Fields Wicker-Miurin wants to improve the quality and impact of leadership worldwide by discovering leaders in unique, local settings and connecting them with one another.

She is co-founder of Leaders’ Quest, an organization that brings together leaders from around the world to learn about key trends in their regions, and to explore their role as leaders. Through regional “Quests,” leaders learn how their efforts are interconnected and have the potential to improve the world at the global level, too. Leaders’ Quest is cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and multi-generational.

Her own interest in interdisciplinary and multi-generational leadership has developed over an international business career spanning different industries and countries, and never following a linear or traditional path. She is dedicated to being a bridge between different worlds and perspectives, to enabling leaders to grow through a deepened understanding of the world and themselves and to inspiring people to be ‘good ancestors’.

Wicker-Miurin is also a director of CDC Group, a UK development finance institution, and Savills, an international property advisory company. She frequently speaks and writes about 21st-century leadership issues, and is a Governor of King’s College London.  Fields has degrees from the University of Virginia, l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Paris), and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and speaks French and Italian fluently.
(Source: www.ted.com)

For more information, visit the website for Leaders’ Quest: www.leadersquest.org

B.S., Davidson College (2006)

“The University offers a world-class research experience but without the size of many other top-tier schools, allowing easier access to faculty. I have come into personal and professional contact with many faculty members across different research fields due to the atmosphere of collaboration that exists here. The Jefferson Fellows program further enhances this experience, allowing Fellows to interact with faculty across a wide spectrum of departments. The boundaries between different areas of science are quickly breaking down, to where it is no longer acceptable to simply be an expert in one’s own field, but instead an understanding of a wide variety of processes and systems is required. The University and the Jefferson Fellows program are well-equipped to prepare scholars for the changing academic world.”

Research Interests: high-resolution microwave and infrared molecular spectroscopy

Advisor: Brooks H. Pate

B.A., Swarthmore College (2008)

“I decided to accept the Jefferson Fellowship and to attend UVa because the liberal arts education that I received at Swarthmore College convinced me of the value of a broad education.  Graduate school is, by necessity, a giant step down the road toward specialization, and I hope that the interdisciplinary nature of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation will continue to immerse me in the advancement of knowledge in fields other than my own.  I hope that my continued exposure to diverse academic perspectives will help me develop into a biologist with a unique perspective on her own field, and I aspire to offer the same to other Fellows as well.”

Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology; selection generated by an organism’s social environment

Advisor: Edmund Brodie III

A.B., Princeton University

J.D., University of Chicago

PhL., Catholic University of America

“The Jefferson Fellowship provides not only security but also the resources needed to explore scholarly and career opportunities.  The financial security that comes with being a Jefferson Fellow has permitted me to focus on my studies.  The research stipend has permitted to develop my language skills.  In the next two years, I plan to attend conferences and deliver papers with the help of the Jefferson Foundation.”

Research Interests: Greek and Roman Historiography, as well as Latin Poetry

The Fulbright Program is an international educational exchange program sponsored by the United States government designed to increase mutual understanding among people. The scholarship provides between $15,000 to $25,000 per recipient, depending on the country and the program. The scholarships generally cover tuition, research expenses, a stipend, some travel expenses and some health care benefits.

The eight U.Va Fulbright scholars are: Ben B. Schewel of Richmond; Lauren C. Howe of Earlysville; Allissia A. Gilmartin, of South Burlington, Vt.; Kiersten L. Luther of Pittsburgh; Leslie Cozzi of Chicago; Sarah Owens of Birmingham, Ala.; Meredith Haas of Charlottesville; and Jordan Matthews of Stratton Mountain, Vt.

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It’s a universal image: A child looks out her bedroom window, elbows propped on the sill, wondering if, at that very moment, another child from a faraway place can see the same stars. Perhaps earlier that evening she’d seen a PBS documentary on the Great Wall of China, the pyramids of Egypt, or the wildlife of Africa. And, just like that, it’s born. The wanderlust.

Philadelphia native Michelle Henry was no exception. Growing up, she dreamed of traveling the world and managed to squeeze in trips to Belize and Chile during her busy first year at U.Va. But it was a study-abroad class, taught by research associate professor Robert Swap in the College’s Department of Environmental Sciences, that began Henry’s journey to find her life’s calling.

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B.A., Rutgers

M.A., Baylor University

“The Jefferson Fellowship offers people that I really wanted to work with.  The Jefferson provides financial support that enables me to do the research that I really want to do without having to worry about financial security.”

Research Interests: political theory

Advisor: Lawrie Balfour

B.A., Wesleyan University (2006)

“I decided to attend UVa because I thought that the faculty in the English department was friendly and curious, not to mention that they have a number of Americanists working on exactly the sorts of questions that interest me (race, class, gender, the intersection and clashes of memory and history, etc.). I liked that though a traditional department, they had a number of faculty members who were pushing the boundaries of literary studies in unexpected ways. I thought this would be a place where I would be urged to consider (if it’s ever possible to do so) the unimaginable, or at least, what was on the brink of my imagination.”

Research Interests: early 20th-century American literature

Advisor: Anna Brickhouse

B.A., Harvard (2006)

“Darden was in the top three business schools I considered attending due to its national reputation, use of the case method, focus on teaching, and location. The Jefferson Fellowship helped tip the scales in favor of Darden due to its incomparable level of financial support, as well as its level of prestige. In addition, the Jefferson Fellows selection weekend enabled me to learn more about Darden, the University, and the unique privilege of being part of the Jefferson Fellows community. The weekend also gave me the opportunity to interact more closely with faculty and learn what Darden and UVa are undertaking in my particular area of interest-sustainability.”

B.A., University of Virginia (2007 )

“Graduate school is usually the phase in academia during which the scope of one’s knowledge narrows, while the depth of one’s knowledge simultaneously increases. I decided to become a Jefferson Fellow because I felt that it permitted me to remain engaged in other fields and actively indulge interests that lie beyond the boundaries of my thesis and my field. I personally feel that in interacting with fields different from our own, we can gain priceless insight into our own work and find perspectives that would have otherwise remained out of touch.”

Research Interests: Near-Field Cosmology