[Jgfamembers] John Gardner Fellowship Association (JGFA) Newsletter

[Sean Fox]

Welcome to the first John Gardner Fellowship Association (JGFA) Newsletter!
We are excited to provide you with a forum for keeping up to speed on the
activities and people of JGFA.   

 

This newsletter has three parts:

 

*        From the President’s Desk:  An update from Waseem Noor, JGFA’s
president, on recent activities of JGFA’s Officers and Board and a summary
of the priorities for 2007.

 

*        JGFA Speaks Out:  This section is filled with submissions from the
JGFA membership.  These items are included without any editing and are aimed
to give each of you a forum for sharing both personal and professional
updates with other JGFA members.

 

*        People in the Spotlight:  This section will celebrate the people
JGFA.  This newsletter includes a press release from Stanford’s Haas Center
about Jeanne Halleck’s retirement as Administrator of the John Gardner
Fellowship (and other assorted roles at the Haas Center).  We are all
indebted to Jeanne for her incredible contributions to the John Gardner
program and to each of our lives.  For the group (especially the Stanford
side of the house), we say THANK YOU JEANNE!  Jeanne will certainly be
missed on the Stanford campus, but fortunately for us, she has agreed to
serve on the JGFA Board and will continue to take an active role in the
association’s activities.

 

A couple reminders before we dive into the newsletter.  

 

First, don’t forget to check out our web site – www.jgfa.net
<http://www.jgfa.net/>  – where you can search for information about other
JGFA members. You may use this database to help connect with other Fellows
for the purpose of self-renewal, job growth, interest alliance, etc.  To use
the members only section, just click on the JGFA Members tab at the top of
the site and then input your user name and password.  You will then have
access to the JGFA Members’ database.  You can search by region where people
currently live, areas of public interest, type of organization where you
spent you fellowship, etc.  Please update your information when you have
major changes!  For those who have never logged on to the database, your
user name and password will initially be set as your first name.  Once you
enter the system, please change your password to make this system more
secure.

 

Second, everyone can use the email alias jgfamembers at jgfa.net if you would
like to communicate to the membership as a whole.  As long as you are a
member of the email list service, you will be able to send the email
directly to the group.  Please respect everyone’s privacy and do not share
this email address with outside parties.  The current spam filter catches
thousands of spam emails each month by limiting the usage to know members,
so if you can not seem to get a message through the system, it’s probably
because you are not signed up on the email list service.  Email me at
sean at reply.com and I’ll take care of it.

 

This is our first attempt at a periodic newsletter, so please give feedback
so we can improve our ability to meet the membership’s needs.  In the
meantime, enjoy the information and have a great new year!

 

Regards,

Sean Fox

JGF ’91-92

 

>From the President’s Desk

 

The Board/Officers meeting in September 2006 was a tremendous success. The
Board, consisting of Mike Heyman, Don Kennedy, Francesca Gardner, Kathleen
Abernethy and Jeanne Halleck, was engaged and excited about moving forward
the mission of the organization.  They advised on the mandate of JGFA
activities, provided their perspective and wisdom, and had an opportunity to
understand the range of activities that have been accomplished. 

 

The major outcome of the meeting was to establish the focus for Officers and
Board in 2007, including: 

 

1. Mandate for Renewal (Janet L.) - Coordinate a National Retreat for the
Spring 2008, with Major Planning in 2007. 

 

2. JGFA Fundraising (Jerry) - Close out 2006 outstanding contributions
through emails and links to website and target fall 2007 for a new
fundraising campaign. 

 

3. Service Outreach (Linda) - Spring/Summer 2007 – Establish annual regional
public service events, involving Francesca Gardner.  For consideration:
Issue-based service program, or select one organization that we want to
sponsor. Maybe tap into organizations that have hosted fellows. 

 

4. Communication Plan (Sean, Carole) - Develop the plan in 2006, and
implement in Q1 2007.  Potential Ideas:  Quarterly conference call with
broader JGFA set, get inspirational people on the call. Provide a quarterly
newsletter communication that can act as a catalyst for communication and
group action.  Consider making the website more of a user-community.

 

5. Establish Next Generation of JGFA Leaders (Waseem) 

 

6.  Focus for the Board in 2007: a. Establish Mentor Alumni Program
(Kathleen Abernathey, Carole) b. Determine University Commitment to JGFA,
e.g. funding, resources (Michael Heyman, Don Kennedy) c. Attend regional
informal events for Board to meet broader JGFA community (All) 

 

As always, we need your help to make all these projects successful. Even if
you only have an hour a month to help, that would help us move forward. So
please contact any of the officers or myself if you would like to get
involved. 

