Timothy Hurley Selected as Washington College's Representative to the Presidential Fellows Program

CHESTERTOWN – Washington College is pleased to announce that Timothy Hurley ’12 has been selected as the College’s 2010-2011 Robert W. and Louisa C. Duemling Presidential Fellow.

Since 2007, thanks to a generous gift from Robert W. and Louisa C. Duemling, Washington College students have participated in the prestigious Presidential Fellows Program at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.

An annual institute open to one student from each of 85 leading American colleges and universities, the program offers an up-close and personal view of the American presidency second only to a job in the White House. Through Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, this special opportunity is open to WC students.

“I’m delighted that Tim will have this opportunity to participate in the Presidential Fellows Program,” said Jill Ogline Titus, Associate Director of the Starr Center. Hurley was selected by a faculty committee that included representatives from Political Science, International Studies and American Studies.

“Given his interest in defense and security initiatives, a very timely issue in Washington, I have no doubt that Tim will make a valuable contribution to the program,” Titus said.

Hurley, a resident of Stoneham, Massachusetts, is pursuing a double major in history and political science at Washington College. As a freshman, he played an important role in launching an on-campus political newspaper, and participated in the filming of an award-winning documentary about the College’s new student orientation program. He also works part-time as a dispatcher in the Washington College Public Safety office.

In the summer of 2009, Hurley completed an internship with the Massachusetts Republican Party, immersing himself in the day-to-day work of state politics. As an intern, Hurley conducted legislative research, tracked bills of importance, communicated with members of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, and kept track of candidates running for office across the state.

“I'm grateful for the opportunity to research an aspect of politics that I find interesting and to be able to work alongside students from some of the best colleges and universities in the nation,” Hurley said. “I look forward to getting a close, inside view of the American presidency.”

With its inclusion into the Presidential Fellows Program in 2007, Washington College joined a distinguished roster of participating American colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale and Princeton. For more than 35 years, the Presidential Fellows have been coming to Washington, D.C., to learn about leadership and governance, to share their outstanding research and scholarship, to develop as future leaders of character, and to be inspired to careers in public service.

Washington College’s participation in the program comes courtesy of a generous gift from longtime friends and benefactors of the College – Robert W. and Louisa C. Duemling.

Robert Duemling is former U.S. Ambassador to Suriname and former Director of the National Building Museum. In addition to having taught in Washington College's Department of Art, he is a Board of Visitors and Governors member emeritus and is Chairman of the Starr Center's Advisory Board.

Louisa Duemling is a former director of E.I. duPont deNemours & Company, where she provided guidance for many years to the third largest chemical manufacturer in the nation. She is a former trustee of the Maryland/D.C. chapter of the Nature Conservancy, a former advisory committee member of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, and a former director of the Corcoran Gallery and the National Parks Foundation.

Established in 2000 with a grant from the New York-based Starr Foundation, the C.V. Starr Center explores our nation’s history – and particularly the legacy of its Founding era – in innovative ways. Through educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, and especially by supporting and fostering the art of written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between past and present, and between the academic world and the public at large. From its base in the circa-1746 Custom House along Chestertown’s colonial waterfront, the Center also serves as a portal onto a world of opportunities for Washington College students. Its guiding principle is that now more than ever, a wider understanding of our shared past is fundamental to the continuing success of America’s democratic experiment.

In addition to the Presidential Fellows Program, the Starr Center also offers a range of special programs and extracurricular opportunities to Washington College students, including the Comegys Bight Fellowships and Frederick Douglass Fellowships, as well as weekend road trips and summer programs. For more information, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.