Alex Joel ’25 has been named a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Carnegie American Statecraft Program, which examines U.S. foreign policy through “the lens of key bilateral relationships, mapping the way to a foreign policy more responsive to the realities of the mid-twenty-first century.”

Each year, the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace offers approximately 15 one-year fellowships to graduating seniors to work as research assistants to Carnegie’s senior scholars in such areas as the Global South, the U.S.-China relationship, nuclear policy, and technology and international affairs. 

“I look forward to utilizing my knowledge of regional politics, Russian language ability, and blend of government and academic experience to contribute to Carnegie’s mission of advancing peace through analysis, policy, and engagement,” says Joel, a double major in government and Russian language from McLean, Virginia. 

He will be working in the Russia and Eurasia program with Andrew Weiss, the James Family Chair and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees research on Russia and Eurasia; and Eugene Rumer, a senior fellow and the director of Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia Program.

Joel says that a particular influence on his studies has been William Wohlforth, the Daniel Webster Professor of Government.

“Professor Wohlforth’s ‘Intro to International Politics’ was one of my first (and favorite) classes at Dartmouth freshman fall, and I was immediately interested in the possibility of doing research with him due to his expertise in Russian foreign policy,” Joel says.

Joel has also worked with Wohlforth as a James O. Freedman Presidential Research Scholar on Wohlforth’s recent book, A Measure Short of War: A Brief History of Great Power Subversion. In addition, Wohlforth supervised Joel’s government honors thesis.

Joel “will bring to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace not only his sharp intellect, prodigious work ethic, and the analytical skills acquired in his rigorous Dartmouth curriculum, but also deep area expertise on the international politics of Russia and Eurasia,” Wohlforth says.

Joel is “one of the best students of Russian not only in our department, but among the students of the 3rd-year-level Russian in New England,” says Alfia Rakova, the Russian Language Program Director at Dartmouth. Earlier this month, Joel won first place among the New England colleges and universities in the Olympiada of Spoken Russian at Harvard, speaking in Russian for seven minutes on the subject of music and ideology.

During his time at Dartmouth, Joel has studied Russian language and related subjects at Yerevan State University in Armenia and was part of the Department of Government’s foreign study program at the London School of Economics. As a War & Peace Fellow with the Dickey Center, he traveled to Japan and South Korea this winter to speak with foreign policy experts and government officials. And as a Stamps Scholar, he traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia, to interview scholars at regional think tanks. 

Joel says he has appreciated the opportunities for international study and internships in the U.S. that permitted him to “maintain the continuity of my college experience while studying and interning off campus.”

He is also grateful to friends and mentors he has met at Dartmouth who have been “a constant source of inspiration,” he says.

Joel hopes to attain full fluency in Russian and plans to pursue a career at the “nexus of law and national security.”

Students interested in learning about the Gaither Junior Fellowships and other fellowship opportunities can visit the Office of Fellowship Advising.