PHILADELPHIA, June 4, 2024 – Eisenhower Fellowships selected four outstanding recent American university graduates for its 2025 Global Scholars Program, sending them to the University of Oxford and IE University in Madrid for a year of postgraduate study leading to a Master’s degree in public policy or international relations.
The 2025 Eisenhower Global Scholars include a low-income-housing specialist with the U.S. Department of Commerce, a Navy midshipman investigating the role of artificial intelligence in modern warfare, a Phi Beta Kappa student of public policy and legal affairs and an Afghani-American lawyer advocating for girls’ education and the empowerment of women entrepreneurs.
In September, these highly accomplished young leaders will begin an all-expenses-paid year of intense study and cultural immersion at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford for a Master of Public Policy degree and at the School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs at IE University for a Master in International Relations degree.
Attending the Blavatnik School at Oxford will be Nate Jo, 25, a graduate of Western Washington University; John Richardson, 23, a graduate of the University of Alabama; and Axana Soltan, 26, a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and the George Washington University School of Law, will attend Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.
Attending IE University will be Emily Boutin, 21, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.
Jo, a former special assistant to the Secretary of Commerce, oversaw the development of an innovative, cloud-based tool to expand access to capital for disadvantaged entrepreneurs.
Richardson, the former editor of his university’s undergraduate law review, offered fellow students the opportunity to publish research on important legal issues.
Soltan, born in Afghanistan, is a lawyer and staunch advocate for marginalized communities. She has worked with several non-profits, including Enhancing Children’s Lives, which established a library in Kabul where women could learn to read before it was shut down by the Taliban government. She is the first person in the history of her family to graduate from university.
After her year of study in Madrid, Boutin will train to become a U.S. Marine Corps aviator. She interned at the Pentagon and the U.S. Army War College to research the use in combat of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
In addition to their year of study, the Eisenhower Global Scholars gain access to EF’s worldwide network of more than 2,500 leaders from government, business, civil society, education, science, health care, the arts and journalism. At the end of their studies, they will be offered an optional three-month professional internship in their field.
The Chairman of Eisenhower Fellowships, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, hailed the Global Scholars Program as an important new dimension of the organization’s international people-to-people exchange initiatives.
“We congratulate these exceptional young leaders and welcome them into (our) global family,” said EF Chairman Robert M. Gates. “This important program exposes more young Americans to the world beyond our shores and extends the legacy of President Dwight Eisenhower to a new generation.”
Now in its 71st year and named for America’s 34th president, Eisenhower Fellowships brings together innovative leaders from diverse fields and nations to tackle big challenges and better the world. Since 1953, more than 2,500 mid-career leaders from 115 countries have benefited from the unique, customized experience of an Eisenhower Fellowship.
Learn more and meet the Scholars.
For more information contact:
Erin Hillman, Vice President of Programs and Operations
215-546-1738