Yale College alumna Keerthana Annamaneni ’20 will begin study next year at Oxford University as one of the 46 winners of the Marshall Scholarship.
Annamaneni was chosen from a record 1,190 applicants for the award, which allows American scholars to study any academic subject for up to three years at a university in the United Kingdom with funding from the British government.
Named for former U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the Marshall Scholarship began in 1953 as a gesture of gratitude to the American people for the assistance provided to the U.K. after World War II under the Marshall Plan. Former Marshall Scholars include numerous university presidents, six Pulitzer Prize winners, one Nobel laureate, 14 MacArthur Fellows, two Academy Award nominees, two Supreme Court justices, and a NASA astronaut.
Annamaneni majored in political science at Yale, where she was part of the Multidisciplinary Academic Program in Human Rights. She is interested in political philosophy, with a focus on theories of punishment. She interned for The New York Times, was editor-in-chief of The Politic, a Yale student-run publication, and currently is an assistant editor for Foreign Affairs.
Outside of journalism, she has worked for legal organizations including the Bronx Defenders and the Office of the Federal Public Defender in New Haven. For her public service, she was awarded a Yale-Jefferson Award during her senior year.
Annamaneni plans to pursue a Master of Philosophy degree in political theory at Oxford.
“This is such wonderful news for Keerthana and is so well deserved,” said Rebekah Westphal, assistant dean of Yale College and director of the Office of Fellowship Programs. “She will be an outstanding ambassador to the U.K. as part of the Marshall Scholarship.”
Christopher Fischer, chair of the Marshall Commission, said the 2021 Marshall Scholars are committed in their academic and extracurricular pursuits to searching “for a better understanding of today’s world and how best to meet tomorrow’s challenges.”
He added: “In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we see dozens of Marshall Scholars contributing to finding a solution to the associated health, social, and economic challenges, whether in the laboratory, in the hospital, or in the formulation of policy and practical responses.”
Those interested in applying for next year’s scholarship can make an appointment to discuss the process on the Office of Fellowship Programs website.
