Here's a look at our upcoming events...

• 2/25–2/26 — HKS/HBS Social Enterprise Conference
• 3/2–3/3 — Gleitsman Social Change Film Forum (Save the Date!)
• 6/23–6/30 — Latino Leadership Initiative, cohort 3

And others of note from around the University and beyond...

• 2/22 — Joseph Nye on "Presidents and the Transformation of American Foreign Policy" (Princeton)
• 2/22 — Harvard Decision-Making Workshop with John Assad
• 2/27–3/2 — TED 2012
• 2/29 — Harvard Decision-Making Workshop with Amy Cuddy
• 3/7 — Harvard Decision-Making Workshop with Laurie Santos
• 3/14 — Harvard Decision-Making Workshop with Drazen Prelec
• 3/16 — LAST DAY to apply for MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition
• 5/31–6/1 — 3rd Berlin Forum on Innovation in Governance (Technische Universität Berlin)
• 6/9 — Milken-Penn GSE’s 2nd Annual Education Business Plan Competition
• 6/11–6/12 — Personal Democracy Forum 2012
• 10/24–10/27 — 2012 ILA Conference

Join the CPL mailing list for up-to-date information on CPL announcements, research, and event information. Got an event that you'd like us to list? Email suggestions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Want to spend a week with HKS peers, immersed in a policy issues you are passionate about? Then apply by Thursday, February 16 for the inaugural LEADERSHIP SERVICE SEMINARS.

Cosponsored by the Office of the Dean of Students, the Academic Dean’s Office, and the Center for Public Leadership

These experiential trips—designed and led by HKS students—will run in May 2012.

About the Trips
Health and Education in Rural New Mexico
(download application here—Google account required)
Led by MPP1 students Lara Rosner and Mark Truman, this project will involve travel to several towns and Native American reservations in rural New Mexico, documenting the services provided by local schools, GEAR UP (a nonprofit that works to increase "postsecondary awareness and preparations among parents and students"), the Indian Health Services. After interviewing key governmental and nonprofit leaders, participants will develop a policy guide that makes recommendations for improving the lives of rural families by creating greater synergies between existing educational and healthcare services.

The U.S.-Mexico Border: Policy Challenges and Responses
(download application here—Google account required)
Led by MPP1 students Octavio Gonzalez and Anya Malkov, this project will focus on the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez region as a means of investigating a tangle of densely interwoven and politically divisive issues: immigration policy, globalization and international trade, domestic security and immigration enforcement, America’s deportation and civil detention system, drug and human trafficking, federal and state coordination, as well as the challenges that local government and community leaders face in the border context.

Apply February 9–16, 2012
Eligibility: all HKS students are eligible to apply
Instructions: Students may apply for both trips, but must submit a complete application for each one. Copy the applications to your Google docs to create an editable version. Please read application instructions carefully, as incomplete submissions will not be considered.
Deadline: 5:00pm (EST) on Thursday, February 16, 2012.
Send application form and required attachments to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Additional trip information
Scheduling: between May 11–May 20, 2012
Cost: participants are responsible for fundraising part of the trip cost
Requirements: these programs have additional programmatic requirements before and after the trip.
Questions? Contact CPL for more information ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

About the HKS Leadership Service Seminar Project
Over the last six months, CPL’s Student Advisory Board (SAB) has been working with CPL, the Dean of Students Office, and the Office of the Academic Dean to develop a pilot experiential public service leadership program for HKS. Similar to the Alternative Spring Break programs at many colleges throughout the U.S., including at Harvard, the Leadership Service Seminar idea adds a study group component: not only do student leaders design, build, and lead a one-week policy and service trip, they also work with faculty sponsors to equip participating students with new knowledge, skills, and networks within and outside HKS. Participating students build subject matter expertise in a U.S.-based policy issue while performing direct public service; and the addition of such opportunities improves the life of the school by helping build community around the idea of service.

Congratulations to Anya, Lara, Mark and Octavio, and thank you to everyone who submitted a proposal for a Leadership Service Seminar pilot.  We received eight excellent proposals, far more than we could accommodate in this first pilot year.  This is a powerful testament to the vitality of our student body and its commitment to building experiential leadership and learning opportunities at HKS.  It also builds a strong foundation for the continuation of the Leadership Service Seminar project next year.

The Wexners are the founding and sustaining donors of the Center for Public Leadership

Ohio State University renamed its medical center on Saturday, February 11, in honor of CPL's founding and sustaining donors Leslie H. and Abigail Wexner, a fitting tribute to a family whose generosity to Les's alma mater stretches back more than three decades. The institution, which will be known as the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University, is undergoing a $1.1 billion expansion—the largest in the university's history.

As founding and sustaining benefactors of Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, Wexner, chair and CEO of Limited Brands, his wife, Abigail, and the Wexner Foundation have donated more than $24 million to CPL. In addition to this funding, the Wexners have generously established the Wexner Israel Fellows Program, which brings Israeli public leaders to HKS to pursue a midcareer master’s degree. This program, which is now in its twenty-third year, boasts more than 200 graduates.

