Professor Richard Matthews Scholarship Award

Blair Dickinson is from Houston, Texas, and graduated from Lehigh University with a major in Political Science and a minor in Creative Writing. On campus, she has been involved in the TRAC Writing Fellowship, Phi Sigma Pi National Honors Fraternity, Lehigh Cheerleading Team, and the Brown and White Newspaper.  Her interest in the intersection of education and policy was sparked by her time in Lehigh’s Technology, Research, and Communications (TRAC) Writing Fellowship, where she was given a space to question and converse about what the future of education could look like. She also spent a semester abroad at the University of Amsterdam where she took a “Globalization, Education, and Change” course, which allowed her to better understand the international exchange of education policies and the subsequent effects on students’ learning.

Julia grew up on Long Island, New York, and graduated from Lehigh University as an Eckardt Scholar with majors in Political Science and Global Studies. During her time at Lehigh, she was actively involved as a campus tour guide, TRAC Fellow, and research assistant. Through her academic work and extracurricular involvement, Julia created an interdisciplinary course of study focused on social justice and sustainable development at both local and international levels. Her research and work with the local NGO, Pathways Development Initiative, in rural Uganda deepened her interest in how legal systems impact communities, ultimately inspiring her to pursue a career in law. She will begin her studies at Georgetown University Law Center in August 2025.