The Hertog Foundation Announces Fall 2026 Humanities at Hertog Fellows
The Hertog Foundation is pleased to welcome the 45 fellows selected for the Fall 2026 Humanities at Hertog program. We are grateful to the many faculty and campus partners who encouraged students to apply and helped identify promising candidates.
Over the fall term, fellows will participate in small, discussion-based online seminars on literature, philosophy, and political thought. This year’s curriculum features America at 250, Liberal Education in America, and William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! Each seminar is capped at 15 fellows to ensure engaged, rigorous conversation. All courses are fully subsidized by the Hertog Foundation, including books and a study stipend.
This fall’s fellowship class was selected from a competitive pool:
- 150 applicants representing 99 institutions, with an average GPA of 3.73
- 45 fellows selected across three seminars, representing 35 academic and professional affiliations, with an average GPA of 3.85
- Top-performing institutions include Stanford University, University of Tennessee–Knoxville, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Notre Dame, George Mason University, and University of South Carolina–Columbia.
We congratulate all campuses whose students were selected for this fall’s cohort, and we thank you for your continued support in identifying students who will thrive in the program.
Looking ahead, applications for our Winter 2027 online seminars are now open. Offerings include:
- George Orwell’s 1984 with Charles Lane, AEI
- Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina with Anna Bonta Moreland, Villanova University
- Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove with Cheryl Miller, Hertog Foundation
- Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon with Angel Adams Parham, University of Virginia
- Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain with Russell A. Berman, Stanford University
We encourage you to share these opportunities with students who would benefit from intensive engagement with great texts. Applications for the Winter online seminars are due November 16, 2026.
Fall 2026 Humanities Fellows
America at 250:
| Jenna Besh, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), 2027 | Cason Orr, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 2027 |
| Isabella Brannon, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, 2028 | John Puri, Stanford University, 2026 |
| Erabelle Conant, University of Florida, 2029 | Benjamin Samuels, Bard College, 2027 |
| Maclain Conlin, Duke University, 2029 | Jayden Song, Stanford University, 2029 |
| Abe Quastler Cumming, Dartmouth College, 2027 | Mariana Timler, Benedictine College, 2027 |
| Anthony DuVinage, University of Notre Dame, 2030 | Ryan Tripp, Dartmouth College, 2025 |
| Noah Horlacher, Brigham Young University-Provo, 2027 | Dea Veshaj, University of Virginia, 2027 |
| Alexander Kagan, Washington & Lee University, 2027 |
Liberal Education in America:
| Jay Abbott, Baylor University, 2028 | Isaac Mansell, Harvard University, 2026 |
| Grace Cosby, University of South Carolina-Columbia, 2028 | Dinah Megibow-Taylor, University of Chicago, 2028 |
| James Garland, Furman University, 2029 | Malloy Owen, Stanford University, 2027 |
| Olivia Goldberg, Stanford University, 2022 | Fabian Sanchez, University of Florida, 2026 |
| Hope Hsieh, Northeastern University, 2027 | Romeo Stokes, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 2027 |
| Kate Hurley, Regent University, 2027 | Tobias Straus, Kenyon College, 2025 |
| John Knighton, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 2027 | Mariana Trujillo, George Mason University, 2024 |
| Jason Li, Duke University, 2028 |
William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!:
| Mark Anthony Adams, Institute of World Politics, 2027 | Alex Neave, Loyola University-Maryland, 2019 |
| Patrick Alvis, Baylor University, 2029 | Nancy OGara, College of William & Mary, 2024 |
| Temurbek Askarov, New York University, 2028 | Austin Pierce, University of California-Irvine, 2026 |
| Reagan Bottomley, St. John’s College-Annapolis, 2026 | Christian Price, University of South Carolina-Columbia, 2029 |
| Ryan Burgess, University of Chicago, 2019 | Keira Stenson, University of Notre Dame, 2026 |
| Desmond Damico-Lassman, University of Virginia, 2029 | Phoebe Weinstein, Columbia University, 2026 |
| Madeline Leonard, Clemson University, 2026 | Nick Weising, Cornell University, 2024 |
| Waleed Nahedh, Oregon State University, 2026 |