Department of History

Gracie Bartos '27, Jackson DeConcini '22, and Will Nelson '27 have been named 2026 Truman Scholars, the Truman Scholarship Foundation announced. The fellowships provide up to $30,000 for graduate school, advising and mentoring from public service leaders, and preferred hiring with the federal government.

This year's scholars, 55 in all, were selected from among 781 students nominated based on their records of leadership, public service, and academic achievement. The scholarship is a memorial to President Harry S. Truman designed to support and inspire the next generation of public service leaders in the U.S. 

Like President Truman in the 20th century, the scholars are "rising to meet their moments in this century," Terry Babcock-Lumish, the foundation's executive secretary, said in the news release.
"They are dedicated public servants who do not shy from challenge." 

Gracie Bartos '27

Bartos, a religion and classical studies major from Peoria, Arizona, plans to enter a five-year joint degree program to earn a master of divinity and a law degree, reflecting her passion for church-state separation.

Central to that passion "is the conviction that faith leaders themselves can inform a more just world," she said in her application.

At Dartmouth, Bartos, a Gantcher Family scholar, has served as a research assistant for Randall Balmer, the John Phillips Professor in Religion, on his upcoming biography of the late U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore. This summer, she will work as a Rockefeller Judicial Fellow with Judge Elizabeth Wingo '92 at the D.C. Superior Court.

Bartos has completed two internships—one with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the other, self-created, that focused on sexual violence prevention and response for faith communities in the Upper Valley and was funded by the Center for Career Design.

"When I found no existing model for a prevention program that integrates compassionate theology with legally grounded prevention approaches, I designed my own internship," she says. "I built a four-hour prevention and response curriculum that addresses the relationship between mandatory-reporting laws, penitent privilege, and First Amendment protections."

Bartos has served on the vestry at St. Thomas Episcopal Church and recently started the process to become ordained in the Episcopal tradition. She also has served as a board member of the American Constitution Society at Dartmouth, director of content development and social engagement at Dartmouth College Radio, a Dartmouth tour guide, and a resident of the Interfaith Living Learning Community.

Jackson DeConcini '22 

DeConcini is scheduled to graduate this fall, following a college career interspersed with international humanitarian work. A government and Middle Eastern Studies major, he is considering going to law school or pursuing a dual JD with a master's in international or public policy. 

"My goal is to serve within the U.S. delegation supporting the U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East in a role focused on civilian-military coordination and the integration of humanitarian, security, and political tracks," he said in his application. 

In the past few years, DeConcini, who speaks Arabic, has held various roles with the international humanitarian NGO MedGlobal, including humanitarian affairs officer. His work included leading medical missions of doctors and nurses into Gaza to support hospitals there during the war, and supporting EMT deployments and security operations for more than a hundred staff and volunteers and millions of dollars' worth of humanitarian aid. 

He also served as secretary general of the Humanitarian Emergency Response Coalition, leading the multipartner humanitarian task force that mobilized during the Gaza war. The work "took place amid an institutional vacuum for humanitarian coordination and rapidly shifting restrictions imposed by multiple state actors," he says. "Most early humanitarian consignments sent to Gaza during this period were delayed for months, or never delivered at all."

DeConcini counts his great-uncle, former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Arizona, among his inspirations to work in public service. Jackson DeConcini's great-grandfather also served on the Arizona Supreme Court.

"It's a legacy that many of my cousins and I seek to continue in our own work," he said.

DeConcini has been a member of the Dartmouth Forensic Union and Dartmouth Triathlon Team and co-editor-in-chief of the Dartmouth Law Journal. He is currently a Global Health Fellow and was previously a Law and Ethics Fellow at the Ethics Institute. He also was a 2020 James O. Freedman Presidential Scholar and a Great Issues Scholar at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding.

Will Nelson '27 

Nelson, a government and history major from Jamestown, North Dakota, has "one overriding life mission: fighting for the proverbial little guy, the people in our communities who are often forgotten, not by any fault of their own," he said in his application. 

After graduating, he plans to pursue a law degree, with a concentration in American constitutional and public interest law. 

"Specifically, I want to focus on antitrust enforcement and economic justice," says Nelson, a Dartmouth Club of the Midwest scholar.

Nelson has served as vice president of the American Constitution Society at Dartmouth, ambassador for the Dartmouth Political Union, and is currently co-president and communications director of the Dartmouth Civics Student Association. 

During his time with Civics, he has worked to expand student voter participation and protect their right to vote, he says. That has included expanding Civics' digital outreach, working "to produce Dartmouth-specific, nonpartisan voter guidance," and launching a short-form video series clarifying student voting rights. 

Nelson was a Great Issues Scholar and First Year Fellow with the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and has interned with the office of U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-NH, the House Committee on Education and Workforce Democrats, and the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City.

"Before this year, Dartmouth has never had three Truman Scholars in a single cycle," says Christie Harner, associate dean of undergraduate education for fellowships and scholars programs. "To have these three scholars named at the same time is a true testament to the depth of public service models on campus: from global health and humanitarianism to local politics and religious dialogue."

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Students interested in learning about Truman Scholarships and other opportunities should visit Dartmouth's Office of Fellowship Advising.