Kelsey Smith ’19 has become Barnard’s first Knight-Hennessy Scholar, earning a full scholarship to pursue a law degree at Stanford University this fall.
Founded in 2016 and launched in 2018, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is a fully endowed leadership development program for graduate students at Stanford University. Scholars receive funding for graduate study while participating in leadership training.
“Having Barnard's first Knight-Hennessy Scholar is a historic and thrilling milestone for our community,” said Dana Brice Pacheco, senior associate director of Beyond Barnard. “This incredible achievement is a true testament to the bold, visionary leadership our students bring to the world, and it highlights the extraordinary caliber of a Barnard education.”
This year’s scholars are “the most global to date,” according to the program with a record-high number of international scholars among the cohort.
Selected from a global pool of applicants, Smith joins the 2026 cohort — the ninth since the program was launched — of 87 Knight-Hennessy Scholars representing 31 countries and pursuing degrees across 45 graduate programs.
“It’s my hope that I’m the first of many [scholars] to come from Barnard,” said Smith.
Though Smith wasn’t always certain about law school, her curiosity about the criminal justice system was apparent. In high school, she had a strong interest in restorative justice before attending Barnard as a double major in political science and French.
While at Barnard, Smith earned a Guggenheim Fellowship in criminal justice, working directly on cases for wrongfully incarcerated individuals.
“Having that experience on the ground was really powerful,” she said.
After graduating from Barnard, Smith built an international career focused on democracy, digital policy, and human rights. Her journey has taken her from Myanmar, where she supported democratic elections through the Princeton in Asia Fellowship, to the U.S. Senate, and most recently to the U.S. Department of State, where she served as a policy advisor for the Office of Digital Freedom.
“In the U.S. government, there had never been a specific lane on atrocity prevention, genocide, and crimes against humanity in the online space. I brought that niche in and came as a policy advisor to build out that area,” said Smith.
For Smith, what excites her most about the Knight-Hennessy community is the ability to approach global challenges through a multidisciplinary lens.
“I really agree with the mission of the scholarship, especially in a time where there's so much cataclysmic change happening in the world,” said Smith. “There is a big focus on bringing together people from so many different academic and life experiences to tackle the most challenging issues in the world.”
Throughout her career, Smith has explored the intersection of technology and justice, interests that first took shape during her time at Barnard and ones she plans to build on in law school.
As she prepares to begin law school, Smith hopes her selection signals new possibilities for future Barnard students.
“So much of what I learned at Barnard, and so much of who I’ve become, has allowed me to achieve this scholarship,” she said.