We hope you enjoy these top news stories about TFAS activities, alumni and events this week. Please visit us on social media for additional up-to-the-moment TFAS news and information and sign up to receive weekly updates.
TFAS alumni, staff and faculty continue to make headlines. Read news, analysis and updates by visiting this week’s “Quick Links.”
Applications Open for 2021-22 Robert Novak Journalism Fellowships
TFAS is now accepting applications for the 2021-2022 Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program. This prestigious Fellowship awards allows for journalists to undertake enterprising and ground-breaking writing projects that are broadly supportive of the principles of a free society. Fellowship recipients spend a year researching and writing on a topic of their choosing. Print and online journalists with less than 10 years’ professional experience are eligible to apply. The application deadline is April 12, 2021.
Each fellowship provides $30,000 in grant income and $5,000 expense assistance. The John Farley Memorial Alumni Fund Fellowship, which was recently renamed to honor TFAS friend and former colleague, the late John Farley, provides support for recipients to write one in-depth, major essay on their topic. Applicants for fellowships are automatically considered for the John Farley Memorial Alumni Fund Fellowships. No separate application process is required.
“As a young journalist, I was thrilled when I got a job as a researcher for a New York Times op-ed columnist. But I worried about finding the time and energy to do my own research, reporting and writing,” said Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor-in-chief for Reason and 2005 Novak Fellowship recipient. “A part-time Novak Journalism Fellowship provided the motivation – and resources – for me to keep working under my own byline while I labored behind the scenes at the Times.”
Visit TFAS.org/Novak21 for more information on the Fellowship and to learn how to apply.
New TFAS Regents Exemplify Service + Leadership
TFAS was pleased to welcome five new members to our Board of Regents in 2020. These individuals have shown great dedication to the TFAS mission throughout their years of volunteer service and support. Three of the new Regents served as Board of Visitors members for TFAS D.C. Summer Programs; two were members of the same TFAS Public Policy Fellowship class; three are TFAS alumni; and one Regent has two children who attended TFAS programs.
In addition to providing guidance and assistance to reinforce TFAS’s mission, policies, programs and development, the Regents also contribute money to support students. Each summer, at least six students are selected to receive scholarships to attend TFAS’s D.C. Summer Programs, with funds generously provided by TFAS Regents. Along with these new members, 100 percent of Regents supported this scholarship last year, which will be presented to students in summer 2021.
Among the new additions to the board are Andrea Browne-Phillips ’04, PPF ’07, Mike Krempasky ’97, Joseph Lai ’01, PPF ’07, Sean Redmond, and Kelly Johnston. Former secretary of the Senate and TFAS volunteer for more than 20 years, Johnston believes wholeheartedly in TFAS’s vision of winning over each new generation to the ideas of liberty, limited government and free markets.
“TFAS is the best summer internship program in Washington for the character and values it instills in our future generation of leaders,” Johnston said. “Nothing else comes close.”
Learn more about the new Regents at TFAS.org/BOR21.
TFAS Alumna to Share New Book Details in Exclusive Interview
What do we owe the places we leave behind? Washington, D.C.-based journalist Grace Olmstead, Novak ’15, will explore the answers to this question in an exclusive interview with TFAS Journalism Fellowships Director Daniel McCarthy on March 25.
Grace Olmstead, Novak ’15, left her small farm town of Emmett, Idaho, to pursue prosperity and progress. In her newly released book “Uprooted,” she examines the heartbreaking consequences of uprooting—for Emmett, and for the greater heartland America. “Uprooted,” the product of Olmstead’s Novak Fellowship, uncovers the ways modern life attacks our roots, both literally and metaphorically. It brings readers face to face with the damage left in the wake of misguided government actions and the pursuit of endless growth. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “a skillful mixture of memoir, polemic (in the vein of Michael Pollan), and paean for rural communities (à la Wendell Berry…).”
Join TFAS alumni for this virtual event with Olmstead on March 25 at 12:30 p.m. EST. Following the interview, TFAS guests are invited to engage in a Q&A with the author.
Visit TFAS.org/Olmstead to RSVP.
Economics Lesson of the Week: Using Markets to Reduce Pollution
TFAS provides resources to help teachers and parents continue the important task of educating our nation’s future leaders. Our “Economics Lesson of The Week” series features new lessons from our high school programming division – the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE) – each week.
This week’s lesson is “Using Markets to Reduce Pollution.” In this activity, students will explore the scarcity of resources needed to reach a certain level of environmental quality. They will also learn the externalities that make achieving this goal difficult. Through a series of discussion sessions, students will determine that the same incentives that lead markets to produce more goods and services for lower cost can help us to achieve greater environmental benefit at lower cost.
Visit TFAS.org/FTELessons for a one-stop guide to our available resources.
Post of the Week
TFAS alumna Dr. Anna Ebers Broughel ’07, PPF ’17, shared about the valuable connections she has made over the years through TFAS in a post on LinkedIn.
QUICK LINKS
Cheryl Chumley, Novak ’08, interviewed TFAS Grewcock Senior Scholar Dr. Donald Devine on the morality of capitalism and his new book “The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order” in an episode of her “Bold and Blunt” radio show for the Washington Times.
Christian Britschgi, Novak ’20, discusses the impact of the shutdowns in California on the small business community in a piece for Reason.
Stephanie Campbell ’09 was featured on a panel to discuss the importance of diversity in venture capital success at HX Venture Fund’s recent conference.
TFAS Academic Director Dr. Anne Bradley will make a presentation on economic justice and how economics can promote human flourishing at an event for True Charity in May. She will discuss the importance of free markets, wealth-creation, and work in the fight against poverty and injustice.
Sarah Petrin ’95 has a new book coming out on March 22. In “Bring Rain: Helping Humanity in Crisis,” she invites readers to join her on a journey through 20 countries over 20 years of humanitarian service, and shares stories of the extraordinary people who taught her the rich rewards that come from helping others.
Glynis Gilio, Law ’19, writes in Red State that the Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski case is a “win for constitutional liberty” and free speech rights.
An excerpt from TFAS Grewcock Senior Scholar Dr. Donald Devine’s new book “The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order” is featured in National Review.
Matthew Walther, Novak ’16, analyzes the failures of liberalism in a piece for The American Conservative.
Kylee Zempel ’17, PPF ’19, writes for the The Federalist on new legislation proposing a permanent extension of Daylight Savings Time.
Last December, Priyanka Surio ’09 released a new book, “Third Culture Kids of the World: Exploring Sustainable Travel Mindsets,” which explores ecotourism and adventure through an intercontinental journey to attain global citizenship.
Bill Wirtz ’17 writes about how “vaccine passports” could contribute to greater global inequality in a piece for The Dispatch.
Haley Britzky ’16 discusses unhealthy Army fitness training standards in a piece for Task & Purpose.
Emily Towe ’11 has been elected to the University of the Ozarks Alumni Board.
Grace Olmstead, Novak ’15, writes about the increase of young people moving back to their hometowns and smaller communities for a more “rooted” lifestyle in The Wall Street Journal.
Melanie Benit ’14, ’15, PPF ’18, coauthors an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune on an Illinois resident’s efforts to protect her rights to growing an at-home garden.
TFAS Summer Law Fellowship Board of Visitors member Ilya Shapiro opines for Newsweek on Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s first hearing as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights.
Jean Schindler ’06 writes about ways to spend “downtime” in the pandemic era in a piece for District Fray.
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