Daria Howard, M.A. ‘23, is in her second year of the Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF), a highly selective leadership development program where fellows work for a federal agency. Students can apply during their graduate school program in the Early Fall Semester but cannot begin the fellowship until post-graduation. Following her graduation from GW with a masters in global communication with a concentration in public diplomacy, she is currently a digital outreach specialist for the International Trade Administration (ITA) through PMF.
In this position, she manages the ITA’s social media, video, and photography. She works with different offices and teams to promote conferences, events, and trips that highlight the work that is being done.
Howard said the courses she took at Elliott helped prepare her for her current position. “My coursework was very helpful and relevant to my work now,” she said. “Particularly the Public Diplomacy class I took with Professor Kabra. A lot of the assignments and topics that we learned in that class are very relevant to the work I do.”
Since the PMF is a two-year program, fellows are able to explore what interests them in the field and what does not. Howard said that she is still exploring what her niche might be.
Howard worked at the United Nations in the Department of Global Communication as Public Information Assistant prior to her time at Elliott, which sparked her interest in pursuing public affairs as a career.
“I still feel quite strongly about communications and public affairs, but I’m definitely learning that that kind of work can look quite different based on the position you hold. You can do anything from multimedia work to press relations to writing and editing. As a PMF, I just focus on learning and exploring and seeing what I like more or less,” she said.
The fellowship is intensive, requiring 80 hours of training a year and the successful completion of their “performance plan,” which must receive a good rating according to their website page. Some PMF’s are able to maintain their positions permanently following completion of the program.
Howard emphasized what a big commitment the program is and recommended that applicants take the time to ensure that they are choosing the office and position that would be the best fit and provide the support needed to help them reach their professional goals.
“PMF is a great program, and you will definitely get a lot out of it,” she concluded.
In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we caught up with Ana M. Guevara, BA ’85, co-chair of GW’s International Women of Elliott.
GW: Tell us about what you are doing now and why it matters to you?
AG: I am passionate about executing strategies that lead to more efficient, prosperous enterprises by integrating business, public policy, and socially responsible initiatives that create shared value for all stakeholders. In 2009, I started a global management consulting business where I could leverage my global network and use my experience in government policy, international business, global supply chains, economic development, and good governance. I love this work because it gives me flexibility and opportunity to get involved in very diverse projects that all have one thing in common: helping communities that need it most. It lets me be a creative collaborator, connecting dots, people and talents. I get to build strategic alliances to catalyze change and drive organizational goals, fostering prosperity in communities across the globe. Some examples where I’ve made an impact:
A project in Asia to bring advanced technologies to airports, enabling better economic connections between small islands and isolated towns.
A project in the Caribbean to help airports be more resilient to natural disasters, speeding up aid and trade in the islands.
A project to connect women-owned enterprises in Latin America to qualified corporate buyers and their supply chains, empowering women to create inclusive prosperity.
AG: I was thrilled when the Elliott School reached out to me to become a founding member of the I/WE network. As a former board member of The World Bank Group, vice president of two Fortune 50 companies, and a senior U.S. government official, I have been in many strategy meetings and international negotiations. One thing that has stood out is how few women were in the room with me. Women make up 50 percent of the world’s population, but we are not where decisions are being made. Women need to participate fully in society and global affairs. I/WE raises that awareness and champions Elliott students to ensure those who choose to lead have the resources and tools to do so. This is a very important initiative to get women toward greater participation in careers that can positively affect the world and local communities. Being involved in I/WE has also given me an opportunity to network with amazing women who are alumni and friends of the Elliott School.
GW: What drew you to GW and the Elliott School for college?
AG: When my mother was a teenager in Colombia, her mother sent her to study in Virginia and New York. My mother wanted me to have a similar experience and sent me to “finishing school” in Switzerland and then to study at La Sorbonne in Paris. While in Europe, I gained a real curiosity for international affairs and how culture and geography affected the state of the world. I would read a lot of the political magazines and kept seeing professors from the George Washington University being quoted. I did some research on the school and loved the idea of living in the center of Washington, D.C., close to all the organizations that I was reading about. Another thing that attracted me was that the school had such a large international student community. In those days, the Elliott School was called the School for Public and International Affairs, and I knew that would be the next chapter in my life.
