Tillman Scholars in the News

We’re proud of these Tillman Scholars for continuing to make an impact on their communities. Read on to see how they continue to lead through action.

Annie Kleiman, 2015 Tillman Scholar

Annie Kleiman is featured in the PBS docuseries American Veteran discussing her veteran experience.

Instead of the stability of a guaranteed military retirement, Annie chose to make a drastic change and go to graduate school.

Annie is interested in women’s roles in the security sector, both as operators and as community members. Annie feels the imminent integration of women into ground combat units presents a chance to study history as it unfolds. Additionally, she is interested in investigating how empowering women economically, socially, and politically can help society as a whole and the implications this carries for future U.S. military operations.

Lindsey Erdmann, 2021 Tillman Scholar

Lindsey Erdmann will be serving as a panelist for a roundtable event “Supporting our Service Members Through Transition Roundtable Conversation” hosted by Representative Dean Phillips on 11/12 at Tokyo Electron.

After uniformed service, Lindsey transitioned to serving her community. Following earning a bachelor’s in social work from the University of St. Thomas, she served with organizations focused on youth mentorship, criminal justice, housing, and mental health. A common thread throughout this work is the foundational need for safe, stable housing to allow people to live with dignity, self-determination, and prosperity. These experiences have inspired Lindsey to work towards dismantling structural inequities within the housing system that hold people captive rather than providing an avenue for true freedom.

Drawing parallels between the marginalization of women in the military and other oppressed communities, Lindsey knows that intersectional policies and systems are vital components for creating environments for all people and communities to thrive. Lindsey will pursue a master’s of public policy and a minor in integrative leadership at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Her goal is to continue making an impact with a career in public service by better understanding the social, political, and economic systems that drive housing inequality in order to develop sustainable, community-centered housing solutions to end housing insecurity in her community.

Bridgette Bell, 2017 Tillman Scholar
Adrian Perkins, 2015 Tillman Scholar 

Do More Together, co-founded by Bridgette Bell, hosted their 2021 virtual summit (Oct. 27-29)  which included Tillman Scholar Adrian Perkins as a guest speaker.

Bridgette Bell found a passion for psychology while deployed in Iraq, where she dealt with trauma survivors first-hand as her Army unit’s primary responder for sexual assault victims. It was through this experience she discovered her natural ability to help victims cope and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Jackson State University.

Adrian Perkins is the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and Harvard Law School, and an Army veteran.

Margaret Smith, 2011 Tillman Scholar

Margaret Smith will join the faculty at National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) teaching a course on Great Powers and Near-Peer Competition

Maggie originally enlisted in 2004 to complete her undergraduate education but serving quickly became a passion and turned into a career. She commissioned as a military intelligence officer in 2013 after completing her MPP (with a focus in Homeland Security and Intelligence Policy) at Georgetown University with the Army’s Green to Gold Program. While at GU she was named a Tillman Scholar and received the Whittington Scholarship for second year students at the McCourt School. She is a trained senior watch officer, cyberspace operations planer, offensive cyberspace operations mission commander, and will take a position at the United States Military Academy’s Army Cyber Institute following her doctoral studies at George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration.