Magteld Smith, a Public Policy Humphrey fellow from 2012-2013, has been using the skills gained during her Humphrey year in Minnesota to work towards providing opportunities for those with disabilities in South Africa. Throughout her career, Smith has helped establish the analysis of disability as a field in academic research and teaching.
Earlier this summer, Judy Gibson, director of the Humphrey Fellowship Program at the Institute of International Education, had the opportunity to meet with Humphrey alumni who were attending the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) annual conference in Puerto Rico. Nearly 20 Humphrey Alumni were in attendance at the four-day forum which focused on building international collaborative research on drug abuse. During the conference, Humphrey alumni sat down with Ms. Gibson to discuss the impact that the Humphrey Program has had on their career trajectories.
From October 20 to October 24, 2013, 180 Humphrey Fellows representing 93 countries attended the 2013 Hubert H. Humphrey Global Leadership Forum, “Confronting Global Challenges: A Focus on Climate Change,” at the Key Bridge Marriot Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. During the five-day Forum, the Fellows focused on how global warming affects the world, their nations and even their professions. They also explored the importance of developing leadership skills, managing change and making the most of their program year.
Hubert Humphrey alumna Larissa Novikova (University of Maryland College Park, 2007-2008) was awarded an Alumni Professional Development Grant to attend Freedom Summit 2013, a two-day conference that serves as a catalytic event to bring different communities, organizations and interested individuals together around the issue of human trafficking. Freedom Summit 2013, which took place on January 25-26th in Fremont, California, stands as the largest anti-trafficking gathering in the US.
Hubert Humphrey alumni Shanta Nagendram (Tufts University, 1987-1988) and Khairuddin Tahir (UC Davis, 1988-1989), both of Malaysia, were recently lead trainers of a training and study tour for Afghan Ministry Officials. The ten-day tour brought 16 agriculture research and extension specialists from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) to Malaysia to learn from experts in agricultural development.
Each fall, the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program gathers the current cohort of Fellows together in Washington D.C. for the Global Leadership Forum (GLF). The GLF provides opportunities for Fellows to meet their colleagues in the Humphrey cohort, establish professional connections, and begin new friendships. In addition, Fellows learn what experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) foresee as challenges the world will confront in the future.
Oana Claudia Iacob, 2010-11 Hubert Humphrey alumna from Romania, has contributed to the Anti-Corruption Guidelines, released in November by the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania). The guidelines are “meant to contribute to the prevention of bribery and corruption, as well as to a more efficient approach towards corruption to be embraced by the companies in Romania.” Claudia recently appeared on Romanian national television to discuss the guidelines, as well as corruption and transparency in the country.
Complementing the professional development activities that play such a large role in the Humphrey Fellowship Program is the long-term Professional Affiliation (PA). Fellows are required to devote at least six weeks of their Humphrey year to working full-time with a U.S.-based organization outside of their host universities. The goal of the Professional Affiliation is for Fellows to exchange knowledge and expertise with their American professional counterparts and hopefully continue these linkages after returning home at the end of their Fellowship year.
On November 26th, 2012 Humphrey alumnus Yussef Auf (American, '11-12) was interviewed by NPR regarding his views on the recent decision made by judges in Egypt to strike after a series of controversial decrees were made by President Mohammed Morsi. Please click here to view the article.
The 2012 Global Leadership Forum was held Sunday, October 21, through Thursday, October 25th. Fellows participated in a number of activities, including listening to presentations from two Humphrey alumni and other engaging speakers, participating in roundtable discussions about some of the world's most difficult challenges, attending a reception at the Department of State with Assistant Secretary of State Ann Stock, visiting local high schools, and touring Washington, DC.
We are looking for outstanding stories from Humphrey alumni describing their Fellowship experience and the impact it has had on their lives, both personally and professionally.