GW: Are there particular classes and professors who stand out in your mind? Who helped you on your career path?
AG: My academic concentration at the Elliott School was economics. It was not an easy subject for me, and I had to work hard to fully understand the concepts. Yet, it gave me a strong and essential base for the negotiations I became involved with, including free trade agreements, international aviation rights, global economic development initiatives, and with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“East Asia Past and Present” was amazing and opened my curiosity with the region and ancient cultures. Armed with just enough knowledge “to be dangerous,” I have been able to grow my expertise and work on projects in Japan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, and with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
I am grateful to Professor Cynthia McClintock who helped me understand the cultural and political intricacies in my native country of Colombia and throughout Latin America. It was a great help when I was charged by an employer with setting up aviation rights and domestic operations across the continent. An impactful lesson that I learned from her was that “subsidizing farmers growing potatoes” was not an effective or lasting solution to poverty. As such, my work in economic development has always focused on the private sector and providing lasting self-reliant solutions.
GW: What would you say to current GW and Elliott School students who want to make a positive difference in the world?
AG: Don’t be an independent hero. Build teams and strategic alliances to catalyze change and drive goals. Acquire strong knowledge and technical skills as a base. Cultivate your leadership, negotiation and networking skills. Start building your networks now, by reaching out to organizations that you would want to work with, to participate in internships, and get information for your research papers. You may feel like you are an expert, but as one of my mentors said, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Be open to learning, proving yourself, and working your way up.
A lesson learned from my days as a coxswain on GW’s crew team is to lead by example, always doing your best and encouraging and coaching others to do the same. In your endeavors, empower your team to unlock creative solutions and challenge the status quo to drive ideas and goals. Be the leader with a solution, not just the person identifying the problems. As my mentor would tell us, “Don’t think what it is, think what you could make it be.” Create a vision and make it reality through executing innovative strategies and impactful implementation with goals and measurements. Remember that what gets measured gets done. Focus on integrity and inclusivity, and strive for excellence.
Most importantly, enjoy your time at GW and the Elliott School, make wonderful memories, and build lifelong friendships. Now go Catch the Vision!
Undergraduates Nataliya Layer, Lydia Miller, Liana Moldovanu and Anja Ree spent six weeks in Eastern Europe documenting the human toll of war through personal narratives.
Authored by: Nick Erickson
he emotions compounded with every story they heard—each delivered in gripping and emotional detail from a person whose livelihood war ripped away.
And in the heart of Eastern Europe, there was no screen to turn off and distance themselves from the harsh realities of the devastation and human toll paid in the two-plus years since Russia invaded Ukraine.
But hearing those stories and amplifying them are exactly why four George Washington University undergraduate students—second years Nataliya Layer, Liana Moldovanu, Anja Ree and senior Lydia Miller—traveled to the region for six weeks this summer.
“Our generation has grown up seeing different conflicts happen on world television every day, and we’ve essentially grown numb to it because it’s exhausting to have an emotional reaction to everything,” said Ree, a political science and government double major. “But just because we feel detached from it doesn’t mean we should react that way.”
Funded through Projects for Peace, of which GW is eligible as an institution since the university is a partner in the United World Colleges scholarship program, the quartet traveled to Poland, Moldova, Estonia and Romania from June 2 to July 14 to conduct interviews with over 40 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) supporting Ukrainian refugees, and with it documented more than 40 refugee stories.
The Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service administers Projects for Peace, which provides $10,000 for undergraduate summer projects that promote conflict resolution (applications for 2025 are due Nov 3).
The project, called Not Just a Number, chronicles refugee experiences and raises awareness about the critical work of organizations supporting these refugees on the ground.
The four GW students, all of whom have some sort of personal connection to Ukraine or the region, noted that some of the conversation and coverage surrounding the war has shifted to discussing how much aid, or if any at all, should be given to those affected. As the title of their project suggests, they believe it’s imperative to remember the human side of this conflict.
“It’s crucial that we don’t succumb to empathy fatigue,” said Miller, a double major in international affairs and political science. “The ongoing struggle deserves our continued attention and support.”
Personal stories, as tough as they may be to hear, form a connectivity between two strangers and creates compassion for someone living on the other side of the world.
