BU and MIT Cohorts Gather to Welcome Distinguished Humphrey Fellows in Cambridge
On Saturday, September 16, the cohorts of BU and MIT joined another group of Humphrey Fellows—the nine selectees of the 2017–2018 Distinguished Humphrey Leadership Program, for a day of lecture, discussion, and informal conversation. The events were jointly organized by the Institute of International Education (IIE), the national administrator of the Humphrey Fellowship Program, and MIT HHHP Coordinators Bish Sanyal and Nimfa de Leon.
Distinguished Humphrey Fellows are senior officials from nine countries who are poised to serve as leaders in advancing the public good through positive, near-term impact on policy formulation within their professional areas. They will spend the next three weeks in the U.S., during which they will join an executive leadership course at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and then undertake job-shadowing experiences in various organizations across the country.
The Fellows of these three cohorts first gathered at the Hyatt Recency Hotel in Cambridge for a lecture and discussion with Dr. Richard Lester, Japan Steel Industry Professor and Associate Provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Professor Lester first described his role in advising MIT on all matters pertaining to the Institute’s major international activities and then, as a discussion starter, shared lessons on creativity and innovation from his book, Innovation: The Missing Dimension. A vibrant Q&A and discussion followed.
In the evening, everyone reconvened for a formal reception MIT’s Bush Room. Bish Sanyal started the event off by asking a few Fellows to share what they expected to learn, broadly speaking, during their Fellowship year that they believed they could transfer to their home countries. Among the Fellows who spoke, Distinguished Fellow Oleg Kolpashchikov of Russia offered that his time in the U.S. represented an opportunity to learn how to promote his ideas in the global arena. In a similar vein, Distinguished Fellow Ms. Fadzayi Mahere of Zimbabwe offered that her Fellowship represented an opportunity to test her ideas with American counterparts. A lively reception followed, with animated conversations taking place, and much synergy being discovered, throughout the room.