Meet Harvard Magazine’s Ledecky Fellows

The 2024-2025 Undergraduate columnists

Serena Jampel (left) and Yasmeen Khan (right)

Serena Jampel and Yasmeen Khan | FROM lEFT: COURTESY OF SERENA JAMPEl; STU ROSNER

Harvard Magazine welcomes Serena Jampel ’25 and Yasmeen Khan ’26 to its editorial staff as the 2024-2025 Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellows. Starting in the November-December issue, they will alternate as authors of the “Undergraduate” column, contributing articles in print and online about aspects of Harvard life.

Jampel, of Newton, Massachusetts, is a history and literature concentrator with a secondary focus in folklore and mythology. She covers arts and culture for the Crimson and contributes to its weekly magazine, Fifteen Minutes, and is an editor for the Harvard Advocate. Jampel is also an improv comic actor and serves on the First-Year Outdoor Program steering committee. Last fall, as tensions rose amid the Israel-Hamas war, Jampel co-founded the Forward-Thinking Jewish Union, as a setting for undergraduates to discuss Zionism and Jewish campus life. She spent the summer as an intern for the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague, researching cases of contested history and helping to develop curricula on media bias and historical revisionism.

Khan, of Spring, Texas, is a history and literature concentrator, with a focus on American studies. She has served a writer and editor at large for Fifteen Minutes, and last November she and Jampel co-authored a longform investigative article, “‘The White Man’s College’: How Antisemitism Shaped Harvard’s Legacy Admissions.” Khan previously interned at Document Journal, an arts and culture magazine, and has freelanced for The Nation and Texas Monthly. She is a mentor with Big Sister Boston and spent the summer interning for The Pangea Network, a nonprofit that empowers women and girls in Kenya and the United States with business skills training and access to funding.

The fellowships are supported by Jonathan J. Ledecky ’79, M.B.A. ’83, and named in honor of his late mother. For updates on past Ledecky Fellows and links to their work, see harvardmag.com/ledecky.

Related topics

You might also like

Harvard Faculty Group Proposes Limits on A Grades

The grade inflation measure requires a full faculty vote, expected in the spring.

Mount Vernon, Historic Preservation, and American Politics

Anne Neal Petri promotes George Washington and historic literacy.

Harvard Funds Student “Bridges” Projects

Eight new initiatives to build community on campus will get underway early next year. 

Most popular

Why Men Are Falling Behind in Education, Employment, and Health

Can new approaches to education address a growing gender gap?

Harvard Faculty Group Proposes Limits on A Grades

The grade inflation measure requires a full faculty vote, expected in the spring.

AI Is Risky Business for the Power Grid, Harvard Experts Say

An Institute of Politics panel focused on the technology’s rapid expansion 

Explore More From Current Issue

A girl sits at a desk, flanked by colorful, stylized figures, evoking a whimsical, surreal atmosphere.

The Trouble with Sidechat

No one feels responsible for what happens on Harvard’s anonymous social media app.

Historic church steeple framed by bare tree branches against a clear sky.

Harvard’s Financial Challenges Lead to Difficult Choices

The University faces the consequences of the Trump administration—and its own bureaucracy.

Anne Neal Petri in a navy suit leans on a wooden chair against an exterior wall of Mount Vernon..

Mount Vernon, Historic Preservation, and American Politics

Anne Neal Petri promotes George Washington and historic literacy.