Program Updates
Fellows and Host Families Visit Plimoth Plantation
On November 5th, our cohort and several host families enjoyed a guided tour of Plimouth Plantation, a living history museum that exhibits a native Wampanoag Homesite and the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by English colonists, some of whom later came to be known as Pilgrims.
At the Wampanoag Homesite, we learned from modern-day Wampanoag and other native people how the 17th-century Wampanoag would have lived along the coast during the growing season—the way they built their homes, planted crops, fished, hunted, and cooked, and the methods they used for building canoes, mats, and baskets. We also learned about efforts to sustain their cultures today.
We then moved on to the 17th-Century English Village, a re-creation of the small farming and maritime community built by the Pilgrims along the shore of Plymouth Harbor. We saw timber-framed houses furnished with reproductions of objects that the Pilgrims owned, aromatic kitchen gardens, and livestock. Costumed actors portraying residents of Plymouth Colony interacted with us and gave us the feeling of what life was really like back then. Labada Mini of Mauritania and HHHP Director Jack McCarthy also joined in a military training exercise!
Following the tour, we enjoyed an authentic 1700s meal including roast turkey, squash, traditional wheat bread, and a gingerbread-flavored pudding along with old fashioned apple cider. During the meal we learned about culinary habits of the Pilgrims from Plantation staff.
Before heading back to Boston, we made a short visit to the Plymouth Grist Mill, a working reproduction of a 1636 water-powered mill used to grind corn. Grist Mill staff described to us how cornmeal was made and its significance to the 17th century English settlement.
Prof. McCarthy Delivers Third Lecture on Leadership Development
On November 7th, BU HHHP Director Jack McCarthy presented the third lecture in his year-long series on leadership development. In this lecture he discussed the many challenges and opportunities of global leadership in the 21st century. Quoting Prof. Lloyd S. Baird, he underscored, "the past is no longer the prologue to the future. We are not prepared for the massive, unrelenting quantum changes we face. Our assumptions about what it takes to lead are based in past, not future, realities."
Prof McCarthy further presented myths and realities about leadership and then introduced the MICEE Model proposed by Kouzes & Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge, a globally recognized program of leadership development.
- Model the way
- Inspire a shared vision
- Challenge the process
- Enable others to act
- Encourage the heart
Prof. McCarthy concluded the session with a description of the 1620 Mayflower Compact, the first written framework for government established in what is now the United States. After that, we held a ceremony in which each Fellow signed the compact that they had collectively produced during their orientation retreat at BU's Sargent Center in Hancock, New Hampshire last August.
Distinguished Faculty Speak on the 2016 Presidential Election
On Friday, November 4th, three distinguished BU professors joined us to provide diverse insight and perspective on the 2016 presidential election. Virginia Sapiro, Professor of Political Science, a former BU dean, and a former Vice President of the American Political Science Association, began with a talk entitled "The American People and This American Election" in which she addressed two overarching questions: "How did we get Donald Trump as the
Republican candidate?" and "Why did the race stay so close at the popular level for so long?" Robert Loftis, Director of Graduate Studies and Professor of the Practice at the Pardee School of Global Studies and a former State Department official and U.S. Ambassador to Lesotho, followed with a description of the current election and its potential implications for U.S. foreign policy. Then John Carroll, Assistant Professor of Mass Communication and an award-winning political journalist and creative director and consultant in the advertising industry for over two decades, spoke on the role of television and social media in the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Following the speakers' presentations, a vibrant Q&A session ensued. It was a deeply engaging and informative session that helped all of us to make better sense of the complicated, confusing, and terribly consequential U.S. presidential election that will take place in just four short days.
Fellows Visit the BUzzLAB
On Monday, October 31st, Ian Mashiter, Senior Lecturer Strategy and Innovation at the Questrom School of Business, introduced our Fellows to the BUzzLAB, BU's center for entrepreneurship programs, student clubs, and student- and alumni-initiated startups—which he also directs. Professor Mashiter explained why Boston is regarded as one of the most vibrant ecosystems for startups in the world and then described the major steps and challenges associated with building a new company. He then introduced Dr. Wisam Breegi, an alumnus who has been working within the BUzzLAB to build his startup, Breegi Scientific—a company whose mission is to reduce neonatal and infant morbidity and mortality in low- and middle- income countries. Dr. Breegi has developed a disposable neonatal intensive care incubator (NICI) that costs 1% of comparable solutions. He gave the Fellows a detailed description of the challenges he has faced in building his company and promoting his signature product worldwide.
Fellows Meet with President and Vice President of the National Peace Corps Association
On Friday, October 28th, several members of our cohort (along with invited guest Nydia Hawala, an Angolan Fellow based at Michigan State University), met with National Peace Corps Association President & CEO Glenn Blumhorst and Vice President Anne Baker at National Peace Corps Association in Washington, DC.
