Newly minted University of Notre Dame alumnus Jackson Glynn has been named a 2024 Yenching Scholar. He is one of 107 total Yenching Scholars, representing 38 countries and regions and 77 universities around the globe.

Glynn graduated from Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters with a bachelor’s degree in Chinese. He minored in constitutional studies, Japanese and Russian. He is proficient in Chinese and semi-proficient in Japanese and Russian.

He participated in a four-month immersion program in Kyoto, Japan, in the fall of 2022 with the Council on International Educational Exchange, where he lived with a host family and exclusively spoke Japanese.

As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Chinese Culture and Singing Clubs, an officer with the Lacrosse Club, a student employee of the dining hall and a registered referee with USA hockey.

As a Yenching Scholar, he plans to examine whether or not China’s increase in anti-American rhetoric in Africa has positively or negatively impacted its goal of bringing African countries closer to China in the post-pandemic era.

“The relationship between the U.S. and China is incredibly complex and is constantly evolving in response to the rapidly changing world,” Glynn said. “By approaching this relationship from the perspective of Africa, I can challenge the notion that the U.S. and China are always competing with each other. Moreover, I hope to demonstrate that the contentious propaganda disseminated by both the U.S. and Chinese governments is causing more harm than good.”

Chosen through a highly competitive application process, Yenching Scholars participate in an interdisciplinary master’s degree program in China studies at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing, China, with tuition and other expenses fully covered.

Glynn is Notre Dame’s 11th Yenching Scholar overall and fifth in the last four years.

In applying for the award, he worked closely with the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE), which promotes the intellectual development of Notre Dame undergraduates through scholarly engagement, research, creative endeavors and the pursuit of fellowships.

”On behalf of CUSE, I’d like to congratulate Jackson on being selected as the University’s 11th Yenching Scholar,” said Jeff Thibert, the Paul and Maureen Stefanick Director of CUSE. “As a partner university of the Yenching Academy, we are grateful for the opportunity to continue to nominate excellent individuals like Jackson for interviews conducted by the Academy. We are also grateful to our partners at Notre Dame, most especially in this case the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, who provide the outstanding educational opportunities that enable our students to be competitive applicants for fellowship opportunities. I would also like to thank the CUSE Assistant Director of Scholarly Development, Emily Hunt, who works with our Yenching Academy applicants and provides expert guidance and support throughout the discernment and application processes. We look forward to working with more Yenching Scholars in the years ahead.”

For more on this and other scholarship opportunities, visit cuse.nd.edu.