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About the Program

One Big Idea

Those with the intellect to excel and the selflessness to care should have the opportunity to lead.

The Johnson Program in Leadership and Integrity is one of the nation's most ambitious efforts to elevate access to and engagement within higher education. The program aims to impact the campus and academic life of Washington and Lee University in the following ways:

  • Award at least tuition, room and board merit scholarships to 10% of the incoming class each year;
  • Provide grant funding for current students to engage in self-directed research or independent summer study;
  • Endow faculty positions in disciplines related to leadership and integrity.

The Johnson Scholarship

W&L's Johnson Scholarship Program selects students on the basis of academic achievement, demonstrated leadership and their potential to contribute to the intellectual and civic life of the W&L campus and of the world at large in years to come.

A Johnson Scholarship is awarded to approximately 10% of each entering class. Winners of the Johnson Scholarship receive awards of at least tuition, room and board to attend Washington and Lee University. Students with financial need higher than this amount will have any additional need met by the scholarship.

In addition, Johnson Scholars receive funding up to $10,000 to support summer experiences during their time at W&L. Internships, volunteer experiences or research projects are just a few of the ways Johnson Scholars may use these funds to explore the world and their own potential for leadership.

Finalists for Johnson Scholarships must attend and participate in the on-campus competition in order to win a Johnson Scholarship or other merit-based award from W&L. All costs associated with attending the competition will be paid by Washington and Lee University, including travel expenses (airfare or mileage costs), meals and lodging for the duration of the competition.

"The Johnson Scholarship gave me the opportunity to go abroad, to develop relationships with professors who served as not only my teachers but also my mentors, and to represent the Generals in two sports arenas, and set me on a future path I am not only excited about, but also of which I am proud. To say that the Johnson Scholarship drastically impacted my life both over the past four years and beyond would be an understatement."
Shelby Hendricks '16
Discover more programming, event and scholar news in our Johnson Update Newsletter

Learn More About The Johnson Scholarship and Other Merit Aid Opportunities

Students who wish to be considered for a Johnson Scholarship must submit application no later than December 1st.

Johnson Scholars in Action

Funding for Opportunity and Enhancement

The Johnson Program in Leadership and Integrity provides funds to support W&L student projects across the country and around the world.

Johnson Opportunity Grants are awarded on a competitive basis and are open to rising sophomores, rising juniors and rising seniors at Washington & Lee. The grants cover travel, living expenses, and other costs associated with a proposed project or summer activity. Past projects have involved participation in a national or international student conferences, research travel to further study in a chosen field, or service projects that demonstrate a commitment to community leadership. The criteria for evaluation of applications will include both academic accomplishments at W&L and the potential for leadership development that the project makes possible. Grants will vary in amount, typically between $1,000 and $3,000, depending on proposed budgets and the reasonably predicted costs associated with travel, living expenses and other necessary expenditures.

Johnson Enhancement Funds provide support for summer experiences for recipients of the Johnson Scholarship with up to $7,000. Internships, volunteer experiences or research projects are just a few of the ways Johnson Scholars may use these funds to explore the world and their own potential for leadership.

This year, there will be two rounds of applications for Johnson Opportunity Grants:
  Round 1: January 21, 2022
  Round 2: March 18, 2022
Apply Now!

Johnson Opportunity Grants

Programs and Newsletter

The Johnson Program hosts gatherings and other special events for our Johnson Scholars on campus. Through extra-curricular events, peer mentoring, and opportunities to learn from each other, the Johnson Program creates a community of connection for our students.

Learn all about these special events, upcoming and past, as well as scholar highlights, messages from Elizabeth Knapp, the Director of the Johnson Program for Leadership and Integrity, and more in "The Johnson Update," our newsletter.

Meet the Scholars

Johnson Scholarship recipients represent a diverse group with one common thread: all are exceptional students and leaders, who will leave a positive mark on W&L and the world at large.