 

Regards,

Waseem Noor 

 

JGFA Speaks Out

 

Chitra Aiyar:  I got married last year to the lovely Foday Kangbai, and we
recently returned from Sierra Leone, Foday's first trip home in 10 years.
I'm working as the staff attorney at African Services Committee, a
Harlem-based social services agency that serves African and Caribbean
immigrants.  My newest obsession is radio - I just joined the Asia Pacific
Forum Collective - you can hear the show on Tuesday nights at 8pm on 99.5
WBAI in NYC.

 

Donna Michelle Anderson:  Hi, it's the artist formerly known as Donna
Michelle Anderson.  Everyone just calls me DMA now, and over the past dozen
or so years, I have been writing, producing and running non-fiction and
reality TV shows.  I now am an executive producer with my own production
company.  At the beginning of this year, I took a break from broadcast and
cable television to explore the limitless possibilities of new media
(broadband and mobile distribution).  I have since launched Planet DMA TV
and am developing and streaming content that will give people direct access
to the insider information they need to succeed in their goals.  We have
started with an entertainment industry show, and I am thrilled to say my
next projects will be community service-oriented.  For the first time in my
producing career, I have found a platform to marry my political activism
with my professional abilities and resources.  I look forward to reaching
out to the amazing Gardner community over the next few months to hear what
everyone is doing and see how we might be able to work together in new
media.  Oh, and I just saw Jeanne at my 20th reunion, and we had coffee at
Tresidder, where we first met two decades ago.  It has been a full circle
kind of year.

 

Eric Beerbohm (’98):  This fall I've joined the faculty of the Government
Department at Harvard. I'm teaching a course in ethics and public policy, so
I hope to draw on fellow Gardners who have played policymaking roles. 

 

Annie Bird (’05):  After finishing my Gardner fellowship this summer at the
International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) in New York, I
continued as a consultant for UNICEF in Florence. While there I continued
work on a handbook for children and truth commissions and traveled to
Liberia to pilot the handbook at a training for nearly 200 statement takers
of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Since, I have returned to San
Francisco and am working as a Senior Associate at UniversalGiving, a social
entrepreneurship nonprofit that connects donors and volunteers with
organizations working internationally. Finally, I am excited to share that I
have recently been awarded the Marshall Scholarship, an award that funds two
years of graduate study in the UK. I will be studying International Human
Rights Law and Politics.

 

Tess Bridgeman:  I'm currently in the UK working on a DPhil in International
Relations at Oxford and doing research with the Global Economic Governance
Programme. I'll be moving to New York in the fall to start law school at NYU
on a public service scholarship, and I'll be looking forward to hopefully
seeing many of you when I move back to the States. My permanent email is
tess at stanfordalumni.org, and my current phone number (in case anyone is
coming through Oxford or London) is

+44-77-4884-5994.

 

Subodh Chandra:  Private law practice The Chandra Law Firm, LLC (principal),
Cleveland, Ohio.

 

Tom De Simone (’04):  Began Master in Urban Planning program at Harvard
Graduate School of Design.

 

Anna Ferrari ('04-'05):  Anna is in her second year at Harvard Law School
and living in Cambridge, MA.

 

Tom Ginsburg (’89):  I'm a professor of law and political science at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  My oldest daughter Zoe, who some
will remember as a baby when I was a fellow, is now 19 and an incoming
freshman at NYU.  My other two daughters are now 14 and 11 and a ton of fun.
My current research is on written constitutions: their features, causes and
consequences.  I also retain my interests in East Asian law and politics.
You can find some of my papers at  <http://www.ssrn.com> www.ssrn.com.  I
was fellow in 1989. I worked at The Asia Foundation in San Francisco.

 

Grant Harris:  I finally finished school in 2005 (J.D. from Yale Law and
M.P.A. from Princeton) and am now working at a law firm in New York
(primarily on international business transactions involving Latin America).
Most importantly, I am very excited to announce that I got engaged and will
be married in 2007.  

 

Laura Hewitt:  After several years as the director of Safe Passages, a
systems change partnership focused on youth at risk for violence that
involved the City of Oakland, Alameda County, Oakland schools,  the local
community foundation and several communitiy based partners, I left in
mid-2003 to get married, buy a house and become a stay-at-home mom. My son
Chet turned two in September, and is a great joy to be around. I feel very
blessed to have the opportunity to spend these years with him; I know that
all too soon he will be busy with school and peers and his parents will be
much less interesting to him! I do feel like I get to stay in touch with the
world of policy, advocacy, and program development for children and families
that was my professional life vicariously thanks to my husband, Chet. He is
the Director of the Alameda County Social Services Agency, and it has been
very interesting to learn about the world of child welfare, workforce
development , TANF reform, etc. from the inside! As we start thinking about
child care and preschool for Chet II, I am beginning to think about what
kind of work I would like to do that would allow me the flexibility of still
being home with him part of the week. 

