CSPC is excited to welcome our first International Presidential Fellows in 2011-2012. Thanks to the generosity of Toyota Motor Corporation, CSPC was able to partner with the US-Japan Research Institute to offer two Fellowship spots to students from Japan's top universites. The International Fellows participated in three and half days of additional programming prior to joining their U.S. counterparts for the Fall Leadership Conference.
The participants in our inaugural International Presidential Fellows Program were Mr. Kenji Hayata and Ms. Miki Ito. Mr. Hayata attends Waseda University where he is majoring in Economic and Industrial Development in East Asian Countries with a minor in Political Science. He is an intern with Foreign Affairs Japan, and is interested in researching the role of think tanks in the United States and how similar institutions might be established in Japan. He also spent a year studying in the United States at Bates College and a summer in Washington, DC working for the NHK Washington Bureau.
Ms. Ito attends the University of Tokyo where she is majoring in Law. She is a member of the U Tokyo Legal Consulting Office, and is interesting in researching the decisionmaking process of American political leaders. She spent her junior high and high school years in the United States, graduating cum laude from Choate Rosemary Hall.
Their program included private meetings with leaders and scholars including His Excellency Ichiro Fujisaki, Ambassador of Japan to the United States; Dr. James Pfiffner, University Professor at George Mason University; Mr. Bill Breer, former Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Ms. Elyse Bauer Anderson, Foreign Policy Director for Congressman Frank Wolf; Ms. Meredith Broadbent, Scholl Chair for International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Dr. Greg Smith, Senior Researcher at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The International Fellows discussed a range of issues in these meetings including polarization, the upcoming 2012 election, free trade agreements, Presidential leadership, human rights, the development and functioning of think tanks, and the intersection of religion and politics. They will return in the spring to participate in the Spring Leadership Conference with their U.S. counterparts and will again particpate in additional meetings and activities prior to the start of the conference.
If you are a representative of a college or university outside the United States and are interested in joining the International Presidential Fellows Program, please contact Parry VanLandingham, Program Director, at 202-872-9800 or via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .