Sorensen establishes public service scholarship for UNL students

Former adviser to President John F. Kennedy and University of Nebraska graduate Theodore "Ted" Sorensen has established a scholarship for outstanding students interested in public service.

The Theodore C. Sorensen Public Service Scholarship is a permanently endowed fund created with a gift of $55,000 to the University of Nebraska Foundation with an additional commitment of $150,000. The scholarship will be awarded annually by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Arts and Sciences to one or more seniors who have demonstrated superior academic performance and who have demonstrated a commitment to public service in the United States.

"I very much appreciate Mr. Sorensen's generous support for the great education the students in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNL receive," said Dean David Manderscheid. "Through this scholarship students will be better able to go on to careers that will make the college, the university and the state of Nebraska proud."

In addition to this scholarship, Sorensen established an endowed fellowship fund in 1991 that has supported students in the UNL College of Law who are also committed to public service.

Sorensen recently wrote a memoir about his own life and public service, including his experience counseling Kennedy through some of the most dramatic moments in American history. In the book titled "Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History," he returns to January 1953, when he and the freshman senator from Massachusetts began their extraordinary professional and personal relationship.

"My new book makes clear that much of what I have accomplished in these 80 years is due to my upbringing and education in Nebraska," Sorensen said. "It is my hope that my fellowship at the law school and these new scholarships at the College of Arts and Sciences will help other young Nebraskans in the future who share my interest in public service."

Ted Sorensen was born in Lincoln, and graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in law and in 1951 from the University of Nebraska College of Law with a juris doctor. After law school, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he would ultimately work for Kennedy. He left the White House soon after JFK's death, and in 1966 joined a New York City law firm, where as a prominent international lawyer, he advised governments, multinational organizations and major corporations around the world. He also wrote a bestselling biography of JFK. Sorensen remains active in political and international issues, and lives in New York City with his wife, Gillian.

The University of Nebraska Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation that has raised private gifts to support the University of Nebraska for 72 years. Last year, almost $90 million was provided for students, faculty, academic programs, research, and for campus and building improvements. More information is available at www.nufoundation.org.