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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Coca-Cola Endows GHD Chair

COURTESY GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY Professor Steven Radelet will serve as the first Coca-Cola-endowed Global Human Development chair.
COURTESY GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Professor Steven Radelet will serve as the first Coca-Cola-endowed Global Human Development chair.

The Global Human Development program, one of eight master’s programs in the School of Foreign Service, will establish its first endowed chair after receiving a $4 million donation from The Coca-Cola Foundation, announced April 2.

The GHD program, founded in fall 2012, will graduate its first class of 21 this spring.

The first occupant of the chair will be Steven Radelet, who is currently Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Development at Georgetown University. Radelet formerly served as Chief Economist for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“[Radelet] will occupy the chair, and he will teach courses primarily in the Global Human Development program. And he’s quite a prolific scholar, so he will also publish,” SFS Acting Dean James Reardon-Anderson said.

The Coca-Cola Foundation has made a large impact on the SFS over the last 20 years: from supporting minority students in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program to supporting the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.

Anne DeVine (GRD ’14) spent last summer in Istanbul working for various partnerships in development, including Every Drop Matters — a partnership between The Coca-Cola Company and the United Nations Development Programme.

“Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola’s CEO, established the concept of the Golden Triangle, the idea that civil society, government and the private sector need to work together in order to make development initiatives work,” DeVine said. “And I think that resonated with me and I saw that happening on the ground.”

DeVine, who spent seven years working with NGOs on education and youth issues, was excited about the newly established GHD chair.

“It’s valuable to academia in general, but I think the thing that’s really important about this specific chair is the recognition for the need for this type of program,” DeVine said.

The program addresses current global development issues and aims to produce the next generation of policy leaders and activists. Reardon-Anderson emphasized Dean Carol Lancaster’s (SFS ’64) role in both the founding of the GHD and the creation of the chair, which will be one of 12 to 15 endowed chairs across the master’s programs in the SFS.

“This is entirely Dean Lancaster’s project. She was really the creator of the Global Human Development program,” Reardon-Anderson said of Lancaster, whose resignation was announced this week following a medical leave of absence. “And then she went out and arranged for this very generous gift from The Coca-Cola Foundation. … So this was really her project from beginning to end and unfortunately she was not there to witness the celebration.”

SFS Director of Outreach Gail Griffith, who served as lead writer on the grant proposal, also credited GHD Director Ann Van Dusen for the program’s overall success.

“The persons who deserve all of the credit for the creation of the chair and the establishment of the program in Global Human Development are Dean Carol Lancaster and professor Ann Van Dusen, respectively,” Griffith said.

Reardon-Anderson added that the chair will be named for former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and current Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy Donald F. McHenry after his retirement.

“Our SFS faculty, Ambassador Donald McHenry, who is on the Coca-Cola Board, was instrumental in shepherding this grant application through to fruition,” Griffith said. “Ambassador McHenry himself donated funds, along with SFS alums Amre Youness (SFS ’84) and Caroline Heinz-Youness (SFS ’84), to complement the monies needed to establish the chair.” Youness and Heinz-Youness also serve as members of the Campaign for Georgetown Executive Council.

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