Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 15, 2004|Volume 33, Number 7

World Fellows Program gets
$5 million from Starr Foundation

The Starr Foundation of New York City has made a three-year, $5 million award to Yale in support of the University's World Fellows Program.

Each year the World Fellows Program brings 16 to 18 highly accomplished men and women from a diverse set of countries outside the United States to Yale for a concentrated 17-week leadership program. The World Fellows, who are all at an early mid-career point, come from a range of fields and disciplines including government, business, non-governmental organizations, academia, the military, religious organizations, media and the arts.

The Starr Foundation award will help to support Yale's efforts to build a global network of emerging leaders and to broaden international understanding at the University.

President Richard C. Levin thanked The Starr Foundation for its generosity, saying, "We deeply appreciate The Starr Foundation's support of the World Fellows Program and our commitment to developing global leaders. This award will ensure the vigor of the program through its early years."

"Over the past 50 years, The Starr Foundation has made significant grants to foster better international understanding," said Maurice R. Greenberg, chair of the foundation. "The Yale World Fellows Program, in cooperation with the Council on Foreign Relations, will advance that mission."

According to Daniel Esty, director of the World Fellows Program, "The 2003 World Fellows are already reporting back on the influence their time at Yale has had on their work at home. The Starr Foundation funding will make certain that the Yale World Fellows Program can thrive and further advance the goal of building global understanding."

Recent World Fellows have included a Ugandan member of parliament who is now running for president of his country; a Canadian army officer who has just been promoted to brigadier-general and been placed in charge of the Canadian Army Training System; a deputy director for the German ministry for environment who has become chief of staff to the president of Germany; a high-tech entrepreneur from Australia; the president of a micro-enterprise development bank in India; and a television anchorman from Cameroon.

The World Fellows spend an intensive semester at Yale exploring critical issues through a program of individualized academic enrichment, a World Fellows Seminar and leadership training with the full resources of Yale at their disposal. Guided by a faculty adviser, each World Fellow crafts a program designed to advance his or her own knowledge base, breadth of understanding and skills with the goal of enhancing their own effectiveness in the leadership structure of their countries, communities, and professions.

While at the University, the World Fellows play the role of teacher as well as student. World Fellows contribute to the teaching of various classes, offer a campus-wide lecture series and share their perspectives with student groups on both a formal and an informal basis. Through these activities, the World Fellows Program is helping to ensure that Yale students and faculty understand the range and complexity of international and global issues.

World Fellows deepen their own understanding of the United States as well, through meetings with high-level business, government, and civil society leaders, including special visits to New York City and Washington, D.C. The World Fellows Program also has a partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, which enables the World Fellows to participate in council programs during their tenure at Yale.

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Campus Notes