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

Readers Respond to Our ‘Grade Inflation’ Survey

A sampling of thoughts about the many A’s at Harvard

Harvard Faculty Debate Plan to Cap A Grades

At a lively meeting, faculty members weighed a grade inflation plan that most agreed is imperfect.

Harvard Graduates Can Donate Directly to Their Houses on Housing Day

A new initiative encourages small-dollar donations for improving student life.

Most popular

Department of Education Investigates Harvard Admissions and Antisemitism Claims

The University calls federal actions “retaliatory.” 

Radcliffe Acquires a Black Feminist’s Archive

An architect of Black women’s studies, Barbara Smith introduced the concepts of “identity politics” and “intersectionality.”

Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time

Further links to Jeffrey Epstein surface in newly released files.

Explore More From Current Issue

Modern building surrounded by greenery and a walking path under a blue sky.

A New Landscape Emerges in Allston

The innovative greenery at Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex

A woman in a black blazer holds a bottle of beer.

Introductions: Mallika Monteiro

A conversation with a beer industry executive

Three climbers seated on a snowy summit, surrounded by clouds, appearing contemplative.

These Harvard Mountaineers Braved Denali’s Wall of Ice

John Graham’s Denali Diary documents a dangerous and historic climb.