The National Peace Corps Association is the Peace Corps' global community of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs). This network of nearly 220,000 members upholds Peace Corps ideals and support Peace Corps-inspired initiatives throughout the world. We were particularly excited about this meeting, given the natural synergy that exists between the Peace Corps and the Humphrey Fellowship Program; it was Hubert Humphrey who conceived the Peace Corps in the late 1950s and introduced the bill that President Kennedy signed. Speaking on television with President Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt less than two weeks after Kennedy had brought the Peace Corps to life, Humphrey summarized his vision as follows:
“I think this will have a very healthy impact upon our political understanding of the world in which we live. We Americans are prone to read a pamphlet, or a headline, or an editorial about so-called “emerging nations” or “underdeveloped nations”—and this streak of compassion in you says, “Do something about it”; or somebody else says, “That’s not my business.” So we treat it superficially. But when you have a substantial number of young people that are really living with their neighbors in other parts of the world—not living above them, not living removed from them—but part of a family, so to speak—and right down at the basic, fundamental parts of community life, you are going to have an understanding of the world in which we live.
President Blumhorst and Vice President Baker described the work of the National Peace Corps Association and then heard from each Fellow about their respective goals for the Humphrey Fellowship year. They made various suggestions and graciously put our Fellows into contact with RPCVs whose interests overlap with theirs.
We are grateful to Lori Dunn, Peace Corps Regional Recruiter for the Boston Area, for making this valuable introduction and look forward to maintaining contact with the Peace Corps and RPCVs going forward.
Fellows Meet BU HHHP Alumna Violet Chatsika at World Bank Treasury
On Friday, October 28th, BU HHHP Alumnus Violet Chatsika (2011–2012/Malawi) hosted several members of our cohort for a meeting at the World Bank Treasury, where she currently works as an analyst. Violet described how her Humphrey Fellowship Year—and particularly the support of her former faculty advisor, Questrom Associate Professor Donald J. Smith, enabled her to ultimately become a staff member at the World Bank. She further spoke with each Fellow about their Individual Program Plans and made suggestions of possible contacts within the World Bank and other resources.
Fellows Visit BU HHHP Alumnus Ganga Gautam and Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution
On October 27th, several member of our cohort joined a discussion at The Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education (CUE) hosted by CUE Project Coordinator Amanda Braga and BU HHHP Alumnus Ganga Gautam (2010–2011/Nepal), an English-language education specialist who is currently working at CUE on an evidence-based girls’ empowerment program under the auspices of the Echidna Global Scholars Program.
The meeting brought together thought leaders and professionals from around the world to discuss the intersections of gender equality, economic empowerment, and education. Participants shared country-level insights on best practices for programmatic implementation and ground-level results.
Participants included Double X Economy founding CEO Cindy Drakeman, Echidna Global Scholars Christina Apiot Okudi, Ellen Chigwanda, Joyce Kinyanjui, Equity Post-Doctoral Fellow Christina Kwauk, Program Assistant Brennan Hoban, and Communications Advisor Emily Rabadi.
Fellows Present on Women in the Labor Force at Global Leadership Forum
On Monday, October 24th, the BU cohort presented global data and in-country perspectives on "Women in the Labour Force" during the Humphrey Fellowship Program's Global Leadership Forum in Washington, DC. All of the Fellows contributed to the slide deck, which three Fellows—Sevgim Çisel Çelik Keskin, Valeria Rios Molina, and Pakaiphone Syphoxay—presented on behalf of the entire group. Following the presentation, Beatriz Gonzalez and Mahmoud Mohammadi Khomeini together recited a heartfelt poem that they wrote on gender equality. The presentation and poem were well received, and Beatriz and Mahmoud later were granted an opportunity to recite their poem to the entire group of 168 Fellows.
Second Global Leadership Symposium at Questrom School of Business
On October 21st, the Humphrey Program’s second Global Leadership Symposium was conducted between the Humphrey Fellows and Questrom undergraduate students in Professor Sandra Deacon‘s undergraduate course, The Leadership Challenge—as an integrated element of that course's curriculum on the global dimensions of leadership in the modern world.
In the first half of the three-hour class, HHHP Director and Questrom Professor Jack McCarthy delivered a lecture and interactive seminar on Global Leadership in Action, which he concluded by challenging the students to imagine the types of questions about global leadership they would want to ask leaders in countries around the world such as Bolivia, Cameroon, and the eight other countries represented by our 2016–2017 Humphrey cohort. After a short break, our Fellows and staff entered the classroom as a dynamic and dramatic surprise, introduced themselves, and then participated in rotating, small group discussions with Professor Deacon’s students, serving as real-world global leaders. The session concluded with a whole-class debrief moderated by Professor McCarthy where many clear, vibrant lessons on global leadership emerged. A number of the students expressed that this symposium was a highlight of their BU experience.
This signature event of our Fall Humphrey seminar curriculum provided Fellows and Questrom students alike the opportunity to engage in meaningful, cross-cultural dialogue concerning the challenges and opportunities of global leadership in the 21st century.
Professors Pepe and Grey Lead Second Multimodal Literacy Workshop
On Monday, October 17th, Professor Toni Pepe, Assistant Professor of Art and Photography, and Laura Grey, Assistant Professor of Art and Graphic Design, teamed up to complete a two-session workshop on multimodal literacy. In this session, Professor Grey first provided a brief introduction to presentation design, covering a variety of fundamentals such as general layout, font considerations, and color. Then she and Professor Pepe facilitated Fellows' completion of their slide deck on Women's Participation in the Labor Force that they are preparing for the Global Leadership Forum.
