MACON, GA — Lilly Fellows Program has selected one of Mercer University alumni, Hannah Keller, as one of 10 Lilly Graduate fellows nationwide.
The program is held to support outstanding students wishing to explore the connections among Christianity, higher education, and the vocation of the teacher-scholar as they pursue graduate degrees in the arts and humanities.
This fellowship enables Keller to attend The Ohio State University this fall to pursue a Ph.D. in history. She also plans to become a college professor specializing in medieval history.
“I am honored to have been selected as a member of the 12th cohort of the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program. I owe thanks to Mercer University’s excellent faculty whose advice and encouragement during my undergraduate studies shaped me into a more self-aware and confident scholar,” said Keller.
Keller is currently conducting research focusing on the intersection between marriage and violence in the Middle Ages. She then studied several unions in 15th-century England intended to damage the political capital of rival lords for her master’s thesis at Western Michigan University.
This year the program selected its 12th cohort from 86 candidates in 99 schools. The chosen candidates are members of the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities. After interviewing 16 finalists last April, an eight-member selection committee chose 10 fellows eligible to receive the fellowship.
Before being selected, all candidates need to meet regularly with a mentor, attend four conferences, take part in a long-distance seminar, and receive three annual stipends of $3,000 each to use at their discretion.
Established in 1991, the Lilly Fellows Program seeks to strengthen the quality and shape the character of church-related institutions of higher learning through four programmatic initiatives.