2015 Alumna named Schwarzman Scholar for 2018

St. Paul, Minn. – Anne Gavin ’15, a summa cum laude Anthropology major from Mendota Heights, Minn., has been selected as one of 129 Schwarzman Scholars for 2018.  Gavin will begin a fully funded, one-year Masters in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing next year.  In addition to studying Chinese language and culture, Gavin will concentrate in public policy, international relations or economics/business. Expenses for each Scholar are fully funded by the program.

The second class of Schwarzman Scholars is composed of students from 30 countries and 75 universities with 45% from the United States, 20% from China, and 35% from the rest of the world.

“I’m humbled by the opportunity to study alongside this global network of scholars, united by our commitment to making a positive impact on the world,” said Gavin. “I look forward to developing my leadership skills while gaining a deeper understanding of China.”

Gavin graduated from Macalester with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, minor in Political Science and concentrations in Human Rights & Humanitarianism and Community & Global Health. As a senior, she received two of Macalester’s top awards:  a Presidential Leadership Award and a Global Citizenship Award.  While at Macalester, she co-founded MacHOPE: Helping Open Peaceful Exchange to promote understanding between American and Iraqi students. In 2013, she conducted comparative field research on participatory development models in six countries and in 2014, co-published research on EU (European Union) & Dutch refugee law as a Humanity in Action Fellow.

Gavin then spent 2015-2016 studying migration in Europe on a Fulbright Schuman Scholarship.  She arrived in Europe just as the refugee crisis was unfolding, and followed asylum seekers across Europe, from ports of arrival to their final destinations, conducting ethnographic interviews as well as providing immediate humanitarian assistance.  She made many presentations about her experiences, including a speech to the U.S. Ambassador to the EU and guests at his residence in Brussels.  She has recently returned to Brussels to assist the Government Affairs team at 3M in Europe.

The scholarship is fully funded for all participants, including travel costs and a personal stipend, and is supported by the program’s endowment which is expected to total $450 million, with $435 million raised to date. Scholars will live and study together at Schwarzman College, the dedicated state-of-the-art academic and residential building built exclusively for the program.

Scholars will study Public Policy, Economics & Business, and International Studies, and spend a year immersed in an international community of thinkers, innovators and senior leaders in business, politics and society. In an environment of intellectual engagement, professional development and cultural exchange, they will learn from one another and pursue their academic disciplines while building their leadership capacities.

The Schwarzman Scholars program was inspired by the Rhodes Scholarship, which was founded in 1902 to promote international understanding and peace, and is designed to meet the challenges of the 21st century and beyond. Blackstone Co-Founder Stephen A. Schwarzman personally contributed $100 million to the program and is leading a fundraising campaign to raise an additional $350 million from private sources to endow the program in perpetuity. Scholars chosen for this highly selective program will live in Beijing for a year of study and cultural immersion, attending lectures, traveling, and developing a better understanding of China. Admissions opened in the fall of 2015, with the first class of students in residence in 2016.