The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program will celebrate 40 years of bringing international professionals to the United States to engage in study and collaborate with U.S. counterparts at “African Humphrey Voices: Building a Better Future for Our Continent,” a Pan-African alumni conference Sept. 14–16, 2018, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program
A program for young and mid-career professionals sponsored by the U.S. Department of State
News & Updates
Deborah Thomas-Felix was a 2007-2008 Humphrey Fellow from Trinidad and Tobago. She spent her year studying Law and Human Rights at American University. The following article outlines Ms. Thomas-Felix's years of service to her country.
The author of the article, Simone Young, was a 2016-2017 Humphrey Fellow from Trinidad and Tobago. She spent her year studying Public Policy Analysis and Public Administration at Syracuse University.
Reposted from "Distinguished Humphrey Leadership Program Brings Leaders to U.S." feature on IIE's Announcements page.
Dr. Koffi Siliadin is a 2016-2017 Humphrey Fellow from Togo. He spent his year studying Public Health Policy and Management at Emory University. Below, he shares his experiences volunteering in Atlanta and interacting with his community.
Milica Petrovic is a 2016-2017 Humphrey Fellow from Montenegro. She has spent her year at Cornell University studying Natural Resources, Environmental Policy, and Climate Change. The following is a reflection by Ms. Petrovic on her Humphrey year.
Simone Young is 2016-2017 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow studying Public Policy Analysis and Public Administration at Syracuse University. She is from Trinidad and Tobago. Young shares a reflection of her Humphrey year thus far.
Humphrey alumnus and journalist, Said Nazir, spent his Humphrey year at the University of Maryland, College Park. He interned with National Public Radio (NPR) and Radio Free Europe, while taking graduate level courses and interacting with his Humphrey cohort. Now that he has returned home he is striving to address the lack of media access in northwest Pakistan.
Humphrey alumni have had a busy 2016 establishing schools and research centers, fighting for more open media, and advocating for better policy in their home countries. Read more about their stories below.
The Community College Residency Program (CCRP) is an opportunity offered to Humphrey Fellows as a supplement to their Humphrey year and includes a one-week learning/sharing experience at a community college in the United States. Mr. Ventura Mufume was hosted by Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts. His visit included trips to several different cities in the Fall River area that demonstrated a coordinated community effort to improve the economy across cities. Mr. Mufume shares his reflection on his experience below.
Sharmilla Ganesan is a 2015-2016 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow placed at the University of Maryland. She is a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based culture writer and literary columnist with over 10 years of experience writing feature articles. Her short fiction has been published in several anthologies and journals. Ms. Ganesan shares a reflection of her Humphrey Year below.
The Community College Residency Program is an opportunity offered to current Humphrey Fellows as a supplement to their Humphrey year and includes a one-week learning/sharing experience at a community college in the United States. Selected Fellows will gain an opportunity to increase their professional network in the United States and play a role in a community college’s internationalization plan. Humphrey Fellow Angela Niazmand traveled to Pellissippi State Community College and shares her reflection here.
On February 9-15, 2016, thirteen Humphrey Fellows from the University of Minnesota traveled to Arizona to study immigration with Humphrey Fellows in journalism at Arizona State University. Fellows learned hands-on through site visits and meetings with leaders and academics dealing with issues on the border. This year for the first time, Fellows crossed the border into Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to examine border issues from the Mexican side. The following is a reflection by Ja Aung Lu, who attended this cross-campus collaboration.
Utku Cakirozer was already an accomplished journalist when he embarked on the Humphrey Program in August 2008 to expand his skills in online and multimedia journalism. After ten months of non-degree study at the University of Maryland, College Park, Cakirozer returned home to Turkey to several promotions. First he was made Bureau Chief for Aksam, a prominent daily Turkish newspaper. Then he was appointed as editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper.