Moldovanu specifically remembers speaking to a displaced 6-year-old Ukrainian at an NGO in Estonia, where the young boy expressed a desire to go home. But it was still too dangerous, especially since some of his friends there had been killed. This story made Moldovanu particularly emotional because she herself has a younger brother about the boy’s age.
“In the moment, it definitely impacts you to learn what it’s like to live in that reality,” said Moldovanu, a double major in international affairs and math.
Refocusing public attention to the conflict through personal stories and human connection is only part of the project. The other is teaching people to turn that emotion they feel into appropriate action as they hope the project will inspire shifts in global philanthropy.
While initially focused on interviewing refugees and documenting their stories, they soon began collaborating extensively with local NGOs because they found it easier to meet refugees through NGOs and that these organizations that received significant attention and funding at the beginning of the war needed increased support.
“We realized that NGOs, especially grassroot ones, are critical in providing refugee support and that community aspect,” said Layer, also an international affairs major. “We really wanted to showcase that NGOs are so important for a lot of refugees in the way they support them.”
They noticed that many of the people running these NGOs supporting Ukrainian refugees were Ukrainian refugees themselves who felt a need to provide for others. But because some of these NGOs started from the bottom up, they are not as connected to networking communities where they can get access to grants and funding. The GW students hope that they can bridge some of that gap by highlighting their work in a website they are creating to feature the different grassroots organizations they met. They encourage those looking to help financially to find local NGOs as targeted donations can have more impact.
For the project’s next steps, the quartet is using the interviews to write an academic paper exploring how the decline in funding affects grassroots organizations’ ability to adapt. They also plan to create a podcast where each episode will focus on a different organization and translated refugee story, as well as a website directing users to local NGOs and first-person narratives.
The resilience shown by those they met affected by the war is what most motivates the quartet to continue the task ahead. They hope their project inspires others to carefully listen to refugee stories and consider the needs of local NGOs. As they suggest in the title, these refugees are not just numbers to be feel numbed by. They possess ambitions, hobbies, cultures, traditions and loved ones who not only have stories of loss during war, but also ones of strength and hope. The quartet’s project is showing that they need to be heard to be helped.
GW students Mariam Muradyan, Andrew Raynus, Lindsey Spain, Anna Vasyukevich and Aydan Ibadova did not travel but are also involved in the project and helping with interview notes and other tasks.
Landmark gift provides need-based undergraduate scholarships for UK students
Alumnus Carl Richardson, MA ’99, and his family have generously created an endowed scholarship at GW through the Richardson Brothers Foundation. The Richardson Family Scholarship, established in perpetuity, will offer scholarships to UK citizens—or citizens of countries in the British Commonwealth—seeking to study in America at the Elliott School. The scholarship is a charitable milestone for the Foundation, marking its first major gift to a U.S. university.
Reflecting on his time at the Elliott School, Richardson said, “My graduate studies at the Elliott School provided me with an important perspective on international business and global geopolitics. As our business continues to expand our investment activity in America, this is a perspective that my family and I would now like to share with future generations of UK students seeking to study in the U.S.”
Dean Alyssa Ayres added, “We deeply appreciate the outstanding generosity of Carl Richardson and his brothers in establishing the new Richardson Family Scholarship at our school. Education is one of the most powerful ways to change the world for the better, and scholarships are so important in our times.”
In addition to his philanthropic efforts, Carl Richardson is actively involved at the Elliott School as co-chair of the Executive Circle of the University’s Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP). This alumni leadership group—which includes senior global executives, including co-chair Lisa Schroeter, BA ‘92, the Global Director of Trade & Investment Policy at Dow—advises the Dean and academic leaders on current trends in international economic policy, supports students, and helps advance the IIEP’s mission.
Since 2022, the Richardson business has also hosted the Elliott School’s global thought leadership event for alumni living in the London area as part of the school’s Dean’s Global Perspectives Series. This year’s event, held on September 11, took place at the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster, further showcasing the Richardson family’s commitment to fostering international dialogue and understanding.
This summer, seven GW students took part in the summer Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship program to study regional languages in the Middle East. Whether in Rabat, Tunis, Cairo or Amman, fellows put their Arabic and Hebrew skills to work exploring new countries and interacting with local communities, their peers and teachers.
