The US-Ireland Alliance Scholarship

US-Ireland Alliance welcomes challenge grant for scholarship program

March 16, 2026. At the US-Ireland Alliance’s annual Oscar Wilde Awards in Los Angeles Thursday night, it was announced that an anonymous donor has committed $2 million to the US-Ireland Alliance’s Scholarship program if others come forward and give the same amount. 

The Alliance recently removed the name of former Senator George J. Mitchell from its prestigious scholarship program after new information came to light as part of the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein by the Department of Justice.  There have been 25 classes of Scholars and nearly 300 people have pursued graduate studies at universities on the island of Ireland. The Alliance recently put the Scholarship on hold to focus on building an endowment to sustain the program for the long term. 

Vargo said, “We welcome this generous pledge of support and hope it inspires others to come forward and invest in the continued success of this important program.”

Background:  

While we are changing the name everywhere, these old links will still display the name “Mitchell” Scholarship:

Endowment comparison charts 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dN-QTU3uH-tOEG7JGwVg6t3yIjyvlqxV/view

25 classes of Scholars:  https://mitchellscholars.us-irelandalliance.org

Name change announcement: https://us-irelandalliance.org/mitchellscholarship/announcement

Original pause announcement:  https://us-irelandalliance.org/mitchellscholarship/news/mitchell-scholarship-program-selection-to-pause