Rachel Mitnick ‘17, has been named a junior fellow by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. She will work in the endowment’s Executive Office, supporting William Burns, endowment president.
The James C. Gaither Junior Fellows Program provides a year of paid research experience to qualified graduating seniors and individuals who have graduated during the past academic year. Junior fellows work on projects such as democracy building, immigration, foreign relations, nuclear policy, energy and climate change. Mitnick was chosen as one of the 14 fellows from nominees from nearly 400 participating colleges.
“I am looking forward to being surrounded every day by gifted and worldly Carnegie scholars, whose research has already improved the lives of countless individuals around the world,” Mitnick said.
Mitnick is a history major completing a senior thesis on human rights activism in the Soviet Union. She has won three departmental awards for her academic performance, including the Cornelius DeKiewet Award in 2016. Since sophomore year, she has been a research assistant for Peter J. Katzenstein, the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. professor of international studies. She is also on the executive board of Colleges Against Cancer and has been a student ambassador for the admissions office since her first year. She has interned on Capitol Hill, at the Rhode Island Supreme Court and with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“I hope to make my mark in helping to shape global dialogue,” Mitnick said. “I am eager to work alongside many distinguished individuals, using the international affairs and history research experience I gained at Cornell to assist them in contributing to the Carnegie mission.”
Mitnick, the eighth Cornell senior to win this award since 2000, believes the experience she will gain as a junior fellow will fit perfectly into her intended career path in national security.
“As a curious, politically invested student, interested in foreign affairs and advancing world peace, I can think of no better place to work than the Carnegie Endowment,” she said. “ I believe this fellowship will provide me a good foundation to progress in the field of national security.”
More News from A&S
