Global Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 608-265-2631.