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

The longtime administrator, who retired from the post in 2018, returns as the College reorganizes. 

A new proposed structure, layoffs, and a five-day-a-week in-person work mandate will take effect by fall.

At informational town hall meetings, faculty and staff press administrators for details.

Most popular

Fake social media posts aim to distract

Distraction seems to be the aim of a massive government campaign of fake social media posts.

Author and Harvard Divinity School writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams finds beauty in the world around us.

The government also opens an investigation into financial aid awards to Chinese students.

Explore More From Current Issue

A vibrant group of dancers in colorful outfits poses on a stage with shiny decorations.

The Harvard Arts Medalist wants his smash-hit Cats revival to reach “as many young queer people” as possible.

Two figures stand before a large, colorful pixelated face against a yellow background.

Harvard scientists identify hundreds of genes under selective pressure.

Harvey Mansfield seated in a bright yellow chair, surrounded by bookshelves and cozy decor.

The retired government professor has been a rare conservative voice on campus for decades.