Cabo Verde is a small nation, comprised of an archipelago of 10 islands located about 350 miles off the coast of Western Africa. After gaining independence from Portugal in 1975 and writing a constitution in 1980, the first multi-party elections were held in 1991. Two years later, Cabo Verde’s first Humphrey Fellow, Andre Corsino Tolentino arrived in Minneapolis to study public administration, management, and planning as part of the Humphrey cohort of 1993-1994. After Tolentino’s departure in the spring of 1994, it would be 20 years before another Cabo Verdean won a fellowship.
Asia Mbajja Namusoke says she applied for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program in 2011 because “I had a dream to achieve: making a difference in the lives of marginalized and disadvantaged populations [in Uganda]. Although I had convinced the panel at the U.S. Embassy in Uganda that I would design a youth program to support vulnerable children living with HIV/AIDS on my return after my Humphrey year, I didn’t know how to do it.”
From October 25 to October 29, 2015, 167 Humphrey Fellows representing 90 countries attended the 2015 Hubert H. Humphrey Global Leadership Forum, “Resilience in the Face of Climate Change: A Global Perspective on Leadership,” at the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. During the five-day Forum, the Fellows focused on how global warming affects the world, their nations and their professions. They also explored the importance of developing leadership skills, managing change and networking with their American and international peers.
Welcome to our new Alumni Roundup series, where we will feature short updates on significant achievements of the Humphrey Fellowship Alumni. Humphrey Alumni have had some great accomplishments so far in 2015, including an elected president, a high court justice appointee, a founder of a successful NGO, and more. Please read further for more details regarding these stunning achievements.
Recently, Americans sat down together to eat, socialize, and watch football, commercials, and the most popular concert of the year. As the most watched telecast in U.S. history—this year’s event was watched by 114.4 million viewers—the Super Bowl promises a grand spectacle. This year featured a very competitive game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks that was decided in the last minute of the game. We asked some Humphrey Fellows in Boston and Seattle what their experiences were like.
In June 2014, Humphrey Alumnus Andras Petho resigned from his job, as Deputy Director of Origo news, a popular Hungarian online media source. Andras had been pursuing an investigative story on a senior Hungarian government official’s extraordinarily high travel expenses. As his investigation progressed, his news organization was put under pressure to drop the sensitive story. When the organization’s leadership resisted, Origio’s editor was dismissed. Andras resigned as well, along with, “the entire politics section and dozens of other reporters. Altogether, more than half the newsroom decided to quit in protest of what they saw as the end of Origo’s editorial independence.”
From November 2 to November 7, 2014, 171 Humphrey Fellows representing 98 countries attended the 2014 Hubert H. Humphrey Global Leadership Forum, “Resilience in the Face of Climate Change: A Global Perspective on Leadership,” at the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. During the five-day Forum, the Fellows focused on how global warming affects the world, their nations and their professions. They also explored the importance of developing leadership skills, managing change and networking with their American and international peers.
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.
Ms. Lu Sam, a 2013-2014 Fellow placed at Vanderbilt University, was recently the recipient of the annual Humphrey Community Service Award. Ms. Sam has pursued several volunteer assignments during her long-term English placement at Virginia Tech and at her Humphrey campus at Vanderbilt, dedicating much of her spare time to the service of others. Whether sorting packages of school supplies and frozen foods, serving young children with developmental disabilities, or leading students through service-learning projects, Sam has demonstrated the spirit of a servant leader.
On February 7-8, 2014, a group of Humphrey alumni organized the inaugural Egyptian Humphrey Alumni Forum in Cairo. The event brought nearly 25 Humphrey alumni together to discuss the unprecedented challenges that the country has faced since 2011. The two-day event featured sessions on politics, economics and the role of the private sector, law and constitutional issues, education, health, media, women, and ethics and national identity.
On January 14, 2014, Coca-Cola Brazil and the Coca-Cola Foundation announced an investment of $2.1 million in projects intended to promote the social and economic inclusion of Afro-Brazilians in Brazil. One of the NGOs that will receive funding from this generous investment is the Instituto Mídia Étnica, an organization co-founded and directed by Humphrey Alumnus, Paulo Rogério Nunes (Brazil, University of Maryland-College Park, 2011-2012).