 

I.M Heyman (former Chancellor of UC Berkeley and JGFA Board Member):  I have
slipped into the retired ranks, but somehow continue to be too active: some
teaching and pro bono work predominating.

 

Jerry Ingersoll ('85):  After 20 years somewhat off the beaten track at
Forest Service field locations, we've spent the last two years in Washington
DC, where I've led the Forest Service's travel management program --
basically, developing regulations to keep motor vehicles on designated roads
and trails.  It's been a fun and productive experience.  We live in
Columbia, Maryland, where the kids have enjoyed good schools and a diverse
community.  Getting together occasionally with the new fellows has been an
opportunity to become re-inspired and re-committed to public service.  If
any new fellows or alumni are interested in public land management issues, I
hope they'll contact me.

 

Kori Kelley (’01-02):  I'm in my second year at Georgetown Law and I am
currently studying for Fall exams.  In the summer of 2007 I will be working
as a summer associate in the DC offices of Jones Day and Morrison and
Foerster.

 

Leila Makarechi:  I live in Brooklyn, NY and am doing my fellowship at the
UN Development Programme, in the Bureau for Latin America & the Caribbean.
My mentor is the Regional Director, Rebeca Grynspan. I work on gender, and
am in fact writing this email from Panama City, where I was sent for the
Regional Gender Steering Committee meeting. I am having an incredible
experience and would love to connect with any other Gardner people in the NY
area! 

 

Christopher Maloney (’02-03):  I graduated from Harvard this past June 2006
with both an MBA and MPA/ID (master in public administration in
international development). I promptly moved over to Johannesburg, South
Africa, where I work as an economic development consultant for a local firm
called Genesis Analytics (http://www.genesis-analytics.com
<http://www.genesis-analytics.com/> ). My work is concerned with addressing
private sector development and investment climate challenges in Africa. I
constantly work at the public-private nexus, which has been fascinating, if
overwhelming at times. Current Gardner Fellow Leslie Lang was in
Johannesburg this November as part of a World Bank mission, and it was great
to swap Gardner Fellowship experiences under the wide African skies! Any
Gardner Fellows who find themselves in this part of the world are more than
welcome to look me up. 

 

Antonia (Welch) Powell ('00):  For the past two years, I've been working in
Freetown, Sierra Leone, as the Health Program Manager for Catholic Relief
Services, an American NGO dedicated to international humanitarian relief and
assistance.  I manage several projects relating to maternal and child
health, malaria, nutrition, and HIV prevention.  Sierra Leone is still
rebuilding and trying to reestablish adequate food security and basic
services after 11 years of civil war, and working in this post-conflict
setting is very challenging!  My husband, Brian, is working with another
agency, Save the Children - UK, as a Logistics Manager.  For fun and
entertainment, we spend most Sundays on Sierra Leone's beautiful beaches,
relaxing with friends or playing with our dogs.  If any Gardner Fellows
happen to be passing through Freetown:), feel free to pass by!

 

Carlos Romo ('99):  Carlos is finishing up law school at the University of
Texas. He spent the fall studying abroad in London and after graduation he
will be clerking for Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson on the Texas Supreme
Court. 

 

Tianna Terry:  I am currently a second-year student at Yale Law School.  I
hold leadership positions in the Black Law Students Association, Yale Civil
Rights Project, and Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE).  Two of
the most exciting experiences I have had during law school were working with
a group of students to write an amicus brief for the voluntary school
integration cases currently before the Supreme Court and arguing a motion in
an eviction defense case for the Landlord-Tenant Clinic.  Last summer, I
worked at the ACLU of Maryland and the Fair Housing Justice Center.  This
summer I will be working at Relman & Associates and Covington & Burlington.

 

Linda Yeung:  Personally - happily married to Kenji Tamaoki with two
wonderful kids (Asia - age 6 and Akira - age 2).  Professionally - still in
public service and the work is intellectually stimulating and challenging at
the San Francisco Controller's Office.  All is well.

 

People in the Spotlight

 

The following is the press release from Stanford University’s Haas Center
announcing Jeanne’s retirement.  

 

Jeanne Wahl Halleck Retires from Pivotal Role at the Haas Center for Public
Service 

Jeanne Wahl Halleck, who was invited by founding director Catherine Milton
to help establish the Public Service Center (which became the Haas Center
for Public Service in 1989) retired this week after over 20 years at her
post. As administrator of the John Gardner Public Service Fellowship,
Halleck mentored students in a postgraduate year of service at a nonprofit
or government agency. As the center's point person for the Stanford in
Washington program, hundreds more students have benefited from her deep
knowledge and connections in the nation's capital. 


