Tawreak “Ty” Gamble-Eddington '21 will receive the George J. Mitchell Scholarship for a year of graduate study in Ireland.
He is one of 12 Americans chosen from among 453 applicants for the honor, which was created by the founder and president of the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, Trina Vargo. It is named in honor of Sen. George J. Mitchell’s contributions to the Northern Ireland peace process.
Recipients are chosen based on academic distinction, leadership and service.
A political science and history major with a minor in Spanish, Gamble-Eddington will study race, ethnicity and conflict at Trinity College Dublin before attending law school. He is from Springfield, Mass.
“Ty has been a driving force for campus change, pushing Union to be more inclusive and aware of diverse perspectives,” said Lynn Evans, director of National Fellowships and Scholarships. “As Union's first Mitchell Scholar, Ty will further his constant pursuit of knowledge and cultural understanding in Ireland. The National Fellowships Committee and all the faculty and staff that have supported Ty are so excited for him."
Gamble-Eddington is completing two senior theses. He is examining what democratic representation means and how minorities can be represented within democracies, advised by Robert Hislope, associate professor of political science. He is also focusing on Black culture in Germany and France during the interwar period, advised by Mark Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History.
As a Seward Fellow, Gamble-Eddington completed a research project under the guidance of Mark Dallas, associate professor of political science, comparing Taiwanese and American firms in relation to semiconductors.
The summer after his first year, funded by a Gilman Scholarship, he participated in the Poland mini-term that focuses on the Holocaust. As a Klemm Fellow his sophomore year, he completed a human rights internship in Argentina. And during his junior year, Gamble-Eddington studied in Spain, where he interned with an immigration policy NGO. He also interned with BOSE Public Affairs Group, a government affairs firm in Washington, D.C., focused on education policy.
Gamble-Eddington has served as vice president of Union Pride and co-president of Black Student Union. He is also active in My Brother's Keeper, the Diversity Liaison Committee and the LGBTQ+ Affairs Committee.
He serves as the political director of the Young Democrats of Massachusetts Black Caucus and a junior editor for GLAAD. He was selected as a Mount Vernon Leadership Fellow in 2019 and a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University Heinz Graduate School of Public Policy in 2020.
He was also a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship.
In addition to Union, students selected for the Mitchell Scholarship come from these schools: Baylor, Columbia, Duke, George Washington, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan State, UCLA and the University of Michigan.
“We are so excited to see so many impressive applicants from across the U.S.,” said Carolina Chavez, director of the Mitchell Scholarship. “Our newly selected class will continue the tradition of exploring new perspectives on contemporary issues, building skills and relationships that will power the U.S.-Ireland relationship in the years to come.”