Fellow Abigail Strait described the FLAS opportunity as a “life changing experience that cannot be described easily…but highlights included exploring the ancient ruins of Jerash and Ajloun, volunteering at a food pantry while speaking in Arabic, sand boarding in Wadi Rum, and the time spent living with my host family, who I still message today.”
Fellow Zakee Hamawi talked about how well he appreciated his time in Tunisia, especially the eight weeks spent with his host family, where weekend food shopping and social trips complemented the rigorous study program.
Fellow Daiyan Khan assessed his language learning journey as “a very enjoyable experience. Academically, the rigorous curriculum improved my language skills greatly. The opportunity to employ the skills I learned in class with the Jordanian people was something that only studying abroad could give me. Outside of academics, I met people who shared my passion for the Arabic language, and I was able to form lasting friendships.”
All GW students interested in studying a Middle East language are encouraged to apply for this well-funded opportunity, which covers airfare, program costs, and an additional living stipend. For additional details on eligibility and application requirements, please visit GW’s Summer FLAS website. Applications open in October and are due by February 15, 2025.
Nicholas Bird, a junior majoring in Japanese Language and Literature and International Affairs with a minor in Economics was selected as the 2024 recipient of the MEXT scholarship. The Japanese government awards this highly competitive reward and provides airfare to Japan, tuition for the university, and a stipend for the cost of living for one school year to study in Japan.
“I have only gotten this far due to the amazing support of all of my professors at GW,” said Bird. The applicant screening process consists of a written examination, an interview, and a final screening in Tokyo. Bird spent his sophomore year at Waseda University in Shinjuku, Japan, which is considered a “Japanese Ivy”. Bird also spent time in Japan over the summer for an internship through Elliott’s Freeman Foundation Scholarship.
“My dream is to be in a role where I can work to build bridges between Japan and the U.S., as well as be a bridge myself. I hope to be another piece in helping to create a continued good relationship in our vital international partnership,” Bird said.
Bird plans to apply to the Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) position through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program following his anticipated Fall 2025 graduation. This position requires fluency and is based on translation and interpersonal communication.
“Receiving thoughts and ideas from people with completely different upbringings will help me see things from different perspectives and think more imaginatively. I think this is important in our increasingly globalized world,” said Bird.
Dr. Takae Tsujioka, a Japanese language associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, expressed her excitement and how impressed she is by Bird’s accomplishment. “It was an incredible accomplishment after just two years of Japanese study. The MEXT scholarship is a further testament to his hard work and dedication to Japanese study.”
The MEXT scholarship is highly competitive, with hours-long exams and a particularly selective process for U.S. undergraduate students. The Embassy of Japan congratulated Bird via Instagram.
The Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch Graduate Fellowship provides stipends for field research, study abroad, and more.
Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, a distinguished diplomat and the first U.S. ambassador of Asian descent, has established a new Elliott School graduate fellowship, which will launch this month. The fellowship provides an annual stipend to support graduate-student projects largely focused on the relationship between China and the United States.
Ambassador Bloch is founder and executive chair of the US-China Education Trust (USCET), which works to promote stronger and more stable US-China relations through education. The trust has been affiliated with the Elliott School since 2021.
The ambassador’s life story and dedication to educating the next generation of China experts is remarkable. With her family, Ambassador Bloch moved to the US at the age of nine. She went on to earn a master’s degree in government and East Asia regional studies from Harvard University—and then to a distinguished career spanning six decades.
Serving in senior-level government, private, and non-profit positions, Ambassador Bloch witnessed the power of person-to-person experiences to forge genuine cross-cultural understanding.
Now, she seeks to nurture the next generation of leaders with both expertise and a nuanced understanding of East Asian countries, China in particular. “There is a need for universities to do much more with student-to-student exchange between the two countries if we want to move the [US-China] relationship to firmer ground,” she said.
Consequently, the Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch Graduate Fellowship provides support to two graduate students per year in the Elliott School, notably students with an expressed interest in China, US-China relations, and/or East Asia.
“We are excited to launch this new fellowship, which adds yet another opportunity for our students to deepen their knowledge of China, and further strengthening our school’s academic offerings centered around the US-China relationship and related topics,” said Alyssa Ayres, dean of the Elliott School.