2026
William Bray
Catherine Brien
Rebecca Bundrant
Benjamin Carey
Saivasuki Chebrolu
Zachary Corbin
Angeline Costello
Cassandra Dalton
Joshua Darrow
Elizabeth DeVooght
Ryan Doty
Ashley Escobar
Thomas Finnegan
Arun Ghosh
Ava GianGrasso
Aliya Gibbons
Connor Lafo
Yun Jae Lee
Abigail Leo
Lijia Liu
Daniel Lu
Abigail McGee
Reagan Radocesky
Katherine Repka
Sarp Sahin
Roman Schlichter
Kendall Schlueter
Jaeya Taxali
Micah Tongen
Brianna Tran
Jake Vo
Austin Winslow
Cynthia Xie
Hamza Zia
Kristina Ayers
Ben Bankston
Stephanie Boktor
Alison Christmann-Vener
Jessica Clark
Janae Darby
Alina de Zoysa
Sawyer Dunn-Matrullo
Stephen Ewing
Garrison Famiglio
Luke Fountain
Maria Gradilla-Alvarez
Julie Ham
Chaz Jackson
Becca Jones
Madison Karlin
Avani Kashyap
Anna Clair Mackey
Emma Malinak
Frankie Maloof
Marcella Mercer
Charlie Mlcek
Rebecca Nason
Porter Neubauer
Lizzy Nguyen
Michelle Nguyen
Alexis Park
Sanil Partha
Demetri Patrinos
Sydney Peppe
Walt Phillips
Angel Pilkey-Chevez
Shae Reinberg
Kiera Stankewich
Lizzie Steilberg
Shannon Tozier
Tara Trinley
Liv Ullmann
Ava Wilkes
Trip Wright
Lydia Yang
Ian Baird
Olivia Berntson
Jamie Biggs
Anna Bosking
Cora Chaney
Parker Comisac
Benton Copeland
Watson Deacon
Megan Dufault
Sara Kate Durkee
Josh Fingerhut
Cole Gershkovich
Natalie Gresham
Kate Hannon
Tyler Hellstern
David Honig
Audrey Jameson
Kaylin Jury
Ian Kinney
Jess Kishbaugh
Perry Kramer
Jak Krouse
Diwesh Kumar
Cooper Lazo
Rheannon Loth
Isabel Lourie
Natalie McCaffery
P.T. Meadors
Jose Mendez-Anastasio
Elise Molinaro
Zach Moore
Shawna Muckle
Aislinn Niimi
Charlotte Peete
Lily Petsinger
Emma Poole
Brad Singer
Carly Snyder
Marko Suchy
Ashwin Suresh
Billy Tobin
William Xue
Katie Yurechko
Jennifer Zartman
Henry Barden
Caitlin Barnes
Anna Blackburn
Estrella Burks-Parra
Taylor Colaizzi
Finn Connor
Anna Dennis
Lauren Ellenz
Jillian Gallardo
Meg Graham
Jason Gu
Ben Hess
Lauren Hollis
Hayley Huber
Joe Jackson
Peter James
Abhi Janamanchi
Naveed Javid
Nafisa Jeb
Virginia Kauders
Maria Luzaran
Emily Moran
Lily Mott
Ellie Penner
Avalon Pernell
Tahri Phillips
Hannah Puckett
Clay Pugh
Eli Samson
Pj Slattery
Andrew Sontchi
Natalie Spangler
Allie Stankewich
James Torbert
Taylor Tucker
Sydney Tune
Tim Warren
Flora Worthington
Catherine Xia
Hayley Allen
Luke Alli
Paige Anderson
Julia Batavick
Sophie Behdani
Elle Boyd
Eli Bradley
Emma Callaghan
Andrew Crean
Bella Daher
Joey Dickinson
August Donovan
Jack Eason
Ana Estrada Hamm
Katie Evans
Natasha Gengler
Seliom Gobeze
Ben Harrington
Syed Rafay Hassan
Lauren Hoaglund
Leah Jackson
Lane Johansen
Hannah Kang
Keren Katz
Hannah Kearns
Jeremiah Kohl
Irina Koleva
Merrina Lan
Troy Larsen
Joseph Lee
Laurie Lee
Andrea Levan
Yuhan Liu
Kristina Lozinskaya
Lexi Minutillo
Kathryn Muensterman
McKenzie Napier
Cate O'Kelley
Dino Oikonomou
Judy Park
Braden Rhone
Diego Saavedra
Robert Salita
Elen Stepanyan
Xing Teng
Mansi Tripathi
Alex Wilkerson
Kristen Xu
Nolan Zunk

2021

Lourdes Arana
Kush Attal
Austin Bellinger
Madyson Bennett
Courtney Berry
Gabi Bowman
Jay Choi
Amanda Dorsey
Emma Duerstock
Julia Foxen
Coletta Fuller
Ryan Fulton
Noah Gallagher
Ashley Hancox
Christian Hanna
Grace Anne Holladay
Chase Isbell
Rohan Jairam
Mary Jones
Cabrey Keller
Sawera Khan
Maria Kisker
Rob Lahourcade
Adrian Lam
Allen Lee Litvak
Anthony Lorson
Anna Luttrell
Olivia Luzzio
Robert Masi
Elyssa McMaster
Amalia Nafal
Emily Nyikos
Brooklyne Oliveira
Darcy Olmstead
Didi Pace
Tomasz Paluchowski
Mercer Peek
Ben Peeples
James Ricks
Eric Schleicher
Alankrit Shatadal
Claire Smith
Hyun Song
Grace Sullivan
Lorena Terroba Urruchua
Chad Thomas
Alexandra Wagner
Christopher Watt
Charlie Weeks
Emma Wilson
Sofia Yasin
Avery Younis

