William and Mary to hold African Ideas Summit

Originally published in the Virginia Gazette

William and Mary will hold an African Ideas Summit on July 25, where Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders will give short presentations on their work in Africa.

“It is so exciting to have Williamsburg be a place where these high-level global interactions are constantly taking place,” said Stephen Hanson, director of the Reves Center for International Studies.

Hanson said the presentation style is called “lightning talks,” which consist of one slide presented in three minutes. While the presentations are short, Hanson said 23 students will make presentations over the span of about three hours, with a coffee break in the middle.

“(The fellows) are going to be talking about their projects at home, so the work they came to Virginia with at the start of the program,” Hanson said. “Those projects as you’ll see on Wednesday range across a whole range of issues of importance for citizen activists from gender issues, to issues of democratic inclusion and participation.”

The presenters represent 15 countries from Africa and a variety of professions and interests. Hanson said the fellows are also all 25-35 years old.

According to Hanson, this is the fifth year the college has participated in the Washington Mandela program. While the total program is six weeks long, Hanson said the fellows only spent the past week in Virginia. Places the group visited include William and Mary, the University of Virginia, Monticello and Montpelier.

“It’s a really cool program actually, working across the state to host programs like this for global leaders,” Hanson said. “The goal (of the program) is for (the fellows) to take their civic leadership careers in civic activism, social entrepreneurship and so forth, and refine how to do the communication aspect, the globalization of supporters, the management of non-governmental organizations.”

On Monday, Hanson said fellows had a one-on-one session with Katherine Rowe, the new president of William and Mary, on her perspectives on leadership, diversity and inclusion.

“It is kind of amazing a president in just her first few weeks is taking an hour out of her schedule to show the importance of international interaction here on campus,” Hanson said. “(William and Mary) has always been a real change maker when it comes to global affairs so that tradition continues today.”