2015 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Global Fellows Announced

Posted on April 7, 2015 by in FDR Suite

Adams House and the FDR Foundation are delighted to announce the 2015 FDR Global Fellows:

Photo Teresa OszkinisTeresa Oszkinis ’16 of Leverett House and West Islip, New York, will be traveling to Rwanda to participate in the Engineering World Health Summer Institute, a unique program that will allow her to combine her passions for biomedical engineering and global health. According to a 2013 article in the Atlantic Monthly, “Across Sub-Saharan Africa, ‘medical device graveyards’ litter the empty closets and spare corners of hospitals. The World Health Organization estimates that ‘a large proportion (up to 70 percent) of equipment lies idle’ — without anyone to maintain or repair it. Teresa’s summer program directly addresses this urgent need. As part of the Summer Institute, Teresa will live with a local Rwandan family while receiving language training as well as gaining hands-on experience working in hospitals and clinics with scarce resources. Afterwards, she will be assigned to a local hospital or clinic to put her training to use in repairing the medical equipment needed to support critical health care in Rwanda.

A junior concentrating in biomedical engineering with a secondary in global health and health policy, Teresa serves as president of Students Taking on Poverty, is a board member for the Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children, volunteers at a local homeless shelter and manages to find time to row for the Varsity Crew — all the while maintaining a near perfect GPA. As a Pre-Med student with a strong interest in global health and social medicine, Teresa is passionate about promoting health as a human right and addressing the root causes of the health disparities that plague our modern world.

Teresa’s program was chosen by the Fellowship Advisory Board for a 7K award as it perfectly corresponds to FDR’s firm belief that “that the only way to have a friend is to be one,” and completes our preference for proposals that not only provide an educational experience for the participant, but also produce some “quantifiable public good.” Additionally, Teresa will be named the 2015 Lillian Goldman scholar in recognition of her work towards the advancement of women’s causes globally.

10608667_457119597760087_678465885947990184_oKelvin Muriuki ’17 of Leverett House and Nyeri, Kenya, will be traveling to Paris this summer to investigate how the principles of biological evolution can help understand and solve the problems that plague modern-day cities. During his 8-week intensive Harvard Summer School Program, Kelvin will explore evolutionary parallels between major urban centers and human beings with an eye to designing specific projects that not only improve the quality of life in urban centers but also engage urban residents in comprehensively understanding and actively solving the issues that affect their cities.

A sophomore concentrating in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Kelvin is passionate about genetics, specifically its application in the understanding and treatment of non-communicable diseases like cancer which exert a heavy death toll in his native Kenya, and often go ignored. He is also fascinated by cities, their development, the complex web of social relations they foster, and the lifestyle changes they command. Having spent a significant part of his life in Nairobi, Kelvin particularly identifies with the problems and health consequences that urbanization necessarily produces. Kelvin has served both as a college counselor and a teacher for high school students in Kenya, and plans to pursue an MD-PhD after graduation with an eye to a career in the bio-tech industry.

Kelvin’s proposal was chosen for a 5K award because the Fellowship Advisory Board strongly feels that all too often today’s students are locked into pre-professional programs that limit their knowledge base to prescribed courses and methods of thinking. This unique program of evolutionary science and urban planning immediately urges students to think outside the box, and dovetails with our belief that the widest possible skill set — embracing both the humanities and sciences — will be required to solve the problems of the 21st century.

 

Sending the Elevator Back Down

Posted on December 31, 2014 by in FDR Suite

The other day while randomly flicking through channels, I caught a glimpse of an interview with Kevin Spacey. He’d been asked a question about why he spends so much free time working with young actors. His answer was remarkable. Quoting mentor Jack Lemmon ’47, Spacey said: “I believe that if you have been successful in the business you wanted to be successful in, and if you have achieved a lot of the dreams you’ve dreamed… it’s your obligation… to send the elevator back down.”

Sending the elevator back down.

For years, I’ve been looking for a simple way to describe the work we do at the Foundation. It’s various and variable, covering fields as diverse as historic preservation (through the Suite Museum and Collections); educational programming & scholarships (through our Global Citizenship programs); or real-world research (through the FDR Center for Global Engagement) to find practical solutions to the daunting challenges we face as a nation and a globe to successfully transit the 21st century. But I couldn’t have found a better phrase than this: Sending the elevator back down.

