Sometimes, one class can make all the difference. Emily Neumeier ’08, a Presidential Scholar and avowed “Latin nerd,” came to Boston College to study art history—specifically Greek and Roman art. During her freshman year, Neumeier took a class with Sheila Blair, the Calderwood Chair in Fine Arts, entitled “Great Cities of the Islamic Lands,” and it changed the path of her studies. “Professor Blair is so energetic and excited, and I was totally taken with the material,” says Neumeier. “Ever since then, she’s been a mentor to me.”

Neumeier, who studied abroad in Egypt during her junior year, received a Fulbright Scholarship to study Islamic calligraphy after her graduation. “My senior thesis was about 9th century Koran manuscripts. I did the really early stuff, so I wanted to go to Istanbul to study the late stuff,” she says. In addition to interning at a museum, Neumeier was able to serve as an apprentice to a master calligrapher. “These artists can trace back their calligraphy lineage at least a few hundred years,” she says. “It’s amazing to know that I’m a part of that.”

Recently, the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program, which supports students from church-affiliated colleges and universities pursuing advanced degrees in the humanities, selected Neumeier to be part of its second-ever cohort of scholars.  Neumeier has been matched with a mentor, and over the next three years will participate in seminars and conferences with 15 other Lilly Fellows while she pursues a Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. “One of the things I miss about Boston College is that because of its Christian foundation, they really hammer all the time the idea of your responsibility to use your education for the betterment of other people,” says Neumeier. “The Lilly program reminds me to be more mindful and thoughtful about what I’m doing in grad school.”