Human Rights Minor Returns to the Farm as Knight-Hennessy Scholar

Stanford Human Rights Minor alum (Class of 2022) and Human Rights Summer Fellow Alexandra Koch was recently named a 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholar and will be returning to the Farm next academic year to pursue her JD at Stanford Law School. Alexandra  joins a cohort of 84 new scholars representing 25 countries and pursuing degrees in 46 graduate programs across all seven graduate schools at Stanford. 

“I am drawn to identifying and seizing moments of improbable cooperation between states, non-state actors, and civil society to end conflict and curtail human suffering,” Koch said. “I see the law as a critical tool for making this possible, and I intend to use my legal education at Stanford—and the Knight-Hennessy community—to help make our world safer, more predictable, and more secure.”

The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is a multidisciplinary graduate scholarship that provides up to three years of financial support for graduate studies at Stanford, aiming to cultivate a community of future global leaders equipped to tackle complex challenges through collaboration and innovation. 

“Alexandra’s commitment to combating human rights abuse and humanitarian harms around the globe was clear from the moment she joined our student community over five years ago,” said Center Associate Director for Strategy and Program Development Jessie Brunner. “We are delighted that she will be returning to campus to pursue her law degree in furtherance of these goals.” 

Alexandra has already made meaningful contributions to international security and diplomacy—most recently at the U.S. Department of State, where she worked on arms control policy and the military applications of emerging technologies, and previously at the global pro bono law firm Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), where she supported peace negotiations and post-conflict constitution drafting, initially as one of the Center’s 2020 Human RIghts Summer Fellows. Building on her undergraduate studies at Stanford—where, in addition to her Human Rights Minor, she completed an honors thesis at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and worked at the International Criminal Court in The Hague—Alexandra intends to use her JD to strengthen the laws of armed conflict, reduce the human cost of war, and harness legal frameworks to prevent the escalation of violence, resolve conflict through negotiation, and support the establishment of durable peace.

“Our world has never been in greater need of leaders to address a wide range of challenges,” John L. Hennessy, Stanford University president emeritus and the Shriram Family Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars said in a program announcement. “Our scholars are ready to think boldly, act wisely and humbly, and lead with purpose, helping build a better future for all of us.”