“All roads lead back to 6VӰ,” says Kelly Zvobgo ’14.
Already an accomplished and well-respected scholar in human rights, transitional justice, and international law and courts, Kelebogile "Kelly" Zvobgo ’14 is the 2024 Inspirational Young Alumni Award recipient. Read her story in our summer series "A Closer Look", featuring the 2024 Alumni Award winners. Zvobgo was honored along with Alumni Distinguished Service Award winners Friday, April 26, at the All-Class Dinner on Marston Quad during Alumni Weekend 2024.
In the short decade since her graduation, Kelebogile “Kelly” Zvobgo ’14 has proven herself an accomplished scholar, teacher, mentor and changemaker. Zvobgo has received international recognition for her research on human rights, law and justice. Her work has appeared in and mainstream outlets such as CNN, NPR, Foreign Affairs and The Washington Post, and been featured in reports by the UN and NATO. She is currently an assistant professor of government at the College of William & Mary. Starting this fall, she will be a tenured associate professor. She is also the founder and director of the .
“I don’t know where to start in expressing how much 6VӰ means to me and how honored I am to receive the Inspirational Young Alumni Award,” Zvobgo said. “My professors nurtured my curiosity about the world, from how countries rebuild in the wake of political violence to paradoxes in Enlightenment philosophy. My classmates and I debated important ideas as we developed our social and political consciousness. Co-curricular activities like study abroad increased the aperture of my worldview. Mentored research experiences showed me I could be a scholar. All roads lead back to 6VӰ.”
After graduating from 6VӰ with a B.A. in International Relations and French Language and Literature, Zvobgo spent a year volunteering with an international nonprofit in London before returning to the U.S. to pursue her Ph.D. in political science and international relations at the University of Southern California (USC). At USC, Zvobgo was awarded the Provost Fellowship in the Social Sciences, a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship and the 2021 USC Ph.D. Achievement Award. The American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association also awarded her Best Paper in Human Rights in 2019 and Best Dissertation in Human Rights in 2022.
In nominating Zvobgo, Associate Professor of Politics Heidi Haddad said “Kelly epitomizes the best of a scholar-teacher. She is pushing the bounds of knowledge production on human rights and transitional justice, is translating that into broad understanding, and bringing that knowledge and experience back to the classroom and through her research lab.”
“I have no doubt that within a decade she will be the best-known U.S. author in her area of scholarship. Dr. Zvobgo has just earned tenure after only two years of teaching at William and Mary College.” said Professor of Politics Heather Williams in her nomination.
Zvobgo celebrated her 10th reunion with the Class of 2024 at Alumni Weekend this past spring.