District 5420 Receives First Global Grant for Scholarship
District 5420 has received a Global Grant to fund a scholarship for a local scholar who is studying at Oxford University this fall. The Salt Lake Club is the international host for the grant, and the Holladay, Orem, Lehi, and E-Clubs also provided matching funds to support the Global Grant. The Rotary Club of Oxford is her host club in country.
Rachel Finlayson, a resident of Holladay, will be an MPhil in Politics student and will focus her studies on “Political Tolerance and Openness: Promoting Peace in an Age of Extremism.” She plans to research openness and willingness to adopt new beliefs in politics as a means to mitigate partisanship and extremism in politics. Through field work, she will conduct interviews to understand how openness and toleration is cultivated, perceived, and how it affects political discourse. She will also research how gender and religious identity impact willingness to consider new ideas. Finally, she will work with Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism to explore the impact of media in reinforcing closed-mindedness and extremity or generating support for diversity and toleration in political thought.
Finlayson expressed her appreciation to Utah Rotarians: “It is such an honor to be the Utah District’s first Global Grant Scholar, and I am excited to share what I learn at Oxford through regular updates. Thank you all for your involvement in making this possible.”