USC Schaeffer Fellow Jamie Kwong wins prestigious Marshall Scholarship

The prestigious Marshall Scholarships fund up to 40 scholars each year to study at graduate level at an UK institution in any field of study. As future leaders, with a lasting understanding of British society, Marshall Scholars strengthen the enduring relationship between the British and American peoples, their governments and their institutions. Marshall Scholars are talented, independent and wide-ranging, and their time as Scholars enhances their intellectual and personal growth.  For 2018, 43 Marshall Scholars were selected, among them Jamie Kwong.

Jamie Kwong is on track to graduate May 2018 summa cum laude, while in pursuit of both a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Master’s in Public Diplomacy.  As a freshman, Jamie participated in USC’s Thematic Option Program and was selected for the inaugural cohort of USC Bennis Scholars as a sophomore. Jamie was among forty undergraduates designated nationally as a Schaeffer Government Service Fellow, a unique undergraduate government service experience intended to expose students to government work and its impact.  In her self-secured internship with the House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, she was recognized for her strong leadership, analytical and writing skills and asked to draft a proposal which was ultimately accepted and used for a hearing on the joint US-ROK-Japan trilateral relationship.  Jamie has also applied her ambassadorial skills in an internship with the Department of State for the Bureau on International Security and Nonproliferation in the Office of Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism where she authored exercises for the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism aimed at helping member states test their interagency and international communication channels after nuclear security events.

As a junior, Jamie was among fewer than 200 finalists interviewed for the prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship and was recently selected as the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress Presidential Fellows Program.  In addition to these academic and professional achievements, Jamie has also been a highly engaged student leader.  For the past two years, she has served as the campus resource liaison for all students as the Peer Leadership Team Leader for the USC Office of Campus Activities.  In this role, she led the effort to revamp the university recognition process serving more than 1000 student organizations.  Jamie currently serves as President of the USC Panhellenic Council, an umbrella oversight organization to USC’s 11 national sorority chapters and more than 2200 Greek women.  With the Marshall Scholarship, Jamie seeks to build upon her academic studies in nonproliferation and disarmament with specialized training through a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London.  She intends to dedicate her career to roles within the U.S. Departments of State and Energy, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations where she can employ her skills to educate and mobilize efforts among future generations toward nuclear disarmament, and play a significant role in developing public policy that supports a nuclear free world.

Read more about Jamie and the 2018 Marshall Scholar cohort: