2017 Whitehurst Public Interest Summer Fellows

Six students have been selected as the 2017 Whitehurst Public Interest Summer Fellows. The $4,500 fellowships are awarded annually to outstanding students who are committed to public service to support their summer public interest work. The fellowships are made possible by a generous multi-year gift from Bill, ‘70, and Stephanie Whitehurst.

Each year the Whitehursts name the fellowships for lawyers and others they admire in hopes that the fellows will be inspired by the honorees’ work in the public interest. This year the following fellowships have been awarded:

Wesley Hartman ’18 has been awarded the Regina Rogoff Public Interest Law Fellowship to work at Whitman Walker Health, a medical legal partnership, in Washington, D.C., where he will assist transgender clients pursuing name and gender marker changes on their identifying documents.

Sarah Mae Jennings ’18 has been awarded the Patrick M. Ryan Public Interest Law Fellowship to work at the Orleans Public Defenders in New Orleans as a Gideon’s Promise Summer Law Clerk.

Marissa Latta ’18 has been awarded the Donald P. Dorsey Public Interest Law Fellowship to work at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Austin where she will work with clients with severe mental illnesses.

Rosann Mariappuram ’18 has been awarded the Scott Hendler Public Interest Law Fellowship to work with the U.S. litigation team at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York City.

Luis Ortiz ’18 has been awarded the William J. Boatman Public Interest Law Fellowship to work in the criminal trials division at the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.

Morgan Shelburne ’18 has been awarded the Robert G. Palmer Public Interest Law Fellowship to work in the public defender department at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s Edinburg, Texas office.