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Third straight Wildcat senior named Luce Scholar

The Office of Fellowships is proud to announce that Rachel M. Stamler-Jonas (SOC '18) has been chosen for this year's cohort of Luce Scholars!

Rachel grew up in metro Detroit, where exposure to community-based art projects inspired her to use art as a mechanism for collective action. As a director, writer, and facilitator, Rachel uses theatrical forms of devising, creative drama, and civic practice, along with puppetry, writing and music, to meet community Image of Rachel M. Stamler-Jonasneeds.

As one of eleven Alumnae of Northwestern University Undergraduate Research Scholars, Rachel researched and developed a nonbinary Hans Christian Andersen adaptation, The Little Merperson. She directed the play with an entirely transgender cast as part of her honors thesis. The School of Communication also awarded her the Performing Arts Grant for co-authoring and directing Ignition: a New Blues-Rock Musical. Rachel serves on the LGBTQ Student Advisory Board and is marketing director for Lipstick Theatre, Northwestern’s feminist theatre board.

Rachel is the 19th Northwestern student to win the Luce Scholarship, a nationally competitive fellowship program created by the Henry Luce Foundation in 1974 to enhance the understanding of Asia among Image of Henry Luce Foundation's logopotential leaders in American society. Luce Scholars are provided stipends, language training and individualized professional placement in Asia.

Last year, Christina Cilento (SESP '17) joined the program and currently works in Laos. Two years ago, Jessie Moravek (WCAS '16) was placed in Nepal to work on wildlife conservation.

Contact Amy Kehoe at amy.kehoe@northwestern.edu to learn more about the Luce Scholars program.