A former ambassador and Georgetown University Law Center graduate donated $10 million to the law school to fund scholarships and support students pursuing public service careers, the school announced June 24.
The gift from Alfred Moses (LAW ’56), a former U.S. ambassador to Romania and a prominent Washington, D.C. lawyer, will create a Public Interest Scholars Program Endowed Fund, encouraging students to pursue public service careers after graduation. The donation is the largest in Law Center history specifically designated for scholarships.
Moses said he hopes more Georgetown Law graduates take up jobs in the public sector, which are typically lower-paying than jobs in the private sector.
“There is a great need for public service in our country,” Moses said in the university’s press release. “The private sector is very financially attractive to law graduates, but public service is so important for the future of our country. We need brilliant, dedicated, well-educated, well-trained people who will work for the public interest, even if they need to make a financial sacrifice to do it.”
The endowed fund adds to the Law Center’s current offerings for students interested in public service careers, including federally funded loan repayment programs and the Blume Public Interest Scholars Program, which selects 20 students to receive summer and post-graduate funding and mentorship.
Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor, who is stepping down June 30, said the law school has a tradition of supporting public service-minded students.
“Ambassador Moses’ gift to Georgetown Law will enable us to build on that tradition even as recent events at the federal level threaten to raise even more barriers to public service,” Treanor said in the university’s statement. “We are very grateful for his vision and generosity. As I conclude my time as dean at the end of this month, I can’t think of a gift that would mean more to me because it will do so much to help us advance Georgetown’s mission of educating people ‘in the service of others.’”
According to the university, over one fifth of Georgetown Law students go into public service and the Law Center’s Office of Public Interest and Community Service is the largest public interest-focused advising office at a law school in the United States.
Moses said he aims for his donation to broaden the scope of public service opportunities for students.
“We hope we can build a fund of $50 million so that over time, we can have many hundreds of graduates committed to public service as a career — anything from a firefighter to the president of the United States,” Moses said.