Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is a grant that enables graduating seniors to pursue a year of independent study outside the United States. The Fellowship Program was established by the children of Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM.
Background
The fellowship itself grants recipients money to spend one year traveling in pursuit of their projects. Recipients are forbidden from reentering the United States and their home country for one year. Projects are not academically oriented, as the fellowship is intended to encourage exploration and new experiences rather than formal research. Currently the award is $28,000 per fellow or $38,000 for a fellow traveling with a spouse or dependent. The stipend also provides student loan repayment for the duration of the fellowship. Unlike many fellowships, the Watson Foundation requires no tangible output, emphasizing that the grant is an investment in a person rather than a project. During their travels the Fellows remain unaffiliated with a college or university, instead planning and administering their projects themselves. They are barred from working on a paying job, and are discouraged from joining organized volunteer projects for substantial periods of time.
Only graduates of 40 highly selective small colleges are eligible. Institutions eligible to nominate Watson Fellows are esteemed small liberal arts colleges with an undergraduate population of fewer than 3,000 students. Since the program's inception in 1968, the foundation has awarded over 2,500 fellowships. Among the former Watson Fellows are included numerous diplomats, scholars, doctors, and artists. The breadth of experiences is so diverse as to include both the late Sudanese Vice-President John Garang as well as Tony Award winning Broadway director Julie Taymor.
Eligible Institutions for Watson Fellowships
Notable Watson Fellows
- David Abram, cultural ecologist and philosopher
- Nancy Bekavac, former president of Scripps College
- Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and columnist
- Gloria Borger, CNN political commentator
- Ian Boyden, painter
- Peter Child, professor of music at MIT and composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic
- Tom Cole, U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma
- Nicolas Collins, composer of mostly electronic music
- Howard Fineman, Huffington Post and MSNBC political analyst
- John Garang, late Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army and Vice-President of Sudan
- David Grann, American journalist and best-selling author
- Tori Haring-Smith, president of Washington & Jefferson College
- Corey Harris, blues and reggae musician
- Barbara Higbie, jazz and traditional musician
- Edward Hirsch, poet, president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
- Mat Johnson, writer
- Jimmy J. Kolker, U.S. Ambassador to Uganda (2002-5) and Burkina Faso (1999-2002)
- Martin Kratt, Host of Wild Kratts and other educational nature shows
- Edwin M. Lee, mayor of San Francisco
- Jonathan Meiburg, lead singer and principal songwriter for the band Shearwater
- Dan O'Brien, playwright and poet
- John Payton, civil rights attorney
- Jason Mantzoukas, writer
- Steve Raichlen, BBQ chef, author, and PBS cooking show host
- Eric Rosengren, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
- Caroline Shaw, 2013 Pulitzer Prize for music
- David Shipley, The New York Times Op-Ed Editor
- Alan Solomont, U.S. Ambassador to Spain (2009 -)
- Julie Taymor, Oscar-nominated, Emmy- and Tony-award-winning director
- David Welna, NPR Congressional Correspondent
- Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, President of Kalamazoo College