Jane Menton, a Class of 2015 Global Affairs major, was recently named a Gates Cambridge Scholar for 2018.
Menton is one of 35 U.S. citizens who received the prestigious scholarship this year, a cohort that includes four Yale affiliates.
Scholarships are awarded to outstanding applicants from countries outside of the United Kingdom to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge. The scholarship program was established in 2000 with a gift of $210 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge, the largest-ever single donation to a U.K. university.
In addition to the 35 U.S. winners, 55 Gates Cambridge Scholars from countries other than the United States will be announced in late March.
Scholars are chosen for outstanding intellectual ability, leadership potential, a commitment to improving the lives of others, and for having qualifications and aspirations that are “a good fit” with the postgraduate program at the University of Cambridge for which they are applying. While at Cambridge, scholars pursue a full range of subjects throughout the university’s departments and colleges.
Menton, who is from Tallahassee, Florida, pursued an interest in journalism while a Yale College student by working at the Yale Daily News. That interest also shaped her academic pursuits, and she began to research the successes and failures of American journalism. She earned a B.A. in both history and global affairs. After college, she worked as a production assistant at CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” before going to Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship to study modern Middle East studies. Since receiving her M.Phil. she has been working at Foreign Affairs magazine in New York.
“At Cambridge, my Ph.D. will focus on the relationship between the press, the public, and foreign policy in the new digital age,” says Menton. “I am so grateful for this opportunity to contribute researching a topic that feels more important now than ever, and I cannot wait to join the Gates community!”