That’s what we do. Plain and simple. We — in this case, I, a dedicated group of alumni, our House Masters, our affiliated faculty, you, our supporters — we all attempt to take some of the incredible good fortune we’ve experienced and pass that forward.

But to continue, we need your help. Over the last year, we have nearly doubled our historic preservation efforts, educational programming, and scholarships due to exceptional demand. Requests to tour the Suite now come almost weekly; our student seminars have expanded in number from one to twelve; our Global Fellowship summer study grants from one to three. We’ve launched an entirely new endeavor, a non-partisan think-tank, the FDR Center for Global Engagement. Yet individual contributions supporting these efforts have fallen off. A common perception is that we receive substantial funds from the University or from major corporate sponsors. We don’t. We do all this solely through the contributions of dedicated volunteers and the generosity of people like you.

Now, I’d like to ask you to consider helping our efforts. (Or, if you already have in the past, to do so again.) There are many easy ways to do this, from sustaining monthly gifts via credit card, to direct donation of money, of airline frequent flyer miles, of stocks, bonds, or securities. We’re a registered 501(c)3, which means for US residents, your contributions are tax deductible. You may donate in someone’s name, from a private foundation, or anonymously. Simply email me a michael.weishan at fdrfoundation dot org and we’ll walk you through the process.

I know you receive appeals from many quarters. But we like to think that this very special place, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation, nestled in the best of all the houses, Adams, in the bosom of the world’s top university, Harvard, is in a unique position to utilize the legacy of one of our greatest presidents to better all our futures. We here have done our best to send that elevator back down. Please help us ensure that the next car up is packed to capacity.

With warmest wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Michael

 





We’re Changing Our Name!

Posted on April 26, 2014 by in FDR Suite

I’m pleased to announce that as of the 1st of May 2014, the Foundation will be changing its legal name from the FDR Suite Foundation to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation. This will generally be followed in print and online by the descriptive “at Adams House, Harvard College.”

In the six years since our founding, the mission of the Foundation has grown exponentially, and we decided it was time for our name to reflect these new fields of endeavor. The new Foundation will be comprised of three linked departments:

The Suite Museum & Historical Collections division will manage the day-to-day running of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Suite in Westmorly Hall and maintain the Suite’s collection of almost 2000 pieces of FDR and Harvard memorabilia. In addition, the Suite will continue to sponsor the annual FDR Memorial Lecture, lead Harvard Alumni Association historic tours, and host other cultural events to promote awareness of FDR, Adams House and Harvard College history.

The FDR Global Citizenship Program assumes charge of our non-historical undergraduate and alumni educational programs, including the FDR Global Fellowship, which each year awards summer grants to undergraduates whose international research in the sciences or humanities embodies FDR’s admonition that “that the only way to have a friend is to be one.”

The Foundation’s newest division, the FDR Center for Global Engagement, plans to honor FDR’s legacy by working with practitioners of international relations, global innovation, and public diplomacy on research and programs aimed at understanding and adjusting to the challenges of the 21st century. Jed Willard ’96 of the Harvard Kennedy School has kindly agreed to come on board to lead these endeavors as the Center’s first Director.

Heady times indeed, and all thanks to the continuing support of people like you.

 


The 2014 FDR Global Fellows

Posted on April 21, 2014 by in FDR Suite

Adams House and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation are delighted to announce the FDR Global Fellows for 2014:

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 12.12.00 PMGina Kim ’15, of Adams House, who is also this year’s Lillian Goldman Scholar, will be traveling to China and South Korea to conduct senior thesis research on sex trafficking in East Asia. There she will interview government officials, NGO workers, journalists, and academic experts to research how sex trafficking works in the two countries and how they combat this horrific, amorphous issue in their own ways. Her senior thesis research question is: “Under what circumstances do sex trafficking policy changes occur in China and in the Republic of Korea? Do the factors influencing policy change also affect the effectiveness and implementation of the adopted policy?” After graduation, Gina plans to pursue a joint JD/MPP program, with a goal of working for the U.S. Department of State, Department of Justice or the White House in a legal advisory role.

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 12.07.10 PMAlicia Merganthaler ’15, of Winthrop House, will be spending two months in London interning with the Financial Times. As an economics concentrator and active writer, Alicia is interested in studying how the Times, as opposed to many US-based financial publications, presents economics news to inform the public in a nonpartisan manner.  At the Times, she’ll have the unique opportunity to work alongside professional researchers to investigate meaningful economic phenomena worldwide, and learn how these economic stories can be disseminated in a way that is theoretically accurate, but also inclusive of individuals with limited economic background. After Commencement, Alicia plans on pursuing a career in economic journalism.

