NEWS

By DEE REID
College of Arts and Sciences

CHAPEL HILL -- High-level policy-makers from Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East will study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the upcoming academic year as participants in the prestigious Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program.

As a host institution for the competitive fellowship program, Carolina will welcome nine Humphrey Fellows this summer, including professionals from Burma, Jordan, Macedonia, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Ramallah, South Korea and Uruguay.

"Carolina is ideally suited for this program because of strengths across the basic academic disciplines and the professional schools," said program director Dr. Michael Stegman, the Duncan MacRae and Rebecca Kyle MacRae professor and chairman of the department of public policy, where the Humphrey Fellows Program is based. Stegman, a former assistant U.S. secretary of housing and urban development,  also directs the Center for Community Capitalism in the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Through graduate classes, weekly seminars and meetings with other professionals, the Fellows will learn about effective policies in their respective fields, including: telecommunications, public works, environmental affairs, health care, economic development, human resources, and the legal system.

The Humphrey Fellows will be in residence at Carolina for the academic year to participate in graduate classes in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Kenan-Flagler School of Business, the School of Law and the School of Public Health.  Through weekly seminars, the fellows will engage with diverse UNC faculty and special guests. The fellows will also receive leadership development training, participate in professional internships that respond to their long-term career goals, and consult with leaders from businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.

In addition, the fellows will be available to talk to classes at UNC and in local schools.

"The Fellows will benefit from our faculty expertise in many policy areas, and our students and the community-at-large will enjoy access to these knowledgeable professionals from around the world," said Stegman.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program was established in 1978 to honor the public service career of the former vice president and senator, and to encourage leadership in fields critical to the engagement of the U.S. with countries in the developing world. Fellows are nominated by U.S. Embassies or Fulbright Commissions, based on their potential for national leadership and a demonstrated commitment to public service in either the public or private sector.

During the next five years, the University will host about 40 Humphrey Fellows.

The 2003-2004 Humphrey Fellows include the following:

• Ali Abdulla Amur Al Habsi, director general of health services of the northern region for the  Ministry of Health in Oman. He will study health-care administration concerning effective policies and practices for treating the needs of low income and disadvantaged populations.
  
  
•  Raghda A.J. Butros, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Amman, Jordan. She will study the impact of globalization on emerging economies. She is interested in developing effective support systems for small and medium-sized businesses through non-profit associations and training programs.
  
  
• Daniela Cabrera, chief executive officer of Sanatorio Americano, the main hospital for the nationwide health network of Uruguay. She will study policies and practices for improving training of managers for both public and private health-care systems.
  
  
• Farah Hael Amin Ghunaim, human resources director for the Jerusalem Water Undertaking in Ramallah. He will study human resources management, planning and practices in water development and wastewater treatment.
  
  
• Slavica Indzevska-Stojanovic, deputy executive director for joint programs of the Open Society Institute in Macedonia, a non-profit foundation promoting a civil society. She will study conflict resolution and negotiation techniques as well as public policy development for a more democratic society.
  
  
• Hassan Nasir Jamy, deputy secretary for human resources (Establishment Division) for Pakistan. He is involved in an ongoing policy review and reformation of the civil service system to make it more modern, responsive, capable and profession.
  
  
• Adriana Labardini Inzuna, an attorney and adviser to the chairman and Board of the Federal Telecommunications Commission of Mexico. She wants to learn about best practices and policies for bridging the digital divide between those who are technologically literate and those who lack knowledge about and access to modern telecommunications.
  
  
• Myint Oo, a medical doctor and president of the General Practitioner Society in Burma.  He plans to study health-care practices and policies of the United States in order to develop a continuing education program for general medical practitioners in Burma.
  
  
• Senghi Park, director of information development at the Ministry of Labor in South Korea. She hopes to learn more about human resource management and contribute to the development of long-term labor policies for her country.
  
  
• Vazben Karapetyan, program coordinator (Armenia), South Caucasus Cooperation Program, Eurasia Foundation in Yerevan, Armenia, where he works to introduce the program in the South Caucasus region. He works with government agencies, other international organizations and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He focues on the role that U.S. think tanks and public policy institutions play in developing policy in this country.
  
  
• Mudiyanselage S. C. Samarakoon, legal officer with the Sri Lanka Export Development Board in Colombo, where she advises and provides information on law to management and all divisions. Her interests include international commercial law, world trading systems and legal problems of world trade. She also is interested in intellectual property law, legal issues in electronic commerce and dispute resolution. She plans to pursue academic course work and professional training experiences during her Humphrey year in these areas of law.

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Contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339