Alumna Felicity Klingele awarded top scholarship for graduate study at Oxford

Recent University of Wisconsin–Madison graduate Felicity Klingele has been awarded a Barry Scholarship, a relatively new, highly selective academic prize awarded in recognition of a student’s dedication to the academic vocation and the pursuit of truth.

The scholarship provides full funding for a minimum of two years of graduate study at the University of Oxford. It is a prize that cannot be applied for — it is awarded by academics themselves through a dedicated network of nominators at leading academic institutions in Britain and the United States.

The prize began in 2019. There are 14 recipients this year.

Klingele is the first Badger to win a Barry Scholarship. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UW–Madison this past December with degrees in psychology and philosophy and departmental honors.

“Congratulations to Felicity on this remarkable and well-deserved honor,” says Julie Stubbs, director of UW’s Office of Undergraduate Academic Awards. “During her undergraduate career here, Felicity stood out for her academic excellence, her innovate contributions to campus life and her ethical leadership on multiple issues. We’re so proud that she’s our first Barry Scholarship winner.”

The Barry Scholarship is supported by the John and Daria Barry Foundation and is an initiative of the Canterbury Institute, an Oxford-based charity that seeks rediscovery of the academic vocation.

During her time at UW–Madison, Klingele founded the Madison Philosophical Society, a space to explore ethical, metaphysical and epistemic questions; the St. Dymphna Society, a women’s mental health support group; and Siena Scholars, a women’s philosophy and theology group.

She was a fellow of both the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy and the Madison College Writing Center. Klingele’s passion for ethics led her to serve on the UW–Madison Police Advisory Board and the Diocesan Board for the Office of Human Life and Dignity for the Catholic Diocese of Madison.

At Oxford, Klingele plans to explore the relationship between the philosophy of education and virtue ethics, along with the interplay of artificial intelligence and human flourishing. She is currently serving as a live-in volunteer at Casa Juan Diego, a Catholic worker house in Houston, Texas.