Last year Wexner, his family, and the Limited Brands Foundation pledged $100 million to Ohio State—the largest single donation OSU has ever received—bringing their combined donations over the years to nearly $200 million (this figure doesn’t include the hundreds of millions more that the Wexners have helped raise). The 2011 gift will be used mainly in support of the medical center, the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, and the Richard J. Solove Research Institute; a portion will also benefit OSU's Wexner Center for the Arts.

The Columbus Dispatch quoted OSU president Gordon Gee as saying that Wexner's "most valuable gift has been his extraordinary leadership." In his 16 years of service as a university trustee, Wexner was chair twice. Gee credited Wexner with "a firm and unequivocal vision for our academic medical center, and that is to be a world-class institution, period." Abigail Wexner serves on the medical center's board of directors.

Wexner said, "I have every confidence that the complex medical challenges confronting us today will be solved at the Ohio State University through the collaboration among researchers and scientists from a broad spectrum of specialties." In a video released by the Columbus Dispatch, Wexner recalls a time during his mid-30s when his father told him that devoting time and resources to philanthropic pursuits was acceptable if it was for his own self-satisfaction, "'but if you think you can change the destiny of the world, you're wasting your energy and you’re wasting your money. Now if it just makes you feel good, it's okay—you're entitled to spend your time and your resource any way you can.' But I always thought my dad was wrong—I still do—in that statement. And this morning it occurred to me about five o'clock that he just said that—he was challenging me in another way."

The Sunday New York Times and today's Wall Street Journal included full-page advertisements carrying the news of the renaming of the Ohio State Medical Center in honor of the Wexners.

Here's a look at our upcoming events...

• 2/11 — LAST DAY to register for HKS/HBS Social Enterprise Conference
• 2/16 — Conversation with the Rt. Hon. John Bercow
• 2/25–2/26 — HKS/HBS Social Enterprise Conference
• 3/2–3/3 — Gleitsman Social Change Film Forum (Save the Date!)
• 6/23–6/30 — Latino Leadership Initiative, cohort 3

And others of note from around the University and beyond...

• 2/13 — LAST DAY to enter the Dell Social Innovation Challenge
• 2/15 — "The Future of the Euro and the Role of Central Banks" (M-RCBG)
• 2/16 — Public Address by the Hon. Enda Kenny, Prime MInister of Ireland (IOP)
• 2/16 — "Clinical Trials: Is Corporate Sponsorship Compatible with Credibility?" (Safra)
• 2/17 — "Civility and American Democracy" (McCormack School at UMass Boston)
• 2/22 — Joseph Nye on "Presidents and the Transformation of American Foreign Policy" (Princeton)
• 2/27–3/2 — TED 2012
• 3/16 — LAST DAY to apply for MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition
• 5/31–6/1 — 3rd Berlin Forum on Innovation in Governance (Technische Universität Berlin)
• 6/9 — Milken-Penn GSE’s 2nd Annual Education Business Plan Competition
• 6/11–6/12 — Personal Democracy Forum 2012
• 10/24–10/27 — 2012 ILA Conference

Join the CPL mailing list for up-to-date information on CPL announcements, research, and event information. Got an event that you'd like us to list? Email suggestions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CPL's George Program and the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government invite you to:

LEADERSHIP IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT: A conversation with the Rt. Hon. John Bercow, MP
Speaker of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom

Moderated by Patrick Johnson, MPP1

Thursday, February 16th
11:45–1:00 p.m.

Darman Seminar Room, CPL
Harvard Kennedy School

RSVP required by 9 am on Monday, February 13th at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T3SPQVN

John Bercow is a British Member of Parliament and has been Speaker of the House of Commons since 2009, a role which sees him presiding over lively parliamentary debates as a neutral moderator. Prior to becoming Speaker of the House, Speaker Bercow had a successful career as Shadow Minister in opposition to the Labour Government of Tony Blair, defying the Conservative leadership on several occasions and ultimately winning an award for Opposition MP of the Year. Speaker Bercow has also taught leadership, campaigning, and communication skills, both in Britain and in the US.

In this brown bag lunch, Speaker Bercow will discuss his thoughts on leadership, including the difficulties of leading debates in the House of Commons from a position of neutrality, and the trials and tribulations of leading from opposition in parliament.

More about the Speaker: The Rt Hon John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker Bercow was elected as the 157th Speaker of the House of Commons on 22nd June 2009. He is also President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (UK Branch), and Honorary President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. He also serves as chair of the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, and the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. The Speaker was elected as Member of Parliament for Buckingham in May 1997, with a majority of 12,386. In May 2005, the Speaker was re-elected with an increased majority of 18,129.The Speaker’s political interests include special educational needs, international development, human rights, and constitutional reform. He follows developments in the United States, Myanmar, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

For more ways to get involved with our center, please visit our HKS Student Resources page.