Emily Hackett ’23 wins prestigious Beinecke Scholarship for graduate study
Emily Hackett, an international relations and Slavic studies double major and German studies minor from Norwich, Vermont, has been awarded a $34,000 Beinecke Scholarship to help fund her graduate studies.
Established in 1971, The Beinecke Scholarship Program provides scholarships for the graduate education of students of exceptional promise. The program seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue opportunities available to them and to be courageous in the selection of a graduate course of study in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Hackett, a first-generation college student and scholar in Conn’s Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts, is one of just 16 students from prestigious U.S. colleges and universities who make up the 2022 class of Beinecke Scholars.
“I am honored to have received the Beinecke Scholarship. I fully intend to use it to continue my education and pursue a career in which I can support and advocate for programs that allow first-generation students like myself to realize opportunities they would not otherwise know exist,” Hackett said.
Hackett is currently completing an honors thesis on Soviet student exchanges in Cold War Czechoslovakia and East Germany, which she plans to expand into a broader graduate research project on cultural exchange as a diplomatic strategy in the Soviet Union.
“My research interests stem both from my Czech family background and my participation in government language programs like the Critical Language Scholarship. Recently, a defining experience on my college path was my semester abroad in fall of 2021 in Kyiv, Ukraine, where I took classes on post-Soviet identity and conflict,” Hackett said.
“My passion for this topic motivated me to apply for the Beinecke Scholarship, as well as the security that the scholarship brings for continuing my education.”
Hackett attributes her educational development and success at Conn to her professors and advisers in Conn’s Slavic Studies and German Studies Departments.
“Taking language classes and courses like ‘Migration and Eastern Europe,’ as well as having the support of such helpful and knowledgeable faculty and staff, has been extremely valuable to me.”
Hackett also works at Conn’s Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement, where she advocates for global education programming on and off campus, and advises students on finding the best opportunities for internationalizing their college experience.
Now approaching the end of her junior year, Hackett is exploring Ph.D. programs in history at U.C. Berkeley, the University of Chicago, Central European University, and UNC Chapel Hill.
“Because of my interest in international education policy, I hope to eventually work in a role that will allow me to promote international student mobility programs in diplomacy at an institution like the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs or an NGO supporting such work,” she said.
Connecticut College offers a wide range of fellowship opportunities for students and recent graduates. For more information, visit The Walter Commons or email fellowships@conncoll.edu.
