COLA Dean’s Distinguished Graduates 2017

Out of the twelve undergraduate students selected, two were Clements Undergraduate Fellows. This recognition is the highest award offered by the College of Liberal Arts. 

Sarah Fischer is a fourth-year Liberal Arts Honors student from Mechanicsville, Maryland pursuing dual degrees in journalism and international relations and global studies. Her primary interests in international relations are conflict studies and migration studies. Sarah has channeled these interests into the Liberal Arts Refugee Alliance, which she co-founded. Additionally, Sarah serves as the Co-Vice President of the Liberal Arts Honors Student Council, contributes to the Pale Blue Dot radio show, and she previously served as Managing Editor of “This Week in History Column” published by the Clements Center. Sarah spent her 2015 fall semester studying abroad in France at Sciences Po, the Paris Institute for Political Studies.

Jake Barnett is a senior from Newton, Massachusetts majoring in Plan II, History Honors, and Arabic. Jake was a Normandy Scholar in 2014 and spent a semester studying at the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy in Amman. He was also a 2015-2016 Brumley Next Generation Undergraduate Scholar. Jake is interested in military history, contemporary low-intensity conflicts, and the intersection of development and security. His senior thesis focuses on the controversial role of covert operations in U.S. counterinsurgency in South Vietnam. Jake would like to study history in graduate school and he is interested in working with development organizations in Africa with the eventual goal of working in either academia or national security. He is currently a Boren Scholar, studying Swahili in Tanzania for the 2016-2017 school year. 

Read more about the Dean’s Distinguished Graduates here.