Wyatt Hill ’21 and Katie King ’22 have been selected as 2021 Hertog Fellows. According to Frank Rohmer, professor of political science and campus pre-law advisor, to receive the fellowship is quite an honor. “Hertog Fellows are members of a select company of liberal arts students on the path to leadership in the American democracy,” he said.
King ’22, of Woodway, Texas, is following an auspicious tradition. James Wyche ’20 was the first Austin College Fellow; Hill received a Hertog Fellowship in 2020 and 2021. King has received a 2021 Fellowship. Additionally, Wyche served two years as president of the Austin College Pre-Law Society; Hill was the president this year with King as vice president. And, Hill and King are both Hatton W. Sumners Scholars at Austin College, selected by Sumners Foundation trustees following a competitive interview process.
King, who is completing majors in political science and Spanish, will be involved this summer in an intense one-week study of The Federalist & Contemporary Debates. Hill’s 2021 program will meet weekly over five weeks in a study of Free Speech in a Fractured Republic.
Hill, from Dallas, is completing majors in history and political science. His 2020 fellowship included participation in the Online Winter Seminar Series, examining Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. He said the seminar was led by a professor from Boston College and featured about a dozen other students from universities across the country, mostly from Ivy League schools. Weekly discussions continued from late December to the end of January. “This experience provided me with exposure to other students who were interested in Political Theory at a very high level,” Hill said. “This provided me with a lot of perspective on academia and helped me to decide that I wanted to go to graduate school. I also had the opportunity to have an hour-long discussion with the professor, Dr. Ryan Hanley, about a week after the course ended, which was very generous of him. Overall. it was a great experience! I’m actually going to be attending another online Hertog seminar series this summer.”
The Hertog Fellowship program was established by New York businessman and philanthropist Roger Hertog in 2010 to further educate students who seek to influence intellectual, civic, and political life in the U.S. Since its inception, the Hertog Foundation has awarded 1,098 fellowships, largely to students devoted to the study and practice of the liberal arts. In this sense the fellowship program fits with the mission of Austin College to steep students in the tradition of liberal education and cultivate in them the arts to become leaders and shapers of a free people.
Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned a reputation for excellence in academic preparation, global awareness, pre-professional foundations, leadership development, committed faculty, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 50 percent of students identifying as persons of color. The residential student body of approximately 1,300 students and an expert faculty of more than 100 educators allow a 12:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. Related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA), Austin College cultivates an inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. The College, founded in 1849, is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.