Bonderman Travel Fellowship

The Bonderman Travel Fellowship

The 2019 Bonderman Fellows have been selected!


Where would you go if you had eight months to travel solo? Which two continents and six countries would you visit? How would you get there? Where would you stay? What experiences would you seek out? How would you be transformed?

Each year a handful of lucky University of Washington students get to make those decisions as they embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Read more about the 2018 Fellows and where they will travel.

The Bonderman Travel Fellowship offers University of Washington graduate, professional, and select undergraduate students an opportunity to engage in independent exploration and travel abroad.

Through the Honors Program and the Graduate School Bonderman Fellowships enable students to undertake independent international travel to explore, be open to the unexpected, and come to know the world in new ways. Fellows may not participate in a program or organization, engage in formal study at a foreign university, conduct research or other academic projects, or travel with an organized group.  Bonderman Fellowships are intended to introduce students to cultures, peoples, and areas of the world with which they are not familiar.

The Bonderman Travel Fellowship program was created in 1995 through a gift from David Bonderman, who earned his undergraduate degree in Russian from the University of Washington in 1963. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he received a Sheldon Fellowship that allowed him to travel internationally, an experience that had a profound impact on his life. Now a successful investment adviser, Mr. Bonderman provides opportunities to current UW students for similarly transformative travel experiences through this program.

In 2016 Mr. Bonderman endowed the University of Washington Bonderman Fellowship, ensuring that this leading edge student experience will continue in perpetuity.


We are pleased to share news of another fellowship honoring the interests and work of Mr. Bonderman, started by his daughter at her alma mater, the University of Michigan. Learn more about UM’s program here.