Tocqueville Forum

Student Fellow Katherine Boyle (COL '08) Awarded Mitchell Scholarship

Katherine Boyle (COL '08), a Tocqueville Forum Student Fellow and government major from Gainesville, Fla., is among 12 George J. Mitchell Scholarship recipients selected nationally for the 2008-2009 academic year. The annual scholarship links future American leaders to Ireland with a year of graduate study at one of Ireland’s academic institutions. Boyle will use her scholarship to study public advocacy and activism at National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway.

The Mitchell Scholarship Selection Committee chose this year’s recipients from a pool of more than 300 applicants from 139 colleges and universities based on their high standards of academic excellence, leadership and community service. Boyle is the tenth Georgetown student to receive this award, earning Georgetown the distinction of hosting the most Mitchell scholars of any college or university in the United States.

Katherine Boyle is a musician with a passionate interest in intellectual property and public advocacy. Boyle’s unflagging intellectual curiosity has led her to explore all facets of the Washington political scene—from working with a presidential campaign, to working in the White House to policy research on K Street. In her research with the Property Rights Alliance (PRA)—a property rights advocacy group that brings together physical and intellectual property rights advocates from various fields—she has written over a dozen official policy papers. One of her most influential papers, “The Truth behind the Barriers” can be found in the Congressional Record for a November 2005 House Natural Resources Hearing on reform of the Endangered Species Act. She has served as political affairs director of the DC Federation of College Republicans, and currently serves as Deputy Campaign Manager for a healthcare public policy campaign.

At Georgetown, in addition to her participation in the Tocqueville Forum as a Student Fellow, Boyle has been a member of the Carroll Fellows Initiative (Georgetown’s flagship program for its most ambitious and talented undergraduates), Lecture Fund, and a vocalist with Cabaret—an annual charity concert that raises money for DC Schools. She also volunteers with Catholic Charities in Gainesville, Fl. Boyle, who by the age of ten was singing the National Anthem at the University of Florida’s men’s basketball games, is also an accomplished pianist and composer.

Ms. Boyle was among the student authors who contributed to the inaugural issue of Utraque Unum, the student-run and largely student-authored journal of the Tocqueville Forum. Her review of the movie Amazing Grace can be accessed here. 

We congratulate Ms. Boyle on her accomplishment!