2010 Scott Kloeck-Jenson fellows honored

Each year, Global Studies hosts a luncheon to honor the recipients of the Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowship, awarded to outstanding UW–Madison graduate students whose work deepens international understanding and global social justice. At this year’s luncheon, held Sept. 27, the 2010 fellows shared their work through short, informal presentations, allowing students to discuss their successes and research with other students from other disciplines. A main theme of the presentations was how the work of this year’s seven fellows embodies the Wisconsin Idea, the belief that education should influence and improve the lives of people beyond the university classroom. 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, disciplinary approaches, and national backgrounds. Students traveled to Bolivia, the Philippines, Ghana, Mozambique, and Rwanda. Last summer, the following graduate students conducted their studies in the memory of Kloeck-Jenson and his family with their work on social justice issues around the world: Barry Driscoll (political science), Madeleine Fairbairn (sociology), Yeri Lopez (Latin American history), Aliza Luft (sociology), Peter Nasuti (political science), Kweku Opoku-Agyemang (development studies), and Noah Theriault (cultural anthropology).

See More information on each of the fellows and their individual projects.

In its 11th year, the Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowship and Global Studies have provided 90 students with travel to 40 countries to provide peace and social justice through research and work abroad. Kloeck-Jenson was completing doctoral work on rural poverty in Mozambique province of Zambezia with his family on a Fulbright scholarship. There, he was also the field director for the Land Tenure Center’s Mozambique project. He was due to return to the U.S. in January 2000 to complete his dissertation with UW–Madison but, on June 23, 1999, Kloeck-Jenson, his wife, Barbara, and their two children, Zoe and Noah, were killed in a car accident in South Africa.

Upon his death in 1999, his remaining fellowship funds and contributions from Kloeck-Jenson’s 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 Kloeck-Jenson. Originally envisioned to last for five years, the fellowship is now entering its second decade thanks to friends and donors from throughout the university and around the world.

More information on the Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowships or to make a gift.