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 12.07.20 PMAmanda Hess, from the Harvard Extension School, will be traveling to Kisumu, Kenya where she’ll explore diverse approaches for using innovations and technologies to foster transformative and sustainable healthcare improvements in Africa. During her six-week intensive Harvard Summer School program, Amanda will learn an interdisciplinary approach to healthcare that emphasizes the importance of teamwork in the design, development, and testing of public heath initiatives, and how to integrate these improvements on the local level. This for-credit program also completes a number of her Extension requirements. After obtaining her degree, Amanda plans to work for an NGO in Africa or Asia.

 

This year the Foundation is also pleased to present an Award of Merit for an outstanding proposal it was unable to fund but found to be very much in the spirit of FDR’s belief that “the only way to have a friend is to be one.”

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 12.06.23 PMZeenia Framooze ’16, of Adams House, will spend  the summer in Bombay, India, where she plans to volunteer with the Acorn Foundation’s Dharavi Project. Inspired by Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Zeenia will be working towards the organization’s goal of empowering the waste collectors of the Dharavi slum. Using her passion for teaching, public speaking and photography, she hopes to highlight the complex issues involved in waste disposal in a culminating photo project titled “Recycling Lives.” Zeenia plans a career in broadcast journalism.

Remember, this scholarship program receives no financial support from Harvard College and is entirely funded by contributions from people like you. Please give generously. You can donate safely and securely online by clicking the button below.




Not Your Average Summer Vacay

Posted on September 28, 2013 by in Articles, FDR Suite

In the movie “Legally Blonde” actress Reese Witherspoon anounces to her ditzy friends:  “Girls, I’m going to Harvard!”

“Like on Vacay?” they scream in reply. “ROAD TRIP!!!!!!”

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is not a tale of your average “vacay,” though it does involve an extensive road trip. More than one, in fact.

I think I speak for the entire House when I say we are deeply proud to present this 8-minute film that chronicles the summer odysseys of two very remarkable young people, our inaugural Franklin Delano Roosevelt Global Fellows, Charlotte McKechnie ’15 and Ty Walker ’14.


 

 

FDR: A Life in Pictures

Posted on June 18, 2013 by in FDR Suite

The Foundation is DEE-lighted, to borrow a turn from TR, to announce the publication of its new Roosevelt biography, FDR: A Life in Pictures.

front cover shadow 8.5

From the back cover:

“Lightweight yet Machiavellian. Frivolous but intense. Socialist and fascist. Devious yet charming. Communist while Caesar. Both traitor and savior combined. Rarely have such contradictory descriptions been attached to a single man. But at one time or another, each was tagged to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, perhaps the most influential political figure of the 20th century. Here for the very first time in one volume: a visual road map through the extraordinarily rich timeline of FDR’s life, charting step-by-illustrated-step his amazing progression from pampered youth to 32nd President of the United States. Meticulously compiled from more than 70 large-format, digitally restored period photos — some never before published, and most with extended captions — FDR: A Life in Pictures documents as no other book can the remarkable living legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

This 154-page volume features several newly discovered photos found in our archives, as well as a half-dozen full color spreads of the Suite. Three of these were recently shot for us by noted photographer Ralph Lieberman, who’s in the middle of a two year campaign to document the architecture of Harvard in conjunction with the Fine Arts Library and the Graduate School of Design. This is one of his great wide angle views, which finally shows the extent of the study.

2013 Suite 02 lieberman

This book has been a real labor of love, arising out of the hallway timeline exhibit I put together over the winter with my friend Dr. Cynthia Koch, the former director of the FDR Presidential Library and now public historian in residence at Bard College. The short story is that having spent a huge amount of time tracking down and digitally restoring so many fine images – and then researching and writing the extended captions –  I discovered due to limits of space we’d need to exclude dozens of important photos. So rather than limit the work, I expanded it, and decided to put the full range together in a book, and there you have it. This volume is particularly helpful for the Foundation, as not only does it expand awareness of the Suite and its activities, but it also goes a long way to placing FDR’s Harvard experience in the wider context of his life and presidency.

For now, copies are only available through Amazon or through us (Click here to order.). Proceeds, of course, go entirely to benefit the Foundation. So start thinking about that perfect gift for FDR fans on your list!