2007-08 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program was initiated in 1978 to honor the late Senator and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and his life-long commitment to international cooperation and public service.  The program brings accomplished mid-career professionals from designated developing nations and emerging democracies to the United States for a year of professional development and related academic study and cultural exchange.  The people-to-people approach to international understanding provides a basis for lasting ties between the U.S. citizens and their professional counterparts in other countries and strengthens the global exchange of knowledge and experience essential to a sustainable world.

Fellowships are granted competitively to professional candidates with a commitment to public service.  The program is sponsored by the United States Department of State and is administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE), which assigns Fellows to a host university based upon each Fellow’s interests and needs.  This year’s program includes 173 Fellows from over 85 countries, being hosted by 15 universities throughout the United States.

Each year Humphrey Fellows come to the University of Minnesota to pursue studies and professional development work in the areas of law, law enforcement, human rights, non-profit management, public policy and public administration.  The goals of the Humphrey Fellowship Program at the University of Minnesota are:

• to enable each Fellow to develop a program that fosters personal and professional growth and that prepares the Fellow for leadership roles in his or her country;
• to provide opportunities for a rich exchange of information among Fellows, and also between Fellows and host families, community members, professional colleagues, and students and faculty at the University.
• to help Fellows understand as broadly and deeply as possible U.S. cultural, political, legal and economic systems; and
• to help Fellows develop a fuller sense of the global context in which they and their countries operate.

Since 1981, we have hosted 337 Humphrey Fellows from 98 different countries who have specialized in a wide array of professional fields, including agricultural science, business and management, corrections, finance, foreign affairs, government, human resources, human rights, international trade, law, law enforcement, mass communications, mediation and arbitration, medicine, public administration, public health, and social work. 

The Humphrey Institute, the Human Rights Center, the Law School, and the University of Minnesota are working together to fulfill the program goals for each of the Fellows. Collaboration among Fellows, University faculty, students, alumni, host families, and an extensive network of affiliated professionals creates an extraordinary environment for cross-cultural learning.