GW Today recently featured the 2026-27 Presidential Fellowship cohort, highlighting the Fellowship’s long-standing impact in developing future leaders while creating opportunities for graduate students to contribute meaningfully to the GW community. The article introduces this year’s fellows—Preeti Kulkarni, Urja Mehta and Zoe Singleton—and explores the ways they hope to contribute to the university through their fellowship roles.
The article also highlights the legacy that each Presidential Fellowship cohort builds upon. Over the past year, fellows Nina Balandina, Jack Hatcher, Markella Lanara and Grace Allread launched Connect & Thrive, a series of social and professional development programs designed to strengthen connections and foster a greater sense of belonging among GW graduate students. To date, the initiative has engaged more than 400 master’s and doctoral students and created new opportunities for graduate students across GW to connect with the university and one another.
As the Fellowship enters a new year, Grace Allread will continue her work as a Presidential Fellow for a second year, helping to bridge the transition between cohorts and serving as a mentor to the new fellows. Together, Grace and the new fellows will carry the Connect & Thrive Initiative forward while identifying new ways to serve as ambassadors and contribute to graduate student success across GW. As Program Director Autumn Anthony shared, “Each cohort has an opportunity to build on what came before it while bringing its own ideas about how to strengthen the graduate student experience.”
We are excited to welcome Preeti, Urja, and Zoe to the Presidential Fellowship and look forward to seeing the ways they and their returning fellow Grace Allread continue to make an impact across the GW community.
To learn more about the 2026-27 Presidential Fellowship cohort, their roles across the university, and the legacy they are building upon, read the full GW Today article.