The Lurie Institute is pleased to announce the creation of the Hon. Jonathan Brant Endowed Fellowship, created by Dr. Renee Tankenoff Brant '68 in memory of Judge Jonathan Brant '68, a Brandeis alumnus and Cambridge, Mass. District Court judge and an indefatigable advocate for people with disabilities. Intended for doctoral students affiliated with the Lurie Institute, the Brant Fellowship provides tuition and other financial assistance to support their dissertations and policy advocacy. Through the Brant Fellowship, we aim to encourage promising students to apply their research and advocacy prowess to ensuring the full social and legal equality of people with disabilities across the United States and worldwide.
Judge Brant devoted much of his professional life to advocating for the rights of people with disabilities, including his service as chair of the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee, where he worked to protect the rights of children, youth and adults with mental health disabilities. As a lawyer, he also argued for the self-determination of people with disabilities in medical settings. Instead of accepting more straightforward cases, he sought out complex cases with complex outcomes, placing the needs and rights of people with disabilities at the forefront. By supporting doctoral students with a passion for disability research that tackles the complex questions connected with disability policy and advocacy, we hope to do justice to Judge Brant's memory.
We are pleased to announce that Kaitlin Stober, a Lurie doctoral student, has been named the 2023–24 Brant Fellow.
Previous Brant Fellows include Jessica Chaikof (2022–23), Ian Moura (2021–2022), Gabby Katz (2020–2021), Robbie Dembo (2019–2020), and Robyn Powell, who received the inaugural Brant Fellowship in 2018.
If you are interested in contributing to the Brant Fellowship fund, please visit Heller School Giving.