Fletcher Donor Report 2019

The Class of 2022

International vs. U.S. citizens in incoming class: 5% US, 25% international

Gender breakdown of incoming class: 57% female, 43% male

In the News

Transforming The Fletcher School – and the world – through scholarships

Scholarships go to the heart of The Fletcher School’s mission and can take many forms, including endowed or term funds, or planned gifts. Each one transforms students’ lives and prepares Fletcher-trained leaders to serve the world.

	Ravi Janjwadia, 2019–2020 Meagher Foundation Scholar A “first-generation learner,” empowered by Fletcher
As a native of Mumbai, Ravi Janjwadia experienced development programs, including free education and subsidized health care, at a personal level. His ambition to serve others drew him to The Fletcher School, where he received the 2019–2020 Robert F. Meagher Foundation Scholarship and earned a MALD focused on development economics and climate change policy. “I am a first-generation learner,” says Janjwadia. The Fletcher School and the Meagher scholarship are “opening up amazing possibilities.”
	Nicole Bermudez, 2019–2020 Bosworth Scholar A student of human rights, motivated by her father’s survival
Nicole Bermudez came to The Fletcher School to pursue a career with the U.S. Department of State. “As the daughter of a Colombian immigrant who fled violent conflict…I have always been driven to learn about the cultures and politics of other societies, especially those that have endured protracted violence.” A Fletcher Military Fellow, Bermudez explored human rights, conflict resolution, and foreign policy. She was proud to receive the 2019–2020 Bosworth Scholarship, honoring former Fletcher Dean Stephen W. Bosworth, and to join Fletcher’s “vibrant, challenging, unique community.”
	Eileen F. Babbitt, Professor of the Practice of International Conflict Management A gift to Fletcher scholarships, inspired by her students
“Because education was so important in my life…I want to make sure other people have that opportunity,” says Eileen F. Babbitt, professor of the practice of international conflict management. Last year, Babbitt designated The Fletcher School as a beneficiary of her retirement plan to support scholarships for Fletcher’s talented students. “To know that these are the people who are going to be taking the lead—who will be working for change and making decisions to shape the future—that gives me hope and reassurance.”

New Master’s in Cybersecurity and Public Policy

Starting in fall 2020, Tufts will offer a master’s program in cybersecurity and public policy, a joint degree offered by the School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and The Fletcher School.

Graduates of the program, says Susan Landau, Bridge Professor of Cybersecurity and Policy at The Fletcher School, will meet the market demand for professionals who can act as translators between technicians and policymakers “to develop policy that better protects against cyberattacks—and mitigate the problems when such attacks occur, as they inevitably will.” Landau will serve as program director and chair of the governance committee.

Other core faculty include Josephine Wolff, assistant professor of cybersecurity policy at The Fletcher School and the author of You’ll See This Message When It Is Too Late: The Legal and Economic Aftermath of Cybersecurity Breaches.

Team Comes Together to Repair Thousands of N-95 Masks

When Tufts Medical Center received a donation of 6,095 N95 face masks this spring, it seemed invaluable. But then staff quickly discovered the masks were old—the elastic bands were brittle and broke before they could be used. Members of The Fletcher School’s Military Fellows Program identified graduate students at Tufts and other institutions who were able to assist in the massive task of repairing the masks, set protocols for safe mask assembly in a space at Tufts School of Dental Medicine, and helped repair the masks using 18,000 feet–about 3.4 miles–of elastic cord and 6,000 elastic clips/stoppers.

The mask repair operation was just one piece of a cross-community effort organized in tandem by the military fellows and a veritable army of student volunteers. The task force also worked with the university to develop crisis communications, coordinate short- and long-term strategic planning, deliver meals to sick students in isolation, and turn university facilities into a field hospital to aid Boston-area hospitals.