2020

Hannah Archer
Luke Basham
Brie Belz
Mourad Berrached
Harris Billings
Andrew Brouse
Laura Bruce
Laura Calhoun
Parker Catlett
Daniel Clark
Sean Clark
Campbell DeNatale
Hannah Denham
Emma Derr
Erin Dringman
Nolan Durfee
Balen Essak
Jesse Evans
Lauren Fredericks
Colby Gilley
Emily Hershgordon
Katherine Ingram
Bri Karpowich
Juliana Kerper
Tiffany Ko
Kylie Lee
Beau Merhige
Parker Robertson
Anne Rodgers
Katherine Page Rurka
Will Schirmer
Deepthi Thumuluri
Khang Truong
Matt Villante
Kana White
Joe Wiencek
David Williams
Matthew Withers

2019

Ryder Babik
Sarah Clifford
Katherine Dau
Nora Devlin
Tony Du
Rossella Gabriele
Max Gold
Conor Habiger
Tan Hunjan
Margaret Kallus
Juliana Megan Keeling
Morgan Maloney
Kathryn McEvoy
Daniel Monteagudo
Hank Patrick
Skylar Prichard
Daniel Rhoades
Calvin Riss
Jackson Roberts
Bailey Sanders
Sarah Anne Troise
Cecelia Weingart

2018

Walker Abbott
Steven Allen
Archie Archie
Mike Barry
Brett Becker
Benie Bolohan
Alice Bradford
Matt Bryson
Ford Carson
Stephanie Chung
Kendyll Coxen
Andy Cuthbert
Audrey Dangler
Dana Droz
Rachel Gallagher
Justin Gillette
Mason Grist
Ralston Hartness
Courtney Hauck
Claire Hoffert
Shlomo Honig
Kiera Judge
Tara Loughery
Maren Lundgren
Julie Malone
Will McMurtry
Alex Meilech
Rebecca Morris
Rebecca Orsak
Karishma Patel
Kristen Phlegar
Ram Raval
Gray Rixey
J.T. Schexnayder
Jared Shely
Bowen Spottswood
Michael David Sullivan
Sierra Rose Tamm
Mandie Wahlers
Linden Walus
Mary Page Welch
J.T. Williams
Chase Wonderlic

2017

Will Adams
Jenna Biegel
Abby Block
Andrew Blocker
Alice Cannon
Elena Diller
Brooke Donnelly
Austin Frank
Sam Gibson
Kinsey Grant
Corey Guen
Daniel Johnson
Jordan LaPointe
Harry Lustig
Will Mason
Stephen Mitchell
Chris Myers
Amirah Ndam Njoya
Polli Noskova
Ashley Ooms
George Park
Rainsford Reel
Jake Roberts
Carley Sambrook
Caroline Sanders
Kate Sarfert
Kristin Sharman
Shane Siebken
Kyle Singerman
Cody Solomon
Shaun Soman
Don Strehler
Aalekhya Tenali
Eleni Timas
Paqui Toscano
Kyle Turpin
Burke Ugarte
Jenny Wang
Emily Webb
Harrison Westgarth
Logan Wilson

2016

Jack Anderson
Stephen Ball
John Barry
Jacqueline Carson
Maya Epelbaum
David Heinen
Shelbi Hendricks
Tim Holder
Michael Holt
Hannah Howard
Ijezie Ikwuezunma
Griffin Johns
Ellyn Kirtley
Meera Kumar
Wonhee Lim
Yishu Liu
Alice Moore
Mithra Muthukrishnan
Arriana Nastoff
Arthur Olson
Mitch Olson
Kevin Ortiz
Andrea Owen
Joy Putney
Sarah Rachal
Daniel Rodriguez Segura
Danielle Rosenthal
Caroline Sanders
Erica Schiller
Rachel Solomon
Jacob Strauss
Anna Russell Thornton
Jean Turlington
Karen Villarroel Gomez
Austin Walker
Tierney Wolgemuth
Conan Zhao

