The William G. McGowan Charitable Fund has announced the 10 recipients of its 2016 fellowship awards. Fellowships are granted to second-year MBA students in the top five percent of their class at one of 10 U.S. partner schools that include Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, and Northwestern Universities; Dartmouth College; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and the Universities of Chicago, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In addition to academic achievement, Fellows must also exhibit outstanding leadership potential as well as strong dedication to ethics and public service.
The 2016 McGowan Fellows are Nicole Chin Bell, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business; David Alexander Cohen, Duke University, Fuqua School of Business; David Crowley, Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business; Alicia True Dagrosa, Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business; Jonathan Erdtsieck, University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business; Nikola Jakic, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management; Gabriele Massari, Columbia University, Columbia Business School; Tory Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; Katherine Tippets, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business; and Neil K. Vangala, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School.
Fellows receive a full-tuition scholarship for their second-year studies, the largest cash award given by a program of this kind, and mentoring throughout the academic year from a prominent business leader selected by their home school. Fellows also participate in a social impact group project. This year’s project is sponsored by Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and will focus on strategic issues surrounding Chicago’s uninsured population.
Diana Spencer, executive director of the McGowan Fund, said, “On behalf of the McGowan Fund Board of Directors, I am delighted to welcome our sixth class of McGowan Fellows into this extraordinary community of the best and the brightest MBA students in the country. With ethical and societal concern at the forefront, the McGowan Fellows endeavor to become a generation of leaders who will better both their workplaces and communities, efforts that directly align with the values of the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund.”
The McGowan Fellows Program was established in 2010 by the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, a Chicago-based family foundation, whose grant-making interests are in human services, education, and healthcare and medical research. The purpose of the program is to create a select community of highly talented, emerging business leaders who are dedicated to ethical leadership and service, reflecting the spirit and interests of William G. McGowan, former chairman and CEO of MCI. There are currently 50 program alumni who hold notable positions worldwide.