Transforming The Fletcher School – and the world – through scholarships

	Ravi Janjwadia, 2019–2020 Meagher Foundation Scholar A “first-generation learner,” empowered by Fletcher
As a native of Mumbai, Ravi Janjwadia experienced development programs, including free education and subsidized health care, at a personal level. His ambition to serve others drew him to The Fletcher School, where he received the 2019–2020 Robert F. Meagher Foundation Scholarship and earned a MALD focused on development economics and climate change policy. “I am a first-generation learner,” says Janjwadia. The Fletcher School and the Meagher scholarship are “opening up amazing possibilities.”
	Nicole Bermudez, 2019–2020 Bosworth Scholar A student of human rights, motivated by her father’s survival
Nicole Bermudez came to The Fletcher School to pursue a career with the U.S. Department of State. “As the daughter of a Colombian immigrant who fled violent conflict…I have always been driven to learn about the cultures and politics of other societies, especially those that have endured protracted violence.” A Fletcher Military Fellow, Bermudez explored human rights, conflict resolution, and foreign policy. She was proud to receive the 2019–2020 Bosworth Scholarship, honoring former Fletcher Dean Stephen W. Bosworth, and to join Fletcher’s “vibrant, challenging, unique community.”
	Eileen F. Babbit, Professor of the Practice of International Conflict Management A gift to Fletcher scholarships, inspired by her students
“Because education was so important in my life…I want to make sure other people have that opportunity,” says Eileen F. Babbitt, professor of the practice of international conflict management. Last year, Babbitt designated The Fletcher School as a beneficiary of her retirement plan to support scholarships for Fletcher’s talented students. “To know that these are the people who are going to be taking the lead—who will be working for change and making decisions to shape the future—that gives me hope and reassurance.”

New Executive Education Offerings

The 2019-2020 academic year brought forth two new executive education offerings: Strategic Leadership and Transformative Action, and Fletcher Summer Live.

This past January, 20 members of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago participated in a new executive education program at The Fletcher School called Strategic Leadership and Transformative Action. This intensive four-day program, which covers topics such as financial management, communications, and conflict resolution, is funded by a three-year grant from the nonprofit organization FAITH: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism.

Fletcher Summer Live provides participants with the opportunity to experience an online, condensed version of some of Fletcher’s most popular courses. Offered in four- to five-week sessions, the classes feature timely themes, such as Professor Ian Johnstone’s “Global Governance in Turbulent Times” and “COVID’s Economic Aftershocks,” with professors Daniel Drezner and Christopher Miller.

New Master’s in Cybersecurity and Public Policy

Team Comes Together to Repair Thousands of N-95 Masks

Will Digital Technology Help Africa’s Economies Thrive?

In Africa, more people have access to cell phones than to toilets or clean drinking water, according to Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of global business at The Fletcher School. That widespread adoption of digital technology supports new ways of doing business, such as mobile payments, that could help struggling African economies “leapfrog” from poverty to economic growth and stability. But is the technology fueling a turnaround?

The answer depends, at least in part, on national policies, Chakravorti said. Tech-friendly governments helped Kenya and South Africa emerge as digital economy leaders in the African Leapfrog Index, a ranking created by Chakravorti and his team at Fletcher’s Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC). Watch the video summary to learn more.

Campus speakers

These officials, experts, and alumni were just a few of the guests who spoke on campus during the 2019–2020 school year:

Lone Dencker Wisborg, Denmark’s Ambassador to the United States, spoke about the transatlantic alliance between the U.S. and Europe.

Noam Shuster, 2018’s “New Jewish Comedian of the Year,” talked about growing up in a mixed Jewish-Arab community.

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, F92, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, connected with the International Security Studies Program over lunch.

David Grann, F92, National Book Award finalist and writer for The New Yorker, gave a book talk about his recently published Killers of the Flower Moon.

Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, held a roundtable about the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan.

Fletcher alums in the fight against COVID-19

Christopher Spitters, F10, serves as the health officer for the Snohomish County Health District in Everett, Wash., the first county in the United States to report a COVID-19 case.

Christine Jost, V96, F03, works as a senior livestock technical advisor in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and serves as the technical coordinator for their COVID-19 response management team.

Thomas Pickering, F54, H90

Thomas Pickering, F54, H90, a loyal Fletcher alumnus, donor, and friend, returned to campus in October to deliver the opening plenary to the Military Intervention Conference. In conversation with Monica Toft, director of the Center for Strategic Studies, Pickering reflected on his career, highlighted the challenges military interventions can pose to diplomacy, and offered advice to students who intend to join the Foreign Service.

Querine Hanlon, F94, F99

Querine Hanlon, F94, F99, is a leader in an international effort to reform governments’ security sectors. Through her nonprofit organization, Strategic Capacity Group, Hanlon helps nations around the world develop more effective, transparent, and democratically accountable security forces and institutions. Her group’s recent projects include helping Tunisia, Mali, and the Central African Republic modernize training in their military and law enforcement academies and aiding Libya and Egypt with border security issues related to illicit trafficking.