New Fellows Bring Global Outlook

An official in Iraq’s transitional government and a former Peruvian ambassador will be adding an international flavor to the Institute of Politics (IOP) as fellows in the upcoming spring semester.

The IOP announced on Wednesday that Iraqi Minister of Municipalities and Public Works Nesreen Barwari, whose term ends as soon as the newly elected Iraqi government is established, and Peru’s former ambassador to the United States Ricardo Luna will join prominent U.S. public servants and political journalists in the group of six spring fellows.

“[Barwari] will obviously bring a real knowledge and expertise on what is going on in the Middle East, and Ricardo Luna will bring tremendous knowledge on Latin America, which are really two hot spots in the world,” IOP Director Jeanne Shaheen said.

The other fellows include former Cleveland mayor Jane Campbell, former Boston Globe national editor Ken Cooper, former 9/11 Commission spokesman Al Felzenberg, and former CBS News Senior Political Editor Dotty Lynch.

Each fellow will be heading up a study group in his or her area of expertise, which will begin in February and run through the spring semester.

The new class of fellows reflected student demand for more discussion of international politics at the IOP, according to incoming Fellows Committee Chair Alexander I. Burns ’08.

The selection is in contrast to the past fall’s group of fellows, whose experiences were centered around domestic politics.

Fellows told The Crimson they were excited to be taking a break from their careers.

“Coming out of a very intense situation, it’s very helpful to step back,” said Felzenberg, who just completed a three-year involvement first with the 9/11 Commission and subsequently with the non-profit 9/11 Public Discourse Project.

Lynch, who just stepped down from her 20 years with CBS News, said she hoped to use her time as a fellow to “reflect on the state of politics and the media.”

Lynch added that she had dreamed of being a fellow for the Institute ever since she began attending study groups in the 1960s when she was working in Harvard Square.

Christopher L. Corcoran ’07, the president-elect of the IOP’s Student Advisory Committee, praised the diversity of the fellows, noting that there were three women among the six fellows. He said he hopes having prominent female political figures as fellows will encourage women on campus to go into public service.

“[Barwari] will be very inspiring for young female students,” Corcoran said, recounting the experience of interviewing Barwari for the fellowship on Dec. 15, the day of the elections in Iraq.

Shaheen said she also expected students to benefit from having a big-city mayor among the fellows who will be able to discuss local government.

“The reality is that there are about half a million elected positions in this country, and that most of them are at the local level,” Shaheen said.

Burns said that he hoped the fellows will interact with students beyond the formal study groups—to which the fellows are “contractually obligated”—as the past semester’s fellows did.

“One of the best moments of last year was going to Border Café with the chief political correspondent of the New York Times,” Burns said, referring to fall IOP fellow Adam Nagourney.

Many fellows also choose to audit classes alongside Harvard students. Six of the past semester’s seven fellows took Literature and Arts B-51, “First Nights,” Burns said.

“It’s a very exciting place to be and a place where I can learn as well as teach,” Lynch said.

Felzenberg echoed Lynch’s enthusiasm to be interacting with students.

“It will be a good chance to hear some of the ideas they have towards making the country better and what kind of roles they want to play in the future,” Felzenberg said.

—Staff writer Victoria Kim can be reached at vkim@fas.harvard.edu.