Wagner College is proud to announce that, for the third year in a row, it has been selected as a partner with the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. Beginning in mid-June, Wagner will host 25 of Africa’s brightest emerging civic leaders for a six-week academic and leadership institute sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative — also known as YALI — which empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, networking, professional opportunities and support for activities in their communities. Fellows are young leaders from sub-Saharan Africa who have established records of accomplishment in promoting innovation and positive change in their organizations, institutions, communities, and countries. The cohort hosted by Wagner College will be part of a larger group of 1,000 Mandela Washington Fellows hosted at institutions across the United States this summer. These exceptional young leaders will meet at the end of their institutes in Washington, D.C. for a presidential summit; select fellows will also spend six weeks in professional development training with U.S. non-governmental organizations, private companies and government agencies.
Working closely with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational Affairs and its implementing partner, IREX, Wagner College and the other YALI host institutions have designed academic programs that will challenge, inspire and empower these inspiring young leaders from Africa.
For more information about the nationwide Mandela Washington Fellowship program, visit its website.
To read news stories and see photos and videos about the 2014 and 2015 YALI cohorts at Wagner College, visit our online Newsroom.
Read profiles of our 2014 and 2015 Mandela Washington Fellows on our website:
For more information about Wagner College's Mandela Washington Fellowship program, contact:
- Ruta Shah-Gordon, Vice President for Internationalization, Intercultural Affairs and Campus Life
rshahgor@wagner.edu, 718-420-4254 - Jason C. Fitzgerald, Academic Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Education
jason.fitzgerald@wagner.edu, 718-420-4129
