Written by Brandon Lu
On December 6th, 2018 the Yale Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program held its closing ceremony, marking the end of the 2018 program for the sixteen World Fellows.
The World Fellows Program, administered by the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale each year, brings together more than a dozen individuals: all mid-career professionals who have demonstrated achievements and international recognition. This year’s class of World Fellows included a South Korean Army major, a BBC journalist, and a former presidential candidate from Peru, among many other accomplished individuals.
The closing ceremony began with remarks by Yale’s Vice President for Global Strategy, Pericles Lewis. Highlighting the World Fellows Program’s unique purpose to further develop the careers of specifically mid-career professionals, Lewis congratulated this year’s graduates, noting “that [the World Fellows] all have many more years ahead of [them] to accomplish more.” Lewis ended his remarks on a lighthearted note—inviting World Fellows to return to Yale at any time to share their further pursuits.
Then, the director of the World Fellows program, Emma Sky, gave her remarks. She thanked World Fellows for their participation and willingness to share their experiences with the greater Yale community. She then underscored the critical role the World Fellows would serve in the world, commenting that in “an era in which Pax Americana is ending and a new world is struggling to be born,” the fact that “each of [the World Fellows], from different disciplines and different places, different creeds, colors, and classes,” all came together to share their knowledge was praiseworthy and undeniably significant. She ended her speech with a call to action, asking the World Fellows to continue “[making] the world a better place.”
Susie Beyl, Yale College ’20, spoke from a different perspective. As an undergraduate liaison, she worked with World Fellow Elsamarie D’Silva, an Indian gender activist. In her remarks, Beyl recounted the numerous educational experiences she gained from participating in the World Fellows program as a liaison. She emphasized what distinguishes the World Fellows program apart from others—”the liaison and fellow pairing, which far transcends traditional relationships,” most importantly, “reveals to undergraduates what is possible.”
The closing ceremony also included a fun performance from the World Fellows themselves. Performing their own rendition of the hit Broadway song “Alexander Hamilton” from the “Hamilton” musical, the World Fellows changed the lines to include lighthearted references to their time at Yale.
The sixteen World Fellows are the newest additions to the approximately 300 alumni.