Robertson Scholars Leadership Program

The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program is an undergraduate scholarship and leadership program created in 2000 by Julian Robertson Julian RobertsonJulian Robertson (1932–2022) was an American hedge fund manager and philanthropist, the founder of the hedge fund Tiger Management, who trained and seeded a generation of hedge fund managers known as the “Tiger Cubs.” He also developed golf resort lodges in New Zealand and carried out large-scale philanthropy through several foundations.Open the full entry and his wife Josie. Its scholars hold student privileges at both Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Established by an act written in 1789, it admitted its first students in 1795, describes itself as the first public university in the United States, and is part of the UNC System.Open the full entry, and the program covers eight semesters of full tuition, room and board.

Contents7 sections

Key facts

2000Creation of the Program

The program was created in 2000 through the work and generosity of Julian Robertson, a 1955 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his wife, Josie.⁠[1]

The program’s website states that the couple were inspired by their sons, one of whom graduated from Duke in 1998 and another from UNC in 2001, and that they believed the two universities each offered a distinctive undergraduate education whose combination promised a breadth and depth no single university could match.⁠[1]

March 2021Andrew Lakis Becomes Executive Director

Andrew Lakis joined the program in March 2021 as executive director. The team page states that he brought 17 years of experience in education, leadership development, fundraising and organizational management, that he joined Teach For America in 2004 as a teacher at Friendship Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., and that he is a native of North Carolina North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state in the South Atlantic region of the United States; its capital is Raleigh and its largest city is Charlotte. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on November 21, 1789, becoming the 12th state, and its population in the 2020 census was 10,439,388.Open the full entry.⁠[2]

What the Program Funds

The program provides scholars at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill with eight semesters of full tuition, room and board and most mandatory fees, along with funding for up to three summer experiences, self-directed learning during the academic year and two semesters of study abroad. The support comes from the Robertson Foundation and the Robertson family.⁠[1]

Dual Campus Status and Summers

Scholars are described as “dual citizens” of both schools. From their second semester they can take courses, join extracurricular activities, work with faculty and do research at the sister institution; each scholar matriculates at and graduates from only one of the two universities but takes at least five courses at the other over four years.⁠[3][4]

The Robertson Express bus, open to all members of both university communities, runs between Duke’s West Campus and the main campus of UNC-Chapel Hill during the academic year; the ride takes about 20 minutes.⁠[4]

Summers follow a three-part model of Community, Exploration and Launch. The first, Community Summer, has scholars live together in one of several set locations, such as the Mississippi Delta, with a focus on community building and cultural immersion.⁠[5]

Honoring the Founder; Alumni

The program’s website refers to the late Julian Robertson and has launched a Generosity Campaign in his honor to establish the Julian H. Robertson, Jr., Alumni Fund.⁠[6]

ABC ABCABC (American Broadcasting Company) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It grew out of NBC’s Blue radio network, took its name after becoming independent in 1943, developed into a national television network after merging with United Paramount Theatres in 1953, was acquired by Capital Cities in 1985, and has been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1996. With CBS and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks, and it is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry News correspondent Jaclyn Lee Jaclyn LeeJaclyn Lee is a multiplatform reporter for ABC News, which she joined in 2023 after working as an anchor and reporter at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia and as a reporter and weekend evening anchor at WVEC-TV in Norfolk, Virginia.Open the full entry’s LinkedIn LinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry profile lists Robertson Scholar under her education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.⁠[7]

Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts

Robertson Scholars Leadership Program: Official website: https://robertsonscholars.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[6]

Duke University: Official website: https://www.duke.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Official website: https://www.unc.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[9]

X: Public account: https://x.com/RobertsonPrgm (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

Facebook: Public page: https://www.facebook.com/RobertsonProgram (opens in a new window).⁠[11]

Instagram: Public account: https://www.instagram.com/robertsonscholars/ (opens in a new window).⁠[12]

LinkedIn: Company page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robertson-scholars-leadership-program/ (opens in a new window).⁠[13]