IATH NEWS

JUEL student researcher receives a Kenan Fellowship to study Hotel C

April 28, 2015

Brittany Brown, a third-year undergraduate student and researcher for the Jefferson's University -- The Early Life (JUEL) project, has been awarded a fellowship from the William R. Kenan Endowment Fund of the Academical Village.

Ms. Brown will use her fellowship to study use of the hotels in the Academical Village, specifically interactions of students, faculty, and slaves. Thomas Jefferson's original design for the University included three hotels, intended to feed and furnish students. She will examine the influence of the hotels on the community and how the spaces have changed over time. She is particularly interested in Hotel C, where the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society (where she is the current Debate and Oratory Chair) meets. As part of her work with the JUEL project, she has studied the space's early history how it was used and managed.

The fund supports educational outreach programs that further the educational mission of Jefferson’s Academical Village, and offers five summer grants each year for student research projects that increase public understanding of the Academical Village. Students receive $4,000 for full-time research performed over the summer, and an additional $1,000 is given to a faculty advisor.