March 2006
Clockwise from top left: Aneeta Madhok, Raman Madhok ’04, and Abdul Bari Khan ’04 attend a conference session; former EF president Dorie Friend poses a question; Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu ’04 speaks on governance; Abha Lambah ’02 presents at a session on culture & the arts; and Rozina Mistry ’04.
South Asia into the 21st Century
South Asia into the 21st Century, an EF conference held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in late February, brought together some 50 Fellows, spouses, and other business, government, and civil society leaders for stimulating discussions on progress, problems, and potential in that increasingly dynamic region of the world.
Organized by the Eisenhower Fellowships Association of Sri Lanka, and stimulated by the exceptional group spirit of the 2004 South Asia Single Region Program Fellows, topics included leadership perspectives; the state of governance and politics; education, information, and media; culture and arts; environment and development; the state, the world, and the economy; and religion and society. Both successes and failures were discussed and candidly debated, focusing on leaders’ roles in fostering the former and minimizing the latter.
Other conference highlights included an opening banquet featuring Sri Lankan dancers and an evening of fellowship at the home of Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu ’04. Following the main conference, the Indians, Pakistanis, and Sri Lankans of the 2004 SRP enjoyed an additional day at a nearby palm-fringed beach resort. An added bonus was a conversation there with Nivard Cabraal ’00 who arrived directly from Geneva and briefing the Sri Lankan president to share with remaining Fellows his perspective on the just concluded peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers.
In addition to South Asian Fellows, a few intrepid Fellows from outside the region – Romania, Argentina, Mexico, Indonesia, and the U.S. – also attended. They praised the unique opportunity to learn about a new part of the world in the comfortable company of the Eisenhower family. In the words of Florin Dolea ’03, Romania, the conference “opened my eyes to issues I’d never heard before, or maybe heard but didn’t fully understand. Meeting people, exchanging ideas with those from different countries, learning what are the hot issues, and what they are dealing with provided a wonderful experience.”
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Frazier trains Nigerian legislators
State senator Hillman Frazier ’98, USA, recently traveled to Nigeria to provide a training workshop for the Kano State House of Assembly titled Seven Building Blocks for Effective Legislative Performance. While there he also spoke to an audience of invited guests at the United States Embassy and met Fellows Esther Eghobamien ‘03 and Timothy Nubi ’04, both of Nigeria.
Frazier has previously conducted similar trainings in Nigeria, in the Katsina and Kaduna State Houses of Assembly in late 2005. Selected to serve as the lead trainer because of his extensive legislative experience, Frazier will continue to work with these three states over the next several months in an effort to strengthen their legislative bodies. Three officials from each of the three states will spend two weeks in the United States visiting legislatures and executive offices in Mississippi, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Washington, DC, followed by additional workshops and activities in Nigeria. The training workshop was funded by the United States Department of State Office of Citizen Exchanges and implemented by the Mississippi Consortium for International Development's Nigeria Office.
At the U.S. Embassy, Frazier addressed an invited audience of IVLP, Humphrey, Fulbright Alumni, and Eisenhower Fellows, as well as members of NGOs, government bodies, and federal and state legislators, on "Building Democratic Institutions in an Emerging Democracy". His speech was part of the Embassy’s African American history month program series.
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Hillman Frazier, left, with Esther Eghobamien and Timothy Nubi
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Bangladeshi Fellow named ambassador
Salma Khan ’92, Bangladesh, has been named ambassador to Indonesia. Khan is an economist and human rights expert and sits on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. She has recently played the instrumental role in re-launching a top-level Eisenhower Fellowships nominating committee in Bangladesh, with the first new Fellows expected to come to the U.S. in 2007.
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Istanbul conference update
The Eisenhower Fellows of Turkey are pleased to announce that Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, will be a keynote speaker at the Building Networks for Change conference, to be held September 10-12. Moussa is a former minister of foreign affairs and permanent representative to the United Nations for Egypt. Other dignitaries addressing the conference include Abdullah Gul, foreign minister of Turkey, Hikmet Cetin, NATO representative to Afghanistan and former speaker of the Turkish Parliament, and Suleyman Demirel ’53, former president and prime minister of Turkey.
