Vanderbilt Announces Scholarship in Memory of U.S. Student Killed in Tel Aviv Terror Attack

The scholarship in honor of Taylor Force, an army veteran who was visiting Israel with business school classmates when he was stabbed to death this month, prioritizes military academy graduates.

Aimee Amiga

Mar 20, 2016

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Taylor Force, the U.S. citizen killed on the March 9, 2015 terror attack in Jaffa.Credit: Facebook screenshot

Aimee Amiga

Mar 20, 2016

Vanderbilt University has announced a scholarship in memory of an American student who was killed in a terrorist attack this month during an educational trip to Israel.

The Taylor Force Memorial Scholarship is intended to support military academy graduates attending the Owen Graduate School of Management.

Taylor Force graduated from West Point in 2009 before being commissioned as second lieutenant in the United States Army, where he completed combat tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. After his active duty, Force began an MBA program at Owen in August 2015.

It was during a school trip to Israel to study global entrepreneurship that the 28-year-old was stabbed to death in Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv, by a Palestinian assailant. The assailant, later identified as 22-year-old Bashar Masalha from the West Bank village of Auja, wounded 11 others before being shot dead by police.

“This scholarship is a wonderful way to support men and women who, like Taylor, put others first and make our community stronger, smarter and better by building on their military experience with an advanced degree,” Eric Johnson, Ralph Owen Dean of the Owen Graduate School of Management, said in a press release issued Friday.

A 2009 photo provided by the United States Military Academy shows Taylor Force. Credit: AP

The statement was issued shortly after Vanderbilt's chancellor Nicholas Zeppos announced the scholarship at a campus memorial service for Force.

First preference for the scholarship will be given to applicants who, like Force, studied at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Second preference will be given to graduates of the United States Air Force.

The scholarship was gifted to the university by an anonymous donor, Vanderbilt told Haaretz, and is open to contributions from independent sponsors to provide ongoing support.

The first scholarship is expected to be granted in the fall 2016 semester.