10 Years of the Killam Fellowships Program
Group photo of Killam Fellows at the Killam Spring Seminar in Washington, DC in 2009 In the fall of 2002, Fulbright Canada and the American Killam Trusts, motivated by their passion for educational excellence and their vision of an enduring Canada-U.S. relationship, founded the Killam Fellowships Program. Together, they created a unique, high-profile scholarship program that would allow undergraduate students from the United States and Canada to participate in a formal, structured program of academic cultural exchange. The Killam Fellowships Program is an enduring legacy to Constance Killam and Elizabeth Killam Rodgers, two women who were born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, but spent the majority of their lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts. They were sisters of Sir Izaak Walton Killam, a Canadian financier who, during the first half of the 20th century, emerged as one of Canada’s greatest philanthropists. Like their brother, Elizabeth and Constance Killam were committed to the advancement of education and to the promotion of international understanding. Throughout its 10 years, the Killam Fellowships Program has grown immensely. In its first year, 13 students from 20 partner institutions participated in the program. Ten years later, the program will be offering nearly 40 awards to students in 2012, and will involve 42 institutions, representing all regions of North America. The program has truly grown into a continental exchange program. The Open Competition
Killam Fellows at the Annual Fulbright Canada Hockey Game
14 | Annual Report 2011
Initially, the program was exclusively for official partner institutions. Students from a select group of Canadian partner institutions could participate in a reciprocal exchange with students from a select group of institutions in the United States. In 2007, in the program’s 5th year, the open competition was introduced, allowing students from any degreegranting institution in either country to attend classes at any degreegranting institution in their host country, opening the door to thousands of exceptional undergraduate students.