Milton recalls, "Jeanne Halleck arrived at the Haas Center when the John
Gardner Fellowship and Stanford in Washington were just ideas we were
dreaming about. She helped to do the hard work to turn those dreams into
realities. Her legacy is the thousands of students who have served in
government and in the non-profit sector, making a positive difference. The
Stanford community and the nation owe her our heartfelt thanks." 


Halleck met Milton when they both worked for the Police Foundation in
Washington D.C. in the 1970s. Milton also met Stanford University President
Donald Kennedy when she worked at the U.S Treasury, and he, in his capacity
as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (1977-1979), assisted
her with the issue of alcohol and pregnant women. Returning to Stanford in
1979 to become Provost, then President of the university, Kennedy asked
Milton in 1983 to come west to survey and coordinate student service
initiatives on campus.


Milton asked for Halleck's assistance when mounting the first You Can Make A
Difference (YCMAD) Conference, a founding initiative of the Public Service
Center. "We were all from D.C.," Halleck said. Besides her administrative
abilities and her ability to relate to students, Halleck's strength was in
her knowledge of people and workings in Washington, D.C. She combined her
two "hats" because of her desire to advise and encourage students to pursue
government and service, her understanding of her own strengths, and the
inspiration of John W. Gardner.


At YCMAD, Halleck was seated next to the featured speaker and statesman,
John W. Gardner (1912-2002). Gardner was a vocal advocate of student
involvement in community and public service, and along with Donald Kennedy,
he co-founded the center's National Advisory Board.


 "At that time," says Halleck, "I just wanted to get students involved, to
volunteer and to be interested in government. On New Year's Eve 1984, we
packed up and sent out the first nationwide survey of service in higher
education for Campus Compact, an organization of campus presidents.  Change
at Stanford was also part of national landscape. Georgetown, Brown and
Stanford were the leaders in the beginning."


Along with the Gardner Fellowship and SIW, Stanford in Government (SIG), a
non-partisan student group founded in 1963, became one of the center's
founding programs. Naturally, Halleck became a staff advisor for SIG as
well.

"Ever since I've known Jeanne Wahl Halleck," says Stanford University
President Emeritus Donald Kennedy, "she has been the vital cog for the
engagement of Stanford students with public service-Stanford in Washington,
Stanford in Government, the John Gardner Fellowship program-well, you name
it. She has been an important force in the lives of generations of students
who care about the common good."

Programs Transition
According to Suzanne Abel, Associate Director for External Relations,
transition plans for the John Gardner Fellowship and the campus-based
portion of the Stanford in Washington program for the remainder of the
2006-07 academic year call for Marjorie Alfs, who has served since 2002 as
Halleck's assistant, to go from halftime to fulltime.  Alfs assumes the
majority of duties that were formerly assigned to Halleck.  Says Abel, "We
are very pleased that Marjorie has agreed to stay on in this capacity; after
four years of 'apprenticeship' with Jeanne, she knows these programs, and
all the players, extremely well." Alfs holds an undergraduate degree in
History from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA from San José State.


To assist with the development of placements and some of the program
planning for the Gardner fellowship, the center is also bringing on Anupama
(Anu) Menon '99 (Social Anthropology with a minor in Latin American
Studies), a John Gardner fellow herself during the 1999-2000 year (at Human
Rights First, in Washington, D.C.). Menon's long term interests lie in
international human rights work, and to that end, she obtained a joint
degree (J.D./M.A.in International Relations and Economics) at Boalt Hall (UC
Berkeley) and Johns Hopkins in 2005. After obtaining her degrees, she held a
year-long Racial Justice Fellowship at the ACLU in San Francisco. Leveraging
her domestic civil rights and international background, Anu will work as a
Program Advisor with current and new fellows, 15-20 hours/week until August
31, 2007.


On the Stanford in Washington side, Sonia Mittal '04 (History) will assist
with advising and the internship placement process as well as the selection
of new students for the Washington program, working with Adrienne Jamieson
(SIW Director).  Mittal was chair of Stanford in Government during her
junior year, and is now a Ph.D. student in the Department of Political
Science. She served as the Resident Assistant at SIW from 2004-05. Mitall
will be working 8-10 hours/week through the academic year, and will spend
her Haas time in the SIW/Director's office on the second floor.


Says Abel, "I think we have a great team put together to help us bridge this
historic transition in both programs, which are so important to the Haas
Center and, indeed, were part of Don Kennedy's founding vision of the
center. Thanks to Jeanne for doing a wonderful job of facilitating the
passing of these two batons!"

 

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