Investigating Power Dynamics in Korean History and Redefining Legal Narratives in Marriage
Dr. Jisoo M. Kim, Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures, has been selected by the Harvard Radcliffe Institute as a fellow for the 2024–2025 academic year. A year-long Radcliffe fellowship provides the rare opportunity to intensely pursue ambitious projects in the unique environment of the Institute. Each fellowship class is drawn from some of the most thoughtful and exciting contemporary scholars in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and arts—along with writers, journalists, playwrights, and other distinguished professionals. For this year’s historic 25th anniversary class, Radcliffe accepted just 3.3 percent of applicants.
Dr. Kim’s research interests lie in law, gender and sexuality, emotions, affect, and forensic medicine. At Radcliffe, she will conduct research at the Schlesinger Library and work on a book that investigates the criminalization of heterosexual intimacies and unequal power structures in marriage in Korean history. This year’s Radcliffe fellows will be part of a unique interdisciplinary and creative community that will step away from routines to tackle projects that they have long wished to move forward. Throughout the academic year, fellows convene regularly to share their work in progress with the community and public.
About: Jisoo M. Kim is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at George Washington University. She is Founding Director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies (2017-Present) and Founding Co-Director of the East Asia National Resource Center (2018-Present). She also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Korean Studies. She specializes in gender, sexuality, law, emotions, and affect in Korean history. She is the author of The Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status, and Legal Performance in Chosŏn Korea (University of Washington Press, 2016), which was awarded the 2017 James Palais Prize of the Association for Asian Studies. She is also the co-editor of The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation by JaHyun Kim Haboush (Columbia University Press, 2016). She is currently working on a book project tentatively entitled Criminalizing Intimacy: Marriage, Concubinage, and Adultery Law in Korea, 1469-2015. She received her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University.
About Harvard Radcliffe Institute: The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is one of the world’s leading centers for interdisciplinary exploration. We bring students, scholars, artists, and practitioners together to pursue curiosity-driven research, expand human understanding, and grapple with questions that demand insight from across disciplines.
Ashli Boxley’s quest to become fluent in Mandarin Chinese began in sixth grade, when she enrolled in a Chinese language course that led to her resolve to master this challenging language, which requires, at minimum, a knowledge of about 3,000 characters and an ear for the different intonations that determine the meaning of many Chinese words.
“Everyone was taking Spanish or French, so I decided to take Chinese,” Boxley said.
By her sophomore year of high school, she was passionate about the language. Consequently, while studying for her graduate degree in Asian Studies, Boxley leapt at the chance to apply for a new student award, the David Gitter Fellowship for Advanced Chinese Language Study. The fellowship was established by Elliott School alumnus David Gitter, MA ’15, to support immersive Chinese language study in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or Taiwan.
Gitter, who lived and studied in Beijing in the early 2000s, saw first-hand how essential proficiency in the Chinese language is to a full understanding of this major world power—an understanding that lays the foundation for informed U.S.-China policies.
Dean Alyssa Ayres wholeheartedly agrees with Gitter. “Given China’s role on the world stage, there is a critical need to strengthen our cadre of U.S. experts who understand contemporary China—and are proficient in Mandarin,” she said.
In April, Boxley, who dreams of becoming an attorney focused on immigration law and US-China relations, was selected to be the inaugural recipient of the David Gitter Fellowship. From September 2024 through May 2025, she will be a fulltime student in the highly-regarded International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) on the campus of National Taiwan University in Taipei.
In a twist of fate, David Gitter also will be an ICLP student, honing his Chinese language skills in conjunction with his doctoral program at Princeton University.
The two met recently for a conversation about their shared passion for Chinese language, culture, history, and politics. Gitter had experienced life in the PRC during a time of expansion and openness. “It was such a dynamic time to be in Beijing, just before the 2008 Summer Olympics, a time when U.S. citizens were part of the boom in China’s development,” he said.
In more recent times, the U.S.-China relationship has stumbled, with a shift away from the more positive, bilateral ties that prevailed earlier in the century. Yet there are diplomatic pathways to a renewed and productive relationship between the two world powers.
Fortunately, David Gitter and Ashli Boxley (along with others) are poised to take up the mantle with a command of the modern Chinese language and a nuanced understanding of China’s long history, rich culture, and complex politics.
