Only One African American Among the 37 Gates Cambridge Scholars

In 2000 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave $210 million to establish an endowment fund to enable students from outside the United Kingdom to study at Cambridge University. Students with superb academic credentials, leadership abilities, and a record of community service are considered for the scholarships.

This year 752 American students applied for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. This list was narrowed to 101 individuals who were invited to St. John’s College and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for a series of interviews to determine who would receive the scholarship awards.

Thirty-seven American students were selected as Gates Cambridge Scholars. Only one of the 37 winners is an African American.

Cameron Taylor of Modesto, California, will be studying for a master’s degree in linguistics at Cambridge University this fall. He graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a double major in linguistics and Italian studies. He then spent a year at the University of Bologna studying medieval Italian literature.

Taylor plans to seek a Ph.D. in linguistics and to teach at the college level.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.