McCourt Welcomes New Scholars Class
The McCourt School is honored to welcome a new class of McCourt Scholars, a distinguished group of future policymakers and scholars.
The McCourt School is honored to welcome a new class of McCourt Scholars, a distinguished group of future policymakers and scholars:
Christian T. Ueland: Christian was born in Napa, California. As a pilot and flight operations manager in Afghanistan, Christian realized that quantitative data can be an excellent indicator of the effectiveness of a policy or program. Christian would like to take his career out of the cockpit and into a career in public policy with a specific focus on international development. Christian believes that his military experience and leadership, along with a McCourt education will provide him the tools to serve his country and people around the world.
William Blackmon: William hails from Olympia, Washington. He has a passion for service and international development. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a degree in civil engineering in 2011. Although William knows he could have a lucrative career in engineering, he has always been drawn to public service. Both of his parents work for the state of Washington and studied public policy. William notes that he knows he will be engaged working in public policy because the work serves the public good and it presents an opportunity to work on unique and varied challenges.
Jessica Jones: Jessica is a graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in history. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Syria from 1993-94. Jessica is an experienced and award-winning journalist with extensive experience writing, voicing, and producing public radio stories for national and statewide broadcast. Jessica was a regular and valued contributor to National Public Radio programs. Since 2011, she has been the Capital Bureau Chief for North Carolina Public Radio WUNC in Chapel Hill.
Rachel Jones: Rachel received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Development from Berkeley and has dedicated her career to public service. She is fluent in French and Italian and also speaks Spanish. Rachel comes to McCourt from the Clinton Global Health Access Initiative, where she was a Sustainable Heath Finance Analyst and is a Princeton in Africa Fellow. Her work includes technical assistance to establish the cost effectiveness of the Central Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution program. Before her fellowship, Jessica consulted for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. She managed and designed an integrated sustainable project database and trained 20 colleagues. Jessica has a passion for international development and hopes to continue her work upon graduation from McCourt.
Naomi Lim: After completing her Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Laws at the University of Queensland, Naomi completed a course at Yale University’s Women’s Campaign School. Naomi’s experience has included volunteering for Obama for America and serving as the press intern for Congressman Alcee Hasting. Currently, she is a reporter for News Corps Australia specializing in local politics and crime. Naomi was also one of 30 international students selected to participate in the Hansard Scholars Program at the London School of Economics. She considers public policy a conduit for change and progress and believes that supporting a robust democracy is paramount.
The McCourt Scholars program (formerly the McCourt Fellows program), created during the founding of our School 2013, provides full tuition, a stipend, health insurance and other benefits to five promising future policy leaders. Learn more about how you can become a McCourt Scholar.