EVENTS

Annan on Democracy Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, spoke to a capacity crowd at the Forum last spring about the economic and political challenges facing Africa and what critical role the Kennedy School might play. At the annual Godkin Lecture, Annan said good governance must be “at the heart of [Africans’] efforts to renew their societies and reform their economies.”

“War Contradicts All that is Holy,” Says Jordan’s Queen Noor In a speech last spring called “Toward a New Definition of Security,” Queen Noor of Jordan called for cooperation and collaboration between people and nations. “We must pursue understanding on all sides. It is important to be understood and listen to understand others. War,” she said, “contradicts all that is holy. It creates vicious cycles of destruction.”

STUDENT NEWS

R.F.K. Award for Boutwell Perhaps it’s Amy Boutwell’s MPP 2002 volunteer work in Mother Teresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying that earned her this year’s Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Public Service. Or maybe it was because after graduating from college, Boutwell joined an NGO called Geomed as a volunteer community health worker in the slums of San Salvador, El Salvador.

Kennedy School Graduates Study AIDS Fight Shanti Nayak MPP 2002 and Nazanin Samari-Kermani MPP 2002 spent a month in remote villages in central, western, and coastal Kenya, evaluating the effectiveness of ActionAid-Kenya’s (AAK) HIV/AIDS interventions in urban and rural areas for their Policy Analysis Exercise (PAE). “There is no doubt that AAK’s bottom-up management style and extensive community outreach allows it to identify and respond to grassroots needs, but the roadblocks to success are tremendous,” says Samari-Kermani. AAK, one the nation’s most well-respected and visible nongovernmental organizations, commissioned the report.

Highlights from Kennedy School Public Policy Journals

The latest volume of the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy provides an analysis of reparations to black Americans from a legal perspective. The Asian American Policy Review features a commentary by California Assemblywoman Judy Chu on the changing paradigm of hate crimes since September 11. The Women’s Policy Journal of Harvard provides insight on various dimensions of international security. And Latino policy in an era of census projections is the focus of the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy. Contact Christine Connare at Christine_Connare@ksg.harvard.edu for more information.

More Diverse Student Body The current class of students at the Kennedy School is more diverse than ever. Fifty-two percent of the new students are women, and a record-high 42 percent of U.S. students who have accepted admission to the MPP program are students of color. African Americans comprise 14 percent, while Latinos comprise 15 percent. This level of minority representation is unprecedented at the Kennedy School and other prominent schools of public policy across the country.

BITS AND PIECES

Kennedy School Goes Prime Time The Kennedy School got some prime-time exposure on the May 8 episode of NBC’s The West Wing. Presidential Assistant Donna Moss, defending a White House intern in danger of being fired, tells her boss, Josh Lyman, that “the intern shouldn’t be fired, and you know why? Because 20 years ago, 75 percent of the people who graduated from the Kennedy School of Government took jobs in public service. Last year it was a third. We need these people.” The dialogue amplifies a major theme brought forth during the school’s public service campaign launched more than a year ago.

Kamarck Report A new report written by lecturer Elaine Kamarck recommends a series of specific reform measures and approaches — utilizing both government and non-government actors — in response to the looming threat of global terrorism. The report, “Applying 21st Century Government to the Challenge of Homeland Security,” was
supported by a grant from The PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for the Business of Government. Kamarck’s report is accessible via the Internet at http://endowment.pwcglobal.com/pdfs/KamarckReport.pdf.

Ford Foundation's Rizvi Heads KSG Innovations Institute. Gowher Rizvi, former head of the Ford Foundation’s South Asia operation, takes over as the first director of the Institute for Government Innovation. The institute serves as the hub for a global network of public sector innovators and other interested practitioners and scholars.

Altshuler and Luberoff Help PBS Dig Deeper “The Big Dig,” the fourth part of a PBS series called Great Projects, The Building of America, featured interviews with Alan Altshuler and David Luberoff MPA 1989, director and associate director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, respectively. “The Big Dig,” which aired last July, tells the story of the most ambitious and expensive (in terms of cost per mile) urban highway project ever in the United States.

HONORS

Lewis Branscomb, professor of public policy and corporate management (emeritus), received Harvard’s Centennial Medal, which is awarded for contributions to society as they have emerged from one’s graduate education at Harvard.

The American Society of Magazine Editors chose Samantha Power, lecturer in public policy, for the National Magazine Award, honoring Power for her September 2001 article in the Atlantic Monthly, “Bystanders to Genocide.”

William Clark, professor of international science, public policy, and human development, was elected a new member of the National Academy of Sciences.