Junior Alex Young named 2025 Truman Scholar
University of Notre Dame junior Alex Young has been named a 2025 Truman Scholar. He is the University’s 13th Truman Scholar since 2010, a group that includes three Rhodes Scholars: Alex Coccia (’14), Christa Grace Watkins (’17) and Prathm Juneja (’20).
Young is among 54 students from 49 U.S. colleges and universities honored with the award. The selection process is highly competitive, taking into account applicants’ academic, leadership and service records and their likelihood of success in graduate school.
"Notre Dame's Class of 2026 really blew me away this year, and I am so happy for Alex to receive the recognition he absolutely deserves,” said Elise Rudt-Moorthy, associate director of National Fellowships with the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE) at Notre Dame. “Alex has demonstrated a conviction to improve critical aspects of life for Kentuckians like physical safety and civil rights, and we are lucky to have him represent our campus as a Truman Scholar."
A former Hesburgh Democracy Fellow, Young, from Kentucky, is a political science major with minors in public service and constitutional studies.
Around campus, he is co-president and co-lead of the Student Policy Network; co-president of the College Democrats; a resident counselor with Notre Dame Pre-College Programs; a columnist for the student newspaper, The Observer; and a volunteer for ND Listens. He is a former member of BridgeND, and he participated in Notre Dame RISE as a first-year student.
Away from campus, he is a member of the board of directors of the United States Alliance to End the Hitting of Children and co-founder and leader of the Sister Thea Bowman Society for Racial Justice, serving underrepresented members of the Louisville community through service and policy advocacy. He has served as an intern in the Disability Rights Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division since January.
Active in local, state and federal politics, he previously interned at the White House and for the Indiana Democratic Party. He also served as a political consulting and mayoral campaign associate to Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg.
Truman Scholars participate in an internship and training program in Washington, D.C., the summer before graduate school. Young, a longtime advocate for persons with disabilities, will pursue work with the American Bar Association’s Commission on Disability Rights.
Looking ahead to graduate school, he plans to pursue a law degree from Georgetown Law and then return to his hometown of Louisville and serve as deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office.
Ultimately, he plans to enter politics in order to advance health, education and civil rights in Kentucky, first as a state representative and later as a member of Congress.
“Since my initial exposure to public service in my efforts to end corporal punishment in Kentucky schools, I have come to appreciate the role I can play in improving communities throughout Kentucky and beyond,” Young said. “The incredible network and resources of the Truman Foundation will allow me to further this passion for service. I am grateful for the guidance of Elise Rudt-Moorthy, the team at CUSE, Dr. Claudia Francis, Dr. Sandra Gustafson and all of the mentors who helped me throughout this process.
“I look forward to utilizing the Truman Scholarship and my Notre Dame education in a way that decreases gun violence in Louisville, improves outcomes for Kentuckians with disabilities and promotes civil rights more broadly.”
Rudt-Moorthy thanked those involved in the award.
“Special thanks to Jeffrey Thibert, Emily Hunt, Gregory Miller, Claudia Francis, Sandra Gustafson, Jim Wayne, Chloe Gibbs, Jill Seyfred, Emily Morgan, Duncan Teater, Mike Ward, Sara Clark, Barbara Sexton Smith, Mike Schmuhl and Becca Blais for their hard work and assistance during the application process,” she said. “Members of this group reviewed for the nomination process, wrote recommendation letters for Alex, sent in thoughtful quotes for the nomination letter and served as his practice interviewers. Their time and efforts to help Alex were greatly appreciated.”
Established as a living memorial to former President Harry S. Truman, as well as a national monument to public service, The Truman Scholarship seeks to support and inspire the next generation of public services leaders.
For more on this and other scholarship opportunities, visit cuse.nd.edu.
Latest University News
- Santiago Schnell, dean of Notre Dame’s College of Science, appointed as provost of DartmouthSantiago Schnell, the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, has accepted an appointment as provost at Dartmouth College. He will depart Notre Dame at the end of June and begin his new role in July.
- The Commencement of the class of 2025The University of Notre Dame celebrated its 180th Commencement Ceremony on Sunday (May 18) at Notre Dame Stadium. An audience of some 20,000 graduates, family members, friends and faculty attended, and 2,084 degrees were conferred on undergraduate students, with a total of 3,099 degrees being conferred over the course of Commencement Weekend activities.
- The Commencement of the Graduate School class of 2025Teresa Lambe, a world-renowned vaccine scientist who played a critical role in the fight against COVID-19, delivered the keynote address Saturday (May 17) during the Graduate School’s annual commencement ceremony.
- Kenneth Scheve appointed dean of the University of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and LettersKenneth Scheve, the Dean Acheson Professor of Political Science and Global Affairs and the dean of social science at Yale University, has been appointed the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts and Letters by University of Notre Dame President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. Scheve, who will also hold a tenured faculty position in the Department of Political Science, begins a five-year term as dean on July 1.
- Notre Dame to convene government, industry and academic leaders to set regulatory roadmap for responsible social mediaTo address the challenges posed by social media use and its effects on democracy, the University of Notre Dame is hosting the Council for Responsible Social Media and Issue One on May 27-29. Led by Notre Dame’s Democracy Initiative, this National Convening on Social Media and Democracy will bring together leaders and scholars to discuss policy changes that set a serious national agenda for the next several years of governance on social media and technology, particularly as it relates to improving democratic outcomes.
- Notre Dame’s top research position endowed as John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for ResearchJeffrey F. Rhoads, who leads Notre Dame Research, including its efforts in innovation and commercialization through the IDEA Center, will now hold the title of John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for Research.
