Senior Jacob (Jake) Jeremiah Sullivan has captured the academic equivalent of horse racing's Triple Crown, winning three coveted scholarships: a Rhodes, a Marshall and a Truman.
A double major in political science and international studies, Sullivan chose to accept the Rhodes Scholarship, making him one of 32 U.S. students (out of 990 applicants) to win the honor this year. He will use his award to study for a M.Phil. degree in international relations at Oxford University in England. After that, he plans to attend law school in the United States and pursue a career in government service.
Within days of winning the Rhodes Scholarship, Sullivan also was inducted into the national scholastic honor society Phi Beta Kappa.
A reporter for the Yale Daily News for two years, Sullivan served as editor-in-chief in 1996-97. He is a member of the Yale Debate Association and the Yale Mock Trial Association and competed on the Lightweight Crew Team as a freshman. In 1996 he directed the Yale Daily News Summer Journalism Program and the Osterweiss Debate Tournament, two programs that provide academic enrichment for New Haven area high school students. He coached a boys' soccer team for inner-city Minneapolis teenagers last summer.
A resident of Calhoun College, Sullivan works as research assistant for Bruce Russett, the Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations and Political Science. One day a week, Sullivan travels to New York City to work as research assistant to Leslie Gelb, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan foreign policy think-tank.
"I feel unbelievably lucky," Sullivan says, reflecting on his recent successes. "There are as many people who walked away from the competitions who deserved to win, as people who won. So much is dependent on the good fortune I had. Having the opportunity to go to England for two years is very exciting."