Headshots of Nicole Brown, Sarah Jencks, and Justin G. ReidMedia Contact: J.A. Lyon, Director of Marketing & Communications, jlyon@monticello.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 6, 2025
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello is pleased to announce the appointment of Nicole Brown as Historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies (ICJS). Monticello also welcomes Sarah Jencks and Justin G. Reid as the inaugural Civic Partnerships Fellows, an initiative made possible by a $1 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Their work will position Monticello as a leader in scholarship, public history, and civic engagement, starting with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.
As Historian, Nicole Brown will lead Monticello’s fellowship program at the ICJS, shaping the next generation of scholars that study Jefferson, Monticello, and the founding history of the United States and its legacies.
“Nicole Brown is a multitalented public historian, a dedicated collaborator, and an expert on early Virginia history,” said Dr. Andrew M. Davenport, Vice President for Research and Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. “She will be an important resource for Monticello’s public history and scholarly initiatives in 2026 and beyond.”
Under Brown’s leadership, the ICJS fellowship program will feature both a semester-long cohort and a yearlong hybrid option. ICJS is currently accepting applications for 2026 fellows. Find application details here.
Civic Partnerships Fellows, Sarah Jencks and Justin G. Reid
As Civic Partnerships Fellows, Jencks and Reid will support and uplift the work of the Educating for American Democracy Community Learning Partner (EAD-CLP) Task Force, a coalition of more than 200 museums, libraries, and public institutions in 47 states and territories working to embed civics in their educational programs.
Jencks and Reid will also seek to build and strengthen partnerships locally and across the country, utilizing the history of Thomas Jefferson and Monticello as a starting point for important civic conversations that build skills crucial to self-governance. During their fellowships, Jencks and Reid will convene two national summits at Monticello, allowing museum professionals from across the country to learn from one another and explore effective approaches to history and civics education.
About Nicole Brown
Brown's doctoral research at William & Mary investigates Black literacy in the Atlantic World, highlighting new perspectives on eighteenth-century education and culture through interdisciplinary and descendant-engaged scholarship. She is also the co-editor of The Williamsburg Bray School, 1760–1774: A History Through Records, Reflections, and Rediscovery, an award-winning volume that illuminates the origins and legacy of one of the earliest educational institutions for enslaved and free Black children in America.
Previously, Brown served as Program Design Manager at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where she advanced innovative approaches to historical interpretation and public engagement. As a first-person interpreter, she has portrayed a range of women from the Colonial and Antebellum eras, including Ann Wager, the eighteenth-century teacher at the Williamsburg Bray School, and Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, wife of Thomas Jefferson. Her interpretive work has also been featured at Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in theatrical performances.
About Sarah Jencks
Sarah Jencks is the founder and principal of Every Museum a Civic Museum, LLC and an inaugural National Civics Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. She helps museums define and activate their civic missions and has served as a co-chair of the Educating for American Democracy Community Learning Partners Task Force. Formerly Director of Education and Interpretation at Ford’s Theatre for nearly 15 years, Jencks also teaches in George Washington University’s Museum Studies program.
About Justin G. Reid
Justin G. Reid is a cultural organizer, public historian, and co-founder of Griffin Blvd Archives, a rural sustainable development and cultural heritage network in South Central Virginia. A native of Farmville, Virginia, where his family were litigants in the 1964 Griffin v. County School Board Supreme Court case ending local massive resistance to desegregation, Reid later directed the Moton Museum’s award-winning exhibition on his community’s Civil Rights-era activism. As a social impact strategist and co-founder of initiatives such as William & Mary’s Lemon Project, he has also helped launch Virginia’s Black, Indigenous, & People of Color Historic Preservation Fund.
About the International Center for Jefferson Studies
The Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies is a multidisciplinary research center that oversees the work of several departments at Monticello and supports the ongoing international study of Thomas Jefferson and his world. Founded in 1994 by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the ICJS has created a network of scholars, teachers, and students who engage a global audience in a dialogue with Jefferson’s ideas. Through a fellowship program, international scholarly conferences, panel discussions, teacher workshops, lectures, and curriculum-based tours, the ICJS establishes relationships with people from around the world.
About the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation was incorporated in 1923 to preserve Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Today, the foundation seeks to bring history forward into national and global dialogues by engaging audiences with Jefferson’s world and ideas and inviting them to experience the power of place at Monticello and on its website. Monticello is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, a United Nations World Heritage Site, and a Site of Conscience. As a private, nonprofit organization, the foundation’s regular operating budget does not receive ongoing government support to fund its twofold mission of preservation and education. For information, visit monticello.org.