2013-2014 Luce Scholar

Placement: The Caravan Magazine, New Delhi, India



Adam Lerner graduated from Cornell University in May of 2013 with an English major and a minor in International Relations. He became involved early in his collegiate career with The Cornell Daily Sun, joining the Arts Staff his first semester, becoming a biweekly columnist a year later, and being awarded an honorary position on the Editorial Writing Board last year. He also became an Assistant Editor for Rainy Day Literary Magazine his first semester at Cornell. He spent two weeks that summer volunteering in Eastern Ukraine, helping to refurbish a community center with a group of Cornell students. During his sophomore year he served as Vice President of Promotions for the Cornell Class Council and worked as a Peer Engagement Intern for Cornell Hillel. He then revived The Cornell Book Review after a yearlong hiatus following the founder’s graduation, recruiting a new staff of writers, editors, and illustrators, and he has been its Editor-in-Chief ever since. He also became a Teaching Assistant for the Knight Institute at Cornell University’s course “Writing and Research in the Disciplines” and a tutor at the Writing Center. He spent a semester studying in Paris, France where he interned for the Columbus Association, a non-profit at UNESCO that fosters cooperation between Latin American and European universities. The past three years he has worked for the Columbia University Summer Program for High School Students as a teaching assistant for courses in philosophy, international relations, and English and as a resident advisor in the dorms. Because of his role in founding and maintaining the program’s blog, he was promoted this past summer to Senior Media Coordinator, a member of the twelve person Senior Staff that oversees the entire 2,000-student program. Through this position he oversaw the program’s website, blog, newsletters, yearbooks, and video, and oversaw twelve university-age interns. Recently, he was made a contributor to USA Today’s college section. Academically, he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa national honor society, has been placed on the Dean’s List every semester, is an Honor’s Candidate in the Department of English, and is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society.  Adam hails from the Washington DC area and spent his senior year of high school studying at a Spanish-language school in Zaragoza, Spain. He is a brother in Phi Kappa Tau and in his free time he plays guitar, reads, and performs standup comedy.

India’s first and only publication devoted to narrative journalism, The Caravan occupies a singular position among Indian magazines. The Caravan‘s stories present a unique mix of detailed reporting, vivid writing, and a commitment to the art of storytelling. Drawing on the tradition established by international magazines such as The New Yorker and Granta, The Caravan presents a rich and nuanced picture of contemporary India in all its complexity. Since its relaunch in January 2010, the magazine has earned a reputation as one of the country’s most sophisticated publications: a showcase for the region’s finest writers and a distinctive blend of reporting, criticism and commentary, photo essays, and new fiction and poetry.