2015

Syed Ali
Natsumi Alvarez
Chauncey Baker
Tommy Joe Bednar
James Biemiller
Jacob Bowe
Michael Bronstein
Stewart Cory
Betsy Cribb
Caroline Crichlow-Ball
Blair Davis
Anne Bailey Dickens
Amanda Dixon
TJ Fisher
Mary Gabe
Ellen Gleason
Leah Gose
Cort Hammond
Mickey Horissian
Christopher Hu
Darlon Jan
Paul Jang
Ryan Johnson
Patricia Kirkland
Phik Kong
Cynthia Lam
Grace Lee
Chris Levy
Shanno Marwitz
Sarah Min
Bayan Misaghi
Will Mooney
Yashna Naidu
Caroline Nixon
Shannon Nollet
Lucy Ortiz
Alina Pankova
Connor Perkins
Austin Pierce
Chel Samuels
Eric Schwen
Andrea Siso
Haley Smith
Lucy Smith
Lisa Stoiser
Katie Strickland
Scott Sugden
Gillian Swanson
Taylor Theodossiou
Cathy Wang
Andy Watson
Ellen Wiencek
Jackie Yarbro

2014

Campbell Burr
Hillary Cooper
Erin Gretchen Dengler
Monica Devlin
Emmy DiGiovanni
Philip Dishuck
Ryan Doherty
Katie Driest
Robert Gerbo
Thomas Groesbeck
Doug Hilbert
Katie Hintz
Daniel Hsu
Emily Hudson
Katie Jarrell
Jordan Kearns
Vincent Kim
Garrett Koller
Joseph Liu
Annelise Madison
Maureen Nalepa
Zain Raza
Crawford Rhyne
Samantha Rosier
Darby Shuler
Lorraine Simonis
Haley Smith
Mark Sowinski
Ellie Stoops
Alvin Thomas
Victoria Van Natten

2013

Alicia Bargar
Mary Bush
Matt Carli
Abbie Caudill
Kerry Cotter
Sasha Doss
Lizzie Engel
Alexandra Fernandez
Keaton Fletcher
Paige Gance
Eric Gehman
Elise Hansen
Vera Higgs
Clark Hildabrand
Maggie Holland
Riley Jordan
Nicholas Kordonowy
Joe Landry
Kelly Lane
Ronald Magee
Stephanie Malaska
Joe Moravec
Michael Novack
Claire Oliver
Vergil Parson
Katharine Price
Nate Reisinger
Eric Robert Rosato
Kelly Mae Ross
Lauren Schultz
Katy Stewart
Robert Vestal
Meg Weigel
Kayla Welch
Uri Whang
Bailey Yi
Jessie Ykimoff
Annie Zhang

2012

Luke Andersen
Chloe Bellomy
Olivia Burr
Nicole Chenakina
Carolina Diaz-Menendez
Sean Doyle
Susi Eckelmann
Caitlin Edgar
Miranda Galvin
Liz George
Luke Gergoudis
Nico Gioioso
John Grigsby
Brad Harder
Kelly Harris
Tal Jacobs
Kelli Jarrell
Dev Kori
Dominika Kruszewska
Virginia Lovell
Annie Martin
Danielle Maurer
Timothy McAleenan
Kali McFarland
Katie Michelini
Sam Mott
Courtney Perkins
Ashna Sharan
Matt Simpson
Ian Sturdy
Brooke Sutherland
Xinnan Wang
Robert Warneford-Thomson
Chris Washnock
John Wells
Shiri Yadlin

Endowed Faculty Chairs

In addition to providing scholarships and opportunity funding for students, the Johnson Program supports two full-time faculty positions, one in the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics and one in The College.

A search is currently underway for the second Endowed Chair position.

Nicolaas Rupke
History

A native of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Rupke was trained in earth sciences in Groningen and in marine geology at Princeton University. After establishing an impressive research record in marine geology, Rupke turned his interests to the history of science, particularly to late-modern biological and physical sciences as they developed in Germany and Great Britain.

He has employed a biographical approach to historical figures in science - an approach that blends historiography and the history of ideas to show the ways in which scientific leadership is a product not only of individual genius, but also of collective ideas and institutional forces. He is the author of several books and has held distinguished research fellowships at the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Oxford and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, among others.

Johnson Program News

Elizabeth Knapp Talks Rocks in New Podcast Episode
In a new episode of "After Class," W&L’s Lifelong Learning podcast, Elizabeth Knapp, geology professor and director of the Johnson Program in Leadership and Integrity, discusses her love of geology and the impact of the Johnson Program.

Johnson Alumni in the News

The Future is Bioplastics
Julianna Keeling ’19 applied her passion for the environment to build a company focused on biodegradable consumer products.

Contact Us

The Johnson Program in Leadership and Integrity
The Ruscio Center for Global Learning, #221
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia 24450
johnsonprogram@wlu.edu

About the Director

Dr. Elizabeth Knapp
Johnson Program Director
Professor of Geology

Dr. Knapp is a Professor of Geology and an alumna of the class of 1990. Prior to her role as the Director of the Johnson Program in Leadership and Integrity, she served the University as Associate Provost, Senior Assistant to the President and Associate Dean of the College. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of geochemistry and hydrogeology.