The Paul H. Nitze
Scholars Program

Introduction

During the 2012-2013 year, Nitze Scholars will, among other activities:

• study such issues as whether good leadership should aim to enhance the happiness of those for whom the leader is responsible, or enhance their freedom (and whether and why enhancing freedom doesn't always enhance happiness);
• attend and make presentations in Boston in November at the annual conference of the National Collegiate Honors Council; in Philadelphia in April at the annual conference of the Northeast Regional Honors Council; and in Germantown, Maryland in March at the annual conference of the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council;
• participate in a 2-week study tour to Turkey in May, after having studied the ways in which Turkey's leaders are trying to modernize its economy and political system while retaining as much as possible of its cultural traditions;
• meet and breakfast with Sister Helen Prejean, a nun from Louisiana who has worked for the abolition of the death penalty, and the author of Dead Man Walking (in the film version of which she was played by Susan Sarandon) and The Death of Innocents;
• study abroad for full semesters in places like Australia, Ireland, and England (Oxford University);
• attend performances of various plays, operas, and dances in Baltimore and D.C. (like at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts).

Then there are the camping outing, the trips to museums, Haiku & Fondue nights, the Bonfire of the Inanities, and many other gatherings large and small, planned and spontaneous.

The Nitze Scholars Program is designed for highly motivated students with exceptional academic potential and a demonstrated interest in studying leadership and practicing service.  As part of a small cohort of peers (about 15 enter each year), Nitze Scholars meet some of the components of the core curriculum through a series of thematically organized interdisciplinary courses with special components such as a study-tour abroad and collaborative activities on campus, in addition to being required to satisfy some proficiencies (two from among: writing, mathematics, foreign language) at an advanced level.

Last year, Nitze Scholars:

• studied the ethics of global aid, including whether and why those in well-off nations should give aid to those in much poorer nations;
• participated in a 2-week study tour to South Africa in May;
• met and broke bread three times throughout the year with last year's Nitze Senior Fellow, Sophie Delaunay, the Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders, USA;
• study abroad for full semesters in places like Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Costa Rica, France, and England (Oxford University).