The inaugural recipients of the American Graduate Fellowships are Daniel Berntson of Northwestern College (IA) and Adam Spry of Pacific Lutheran University (WA). These 2007 American Graduate Fellows will each receive awards of $50,000 for a year of graduate study, renewable for a second year. Berntson will pursue a doctoral degree in philosophy at Brown University and Spry has accepted an offer to study American literature at Columbia University.

The American Graduate Fellowships (AGF) program is designed to promote and support advanced study in the humanities by talented graduates of small and mid-sized, private liberal arts colleges and universities. In announcing the winners, CIC President Richard Ekman said, “These scholars, and indeed all of the finalists, are truly talented and include some of the most capable graduates of America’s smaller liberal arts colleges and universities.” The first annual AGF competition received applications from students at 53 different institutions across the nation. The applications were reviewed by a panel of distinguished humanities scholars, who selected a group of finalists representing eight different fields of graduate study. The full list of finalists is available here.

Daniel Berntson, of Paullina, Iowa, graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern College in 2006 with a double major in philosophy and English literature. Raised and home-schooled on a farm in rural Iowa, he “has a first-class mind, is an extremely skilled and original interpreter of texts, and a gifted writer,” said philosophy professor Donald Wacome, Berntson’s academic advisor. Bernston received Northwestern’s selective Peale Scholarship for four years, was named to the academic dean’s list every semester during his enrollment, and conducted honors research in English literature and philosophy. In addition, he was president of Sigma Tau fraternity in 2006, held an internship at the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, DC in 2005, and was the opinion page editor of the school newspaper for two years.

Adam Spry of Whiterock, New Mexico grew up on the isolated Flathead Indian Reservation. He used his love of writing and literature to propel himself through school and, against the odds, to college at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU). He graduated magna cum laude in May 2007 with a double major in English and art. Spry received PLU’s academic scholarship for four years, was named to the dean’s list every semester, and did a summer internship at the Santa Fe Contemporary Art Museum in the art research and education department. “Adam Spry understands the power of literature and language,” says PLU provost Patricia Killen, adding that, “He is precisely the kind of graduate PLU wants to send out into the world, a young adult with the intellectual capacity, personal commitment, and capaciousness of heart that allow one to make a real difference in the lives of others.” Spry’s doctoral work will focus on American literature of the 20th century, with a special emphasis on Native American literature. He hopes to work with tribal colleges to help expand the study of literature among Native Americans.

Other finalists will pursue graduate work at such distinguished universities as Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and University of Chicago.

Karl Kroeber, Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Columbia, lauded the AGF program for “doing about the most valuable work I can think of in graduate education.”

The American Graduate Fellowships are funded by a generous grant from the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation, Wichita Falls, Texas. Executive Director Teresa Pontius said, “The Foundation congratulates CIC on the wonderful result of this first year of competition. It is gratifying to see such a talented group of graduates from private liberal
arts institutions enrolling in graduate studies at the very finest institutions.”

American Graduate Fellowships can be used to support doctoral study at any of 23 leading private research institutions in the U.S., Great Britain, and Ireland. United States: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Rice University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Washington University in St. Louis, Yale University. Great Britain and Ireland: University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, King’s College London, University College London, University of Edinburgh, Trinity College Dublin

The eligible fields of graduate study include history, philosophy, literature and languages, and fine arts. Guidelines and application forms for the 2007–2008 competition are available here. The application deadline is October 15, 2007 for graduate study beginning in
fall 2008.