Shepherd Program
Shepherd Program
The Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability incorporates a spirit of engagement and service into students’ extra-curricular and academic lives. Shepherd students learn how to understand and address the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality in ways that respect the dignity of every person, through community engagement and academic offerings, including a minor and internship opportunities.
Students weave poverty-related courses across disciplines (economics, education, law, philosophy, politics, sociology, and more) with hands-on service and internship experiences to supplement their major areas of study. Those pursuing a minor in poverty studies undertake capstone research projects that connect their concerns about poverty and inequality with their future civic and professional lives.
For over 25 years, The Shepherd Program has supported student leadership and service opportunities in the local Rockbridge area and beyond. Understanding the causes and consequences of poverty requires direct collaboration with community partners.
Shepherd in the News
Students and graduates of the Shepherd Program are involved all over campus and all over the world.
Stories
The March 20 webinar will focus on the challenges in addressing childhood obesity.
This year’s event raised more than $11,000 to support the Campus Kitchen’s hunger-fighting project.
All proceeds from the Feb. 2 event will support the Campus Kitchen at W&L’s Backpack Program.
The Jan. 27 webinar will focus on food relief efforts in Rockbridge County and Western Virginia.
The community is encouraged to participate and donate to support Campus Kitchen’s programming, which kicks off Nov. 10.
Adhip Adhikari ’27 spent much of his summer creating a library at a secondary school near his family’s home in Katmandu, Nepal.
The annual event series examines the ways in which food systems interact with issues of social justice.
W&L students share their experiences getting to know the larger Lexington and Rockbridge community during the summer months.
Through the Davis Projects for Peace Grant and a Fulbright ETA, Allie Stankewich ’23 is building relationships with the communities she serves in East Africa.
After graduation, Donahue is working as a financial analyst at Amazon and pursuing her CPA.
Siya ’27 married her passions for service with her economics and mathematics majors to intern this summer at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh through the Shepherd Program.
Addie-Grace Cook ’25, a politics major with a double minor in Middle East and South Asia studies and poverty and human capability studies, is spending her summer making an impact in the greater Rockbridge community through a Shepherd Program internship with Project Horizon.