Thurgood Marshall Research Fellowship Program

The Institute for Public Leadership at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy has created a prestigious fellowship program to honor the memory and impact of Maryland native and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. The Thurgood Marshall Research Fellows Program is seeking undergraduate and graduate students interested in conducting research on topics that engage issues of race or social equity, and systemic change—and how they connect to public leadership at the local, national or global levels. At the School of Public Policy, our motto is “Change the World. It’s our policy.” This aligns powerfully with the words of Thurgood Marshall: “The process of democracy is one of change. Our laws are not frozen into immutable form, they are constantly in the process of revision in response to the needs of a changing society.”

History:  Here at the School of Public Policy, we are honored to be housed in Thurgood Marshall Hall, a state-of-the-art facility. Justice Marshall started his career as a civil rights lawyer, who broke barriers for Black and African American students, including the desegregation of the University of Maryland. Connecting strands of history, Maryland’s first African American Governor Wes Moore took part in the naming ceremony of our building in 2023.