Inaugural Joseph C. Fox Director Appointed

From left: Ian Shapiro, Joseph Fox, Julia Adams.

Julia Adams, Professor of Sociology and Professor in International and Area Studies, has been appointed by Ian Shapiro, Henry R. Luce Director at the MacMillan Center, to serve as the first Joseph C. Fox Director of the Fox International Fellowship. This appointment was made possible by a generous gift from Joseph Carrère Fox (Yale ’38) that established a new fund in the Yale Endowment.

Professor Adams will provide academic leadership for the Fox International Fellowship, as well as high-level advisory support for the Fox Fellows, particularly those in residence at Yale each year, but also those from Yale students at the Fox partner universities.

Designed to enhance the education of future international leaders, the Fox International Fellowship is a direct two-way student exchange partnership between Yale University and 11 of the world’s leading universities in Russia, England, Germany, China, Japan, France, India, Mexico, Turkey, Israel, and South Africa. It was established to identify and support talented individuals who will be future leaders in their respective fields and who, by virtue of those leadership positions, will contribute to decisions affecting global policies and international relations. The Fox International Fellowship is administered by the MacMillan Center.

The Fox International Fellowship utilizes international scholarly exchange as a medium through which promising young intellectuals can pursue academic research, immerse themselves in the local language and culture of another country, and develop lasting friendships with peers from other countries, with the goal of better understanding the people and institutions, thereby building a solid foundation from which to contribute to peaceful coexistence worldwide.

The Fox International Fellowship Program began in 1989 at Yale University. Its partners include Moscow State University, Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge University, the Free University of Berlin, Fudan University in Shanghai, the University of Tokyo, Institut d’etudes de Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), Jawaharlal Nehru University, El Colegio de Mexico, Bogazici University, Tel Aviv University, University of Cape Town, and University of Sao Paolo.

Fox Fellows at Yale University

Our luminous world among stars does appear
As a perfectly rounded, beautiful sphere
And yet for all its appearance fair
Are gaps so deep they’re beyond compare.
We’re divided by language, culture and creed,
Leaving the world in urgent need.
And though it’s drawn closer, as we can see,
The goal of One World remains to be.

There are ways to bridge these yawning gaps
Through education across the world’s maps.
Thus Yale, a great leader in foreign relations,
Is strengthening bonds between many nations,
All the while sponsoring student exchanges
With key universities across the world’s ranges.

Among its activities which merit attention,
The Fox Fellowship deserves special mention.
Its Fellows have that leadership potential
Which in serving the world is so essential,
While their response to the program is highly laudatory,
“The experience of a lifetime” an oft-heard story.

It appears the program will become
A source of leaders for years to come,
While out in the world they continue to strive,
May the spirit of fellowship stay alive.
O let us hope that always they
Will make One World their goal to stay,
And may they ever recall, with never a fail,
These wondrous days as Fox Fellows at Yale.

Written by Joseph Carrère Fox /Alison Barbour Fox upon the appointment of the inaugural Director, and a new phase in the Fox International Fellowship (January 2010)