Government ministers from additional European and Middle Eastern countries, including Dora Bakoyannis, the new Greek Foreign Minister, have also been extended invitations to speak at the conference which is expected to draw numerous Fellows from these regions. Women in society, prosperity for peace, and religion and politics are the major topics to be discussed at the conference, while sub-themes of education, energy, the media, and others will round out the workshops.
Further information and conference registration is available on line at www.efistanbul.com with early registrations closing April 1 and all registrations closing June 15.
At right: Amr Moussa, Hikmet Cetin and Abdullah Gul
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Fellow appointed to Constitutional Supreme Court
Jorge Correa Sutil ’88, Chile, has been appointed to the Constitutional Supreme Court. He previously served as undersecretary of the Interior. |
Ag Fellow connects with Nuffield Scholars
Bart Ruth ’05, USA, was a presenter at the orientation session for the 2006 Nuffield Scholars in Utrecht, Netherlands in mid-February. Nuffield awards travel/study scholarships to agriculturalists in several countries and operates a program similar to Eisenhower Fellowships, focused on agriculture. Ruth became acquainted with the Nuffield Scholars during his Eisenhower Fellowship travels in Ireland and the U.K. through Norman Shaw ’89, Northern Ireland, who is an alumnus of EF and the Nuffield Scholars. Subsequently, Ruth met several other Nuffield Scholars and was intrigued by the similar goals of the Eisenhower and Nuffield programs. The weeklong orientation session in Utrecht brought together 41 young Nuffield Scholars involved in agriculture from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Canada.
As a result of the EF-Nuffield connection, Ruth assisted in arranging programming for a group of nine of the Australian and New Zealand Scholars visiting Washington, D.C. in early March and will be hosting a group of Australian Nuffields in Nebraska this June.
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Fellow joins board of National Philanthropic Trust
Tim Boyle ’05, USA, has been invited to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT). The NPT is one of the largest independent public charities in the United States dedicated to increasing philanthropy in American society and currently manages more than $600 million in charitable assets. Since its founding, it has raised over $1 billion in charitable contributions and made more than 17,000 grants to charities throughout the United States and overseas, totaling over $465 million.
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Minister Pangestu hosts EF trustee
Budi Lim ’98, Ninok Leksono ’90, Bambang Brodjonegoro ’02,
Onno Purbo ’02, Natalia Soebagjo ’90, Mari Pangestu ’90,
Derek Chilvers, Yuli Ismartono ’97, Tini Hadad, Louise Pesik,
Ismid Hadad ’90, and Rudy Pesik ’90. Minister of Trade Mari Pangestu ’90, Indonesia, hosted a dinner at her residence on February 16 for visiting trustee Derek Chilvers. Several Fellows were in attendance. A major discussion topic was planning for EF’s 2007 Common Interest Program, a new program being launched that will focus on urban opportunities and challenges and will include Fellows from Indonesia and approximately ten other countries.
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U.S. State Department resource now available to EF alumni
There is an online community exclusively for alumni of U.S. Government funded exchange programs that EF alumni are eligible to join. The State Alumni website is a password protected community that currently offers its members access to over 600 grant and job opportunities; a dynamic, searchable alumni database; alumni news; a Q&A forum to interact with notable experts in a variety of fields and top American government officials; and free access to over 3000 full text academic journals, newspapers, magazines, and other media through the eLibrary and journal database features.
You can register with State Alumni by going to https://alumni.state.gov and clicking the "Join State Alumni" link. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Nathan Kleekamp.
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Fellow publishes communications regulation book
Stuart N. Brotman ’00, USA, recently published the 20th edition of Communications Law and Practice, the leading reference treatise on electronic media, satellite and telecommunications regulation. The book is published by American Lawyer Media's Law Journal Press.
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Vice president of university system
Alfonso Marin ’96, Mexico, is now vice president of the Universidad del Valle de Mexico, a very large and growing system of higher education institutions in Mexico and internationally. The parent company, Laureate, is based in the USA.
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