Ben Vagle ’22 has been named a 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholar, from around the world to receive three years of financial support for graduate study at Stanford University.
A government major at Dartmouth, Vagle plans to earn both a JD from Stanford Law School and a PhD in political science from Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences.
“I was drawn to the program’s interdisciplinary nature and focus on leadership and communication, as I want to ensure that my research ultimately leads to valuable outcomes in the world of policy,” Vagle says.
This year’s class of scholars comes from 25 countries and will pursue degrees in 46 graduate programs across the university.
“It’s wonderful news for Dartmouth to have a Knight-Hennessy Scholar named for the third year in a row. The program is a fantastic opportunity for young scholars, and I’m thrilled that Ben will be able to build on his extensive work in economic policy and security studies,” says , assistant dean of faculty for fellowship advising.
Vagle is also the co-author with Professor of Government of (Oxford University Press), which examines the ongoing struggle between the U.S. and China for trade and technological supremacy, and the future foreign policy implications of their relationship.
The book began three years ago as Vagle’s senior thesis, with the guidance of both Brooks and Professor of Government , the thesis program director.
Brooks and Valentino were “remarkable sounding boards and pushed me to take my research in interesting and novel directions,” Vagle says.
Brooks had not previously written a scholarly publication with an undergraduate student, but said, in regards to Vagle, “I had no doubt at all that Ben would be an amazing co-author, and this definitely proved to be the case.”
Since graduating from Dartmouth, Vagle has worked in Washington, D.C., as an economic consultant and then as a policy analyst for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States at the Department of the Treasury. As a result he gravitated towards the legal profession.
“I was drawn to the rational way (lawyers) thought about problems and the fact that so many of the problems I’m interested in solving have solutions in the legal world,” he says.
He plans to pair the JD with research on sanctions policy and the U.S.-China relationship through his political science PhD, he says.
Growing up in Colorado, Vagle, an avid hiker, runner, and mountain biker, was interested in Dartmouth not only for its academic reputation but also for its rural setting, which encouraged him to “pursue many of those outdoor passions,” he says.
Dartmouth had a profound impact on Vagle’s fields of study. He had always been a reader of history, he says, but the College’s government and economics courses helped him to “develop a much deeper understanding of how historical processes actually work.”
While at Dartmouth, Vagle was co-editor in chief of World Outlook, Dartmouth’s journal of international affairs, worked as a student assistant at the Rockefeller Center, and did research for a variety of government professors.
The Knight-Hennessy scholarship is named for Stanford’s 10th president, John L. Hennessy, and for Nike co-founder and philanthropist Phil Knight, a 1962 graduate of the Stanford Â鶹ĘÓƵ School of Business.
For information about applying for Knight-Hennessy Scholarships and other programs, visit the .
