Arizona Cardinal turned American soldier Pat Tillman lived his values. Nearly 20 years after the Army Ranger’s death in Afghanistan, those principles—intellectual curiosity, servant leadership, and a commitment to changemaking—live on in the foundation that bears his name.
This year the School of International Service became the first university partner in the US to team up with the Pat Tillman Foundation to offer $5,000 in renewable matching funds for any SIS student selected for the nonprofit’s flagship scholarship initiative.
The Tillman Scholar program offers tuition support averaging $10,000 per year, leadership training, and networking opportunities for military service members, veterans, and their spouses. Since its inception in 2009, the program has invested $24 million in more than 800 Tillman Scholars from 166 colleges and universities across the US. Tillman Scholars—four of whom served as honorary captains for Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on February 12—boast a 98 percent graduation rate.
“Being a Tillman Scholar is for life,” says Brett SanPietro, director of programs at the Chicago-based foundation. “Unlike so many other academic opportunities, being a Tillman Scholar is very much about the time you’re in school and the time after. How can we help you get to that next stage and how can we help you serve and have an impact?”
Rebecca Coughlin, associate director of graduate enrollment at SIS, says the four pillars of the Tillman Scholar program—service, scholarship, humble leadership, and potential for impact—“align perfectly” with the mission of SIS. “My hope is that SIS can encourage individuals with amazing stories of bravery, resilience, and leadership to apply to the Tillman Scholar program and gain confidence in their future service potential.”
Melissa Mangold, SIS/MIS ’19, is a 2018 Tillman Scholar—and AU’s first. The daughter of veterans, she grew up in a family dedicated to community and public service . Following an impactful high school exchange program in Japan, she became interested in a career in international relations. Like Tillman, Mangold was inspired to join the army after 9/11, serving as an Arabic linguist and cryptanalyst.
Even though Mangold has enjoyed a successful career in the US Department of State since 2009, serving for the last few years as a diplomatic security special agent with the Foreign Service, she felt compelled to go back to school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s declaration at SIS’s groundbreaking in June 1957 that “the waging of peace demands the best we have” resonated deeply with Mangold, whose disillusionment with the war in Iraq spurred a desire to advocate for the responsible pursuit of ethical foreign policy objectives.
“The ethos of SIS spoke to me and to my passion for being a force for peace in the world,” says the mother of four, whose career has taken her to dozens of countries on five continents. She found a similar sense of belonging as a Tillman Scholar.
“I knew Pat’s story—his service and his sacrifice,” says Mangold of Tillman, who was killed by friendly fire in April 2004 at age 27. “But I didn’t know about his objections to the war.
“[When I was in the army], I was torn between the desire to serve my country and being categorically against some of the things President Bush was saying. But I found strength in Pat’s voice, and in fact, they said, ‘Hey, we see a little bit of Pat in you.’ The foundation embodies something that I wanted to be a part of—something that I thought I could add to my own mission in life.”