Smith Graduate Named Lafayette Urban Planning Fellow

AC Manning ’25, a recent graduate of Smith College, will be part of the first cohort of the Lafayette Fellowship, a new scholarship created by the French Embassy in the United States to deepen the academic and cultural exchange between France and the U.S. and to support young leaders interested in this transatlantic relationship. 

Manning is one of 30 fellows selected from among 3,400 applicants to receive this scholarship, which supports master’s level study in France. 

At Smith College, Manning studied comparative world literatures and the intersections of comparative literature, engineering, design thinking, and geography. As a Lafayette Fellow, Manning will attend Université Grenoble Alpes, where she will complete a master’s degree program in urban planning and development. A focus of Manning’s study will be the role of public spaces in building social infrastructure as communities respond to critical challenges.

As an emerging urban planner, Manning intends to examine the interactions between people and the built environment, interrogating the policies, politics, design, and uses that shape shared spaces. Her professional experiences at Architecture for Public Benefit, Smith’s Campus Planning Office, and most recently the design firm Sasaki emphasize an approach to urban planning that is holistic, collaborative, and process-driven. 

“At Smith, AC made creative use of the resources around her to develop expertise in urban planning through harnessing the power of a liberal arts education together with internships and work experience,” says Andrew Dausch, director of fellowships & postgraduate scholarships at Smith College. “Her experience studying abroad in France through the Smith in Paris program provided her with linguistic and cultural fluency as well as the ability to tap into cutting-edge ideas in French urban planning. AC put an extraordinary amount of energy and focus into her application and drew upon excellent academic guidance from faculty mentors in engineering, comparative literature, and French studies.”

In accepting the fellowship, Manning noted, “The Lafayette Fellowship presents an incredible opportunity to engage with urban planning in a cultural and political context that has long prioritized public space. Through collaboration and exposure to innovative practices in France, I aim to challenge and expand my expectations of what socially-driven planning can achieve.”

Established in September 2025 by the president of France to mark the 250th anniversary of French-American friendship, the Lafayette Fellowship is offered by Villa Albertine, in partnership with France Science, with support from the Albertine Foundation. Université Grenoble Alpes is one of 15 leading French institutions to join the partnership, which also includes the French Institute for Culture and Education within the French Embassy in the United States.

This year’s fellows were selected following a rigorous national selection process chaired by Nobel Prize–winning French-American economist Dr. Esther Duflo. The scholarship enables them to pursue one year of fully funded master’s study, while participating in an immersive leadership and cultural program designed to cultivate the next generation of French-American leaders. 

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of American independence, the 2026 fellows gathered in Paris on July 4, before embarking on a transformative summer leadership program across Paris, Avignon, Arles, and Marseille. The leadership program will continue in Strasbourg in December and in the Paris region in spring 2027. Through masterclasses on global challenges, visiting leading institutions, cultural immersions, and engagements with France’s innovation ecosystem, the students will build lifelong connections with one another and with France. 

“The Lafayette Fellowship is an investment in the next generation of American leaders and in the enduring friendship and partnership between France and the United States,” said Mohamed Bouabdallah, cultural counselor of France in the United States and director of Villa Albertine. “By giving exceptional young Americans the opportunity to study, live, and build lasting ties in France, we are creating a powerful community of future leaders who will shape the next chapter of transatlantic cooperation.”