Global Scholars Program
—Building Transformational Leaders
the opportunity
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The Global Scholars Program is built on a simple premise: poverty alleviation can be best achieved by those who have direct experience of it. So in 2012, when Bob and Dottie King set out to train and equip a new generation of leaders to alleviate poverty across the globe, they looked to those who had themselves grown up in poverty. The Kings recognized that emerging leaders could be identified as early as high school and provided with a world-class college education and leadership training that would prepare them to employ game-changing solutions in poverty alleviation. Global Scholars have grown up in poverty and know whereof they speak. They demonstrate a passionate commitment to leading future poverty alleviation efforts in their home countries and are uniquely positioned to effect significant change.
Scholarships for future leaders of the developing world
90 Scholars and growing
the initiative
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The Global Scholars Program aims to alleviate global poverty by bringing exceptional students from developing nations to leading US universities for a world-class college education, extraordinary internship opportunities, and participation in a unique leadership training program designed for future careers related to poverty alleviation. Global Scholars come from poverty circumstances and are selected for their drive, talent, and commitment to addressing poverty in their home countries. They are awarded full scholarships to attend select US universities, and they receive extensive support that begins before they even arrive on campus, with pre-orientation services, and carries them through their entire college career with academic mentoring and summer internships in fields related to poverty alleviation.
The Global Scholars Program was launched with the King Scholars at Dartmouth College in 2012 and expanded in 2015. Today, thanks to a total gift of $36 million, the program at Dartmouth funds 24 students per year (6 students in each class). In 2017, Bob and Dottie King—in conjunction with the Morgridge family—launched the King Morgridge Scholars program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UMW). Drawing on a total gift of $36 million, the program will eventually fund 24 UMW students per year (6 students in each class). In 2018, the Kings made a $100 million gift toward the Knight Hennessy Scholars program to fund a cohort of scholars from less economically developed regions of the world to pursue their graduate studies in any of Stanford’s seven departments, and to support the King Global Leadership Program.