  Harvard Kennedy School’s Saguaro Seminar Establishes Legatum Research Fellowship
Contact: Tom Sander, Executive Director
Email: Tom_Sander@harvard.edu
Phone: 617.496.2764
Date: October 01, 2009
Cambridge, MA, October 1, 2009 — The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America announces an annual Legatum Research Fellowship to be based at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government to conduct important research on social capital, broadly defined. This multi-year collaboration between Legatum Institute and the Saguaro Seminar will advance systematic knowledge in areas important to public leaders and scholars through first-rate scholarly publications arising out of these fellows’ research and contribute to Legatum Institute’s aims of enhancing prosperity and wellbeing. The Legatum Fellows will constitute an elite cadre of some of the best young social scientists in America.Legatum Fellows will use sophisticated, front-line social science methods to address large questions about contemporary society: What is the impact of massive, sustained unemployment on community ties and civic engagement? Are social and political cleavages—between young and old, for example, or between haves and have-nots—increasingly fracturing modern societies? How can societies adapt to the challenges posed by large-scale immigration? Does religion foster or impair democratic citizenship and personal happiness?
Background
THE SAGUARO SEMINAR: CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN AMERICA, an initiative of Professor Robert D. Putnam (author of Bowling Alone) at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, studies “social capital” (the value of social networks) and community engagement. Saguaro’s eponymous seminar from 1995-2000 involved 30 talented scholars and practitioners from across America (including then- civil rights lawyer Barack Obama) in developing strategies for increasing American civic engagement and led to the bettertogether report. Since 2000, the Seminar has worked to improve social capital measurement and to craft social capital strategies for a changing world: in diverse communities, with changing faiths, in workplaces, and amidst greater social and civic inequality.
For further information on the work of the Saguaro Seminar, please visit: www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro
Robert Putnam, Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School noted, “We are gratified that the Legatum Institute has recognized the outstanding track record of our program in identifying and supporting world-class doctoral and post-doctoral researchers. We are grateful for the institute’s continued support, and look forward to further achievements of Legatum Fellows at Harvard Kennedy School this year and in the future.”
THE LEGATUM INSTITUTE is an independent research, policy, and advocacy organization that promotes political, economic and individual liberty in the developing and transitioning world. It supports original work in public policy, political economy, democratic governance, political culture, and national security. It seeks to influence policymakers, business leaders, philanthropists, scholars, and the interested public.
For more information, visit www.li.com.
“The Legatum Research Fellowship will support path-breaking research into various dimensions of social capital and human flourishing. It will help build a platform for the most promising new scholars to collaborate with a premier expert in the field in Professor Robert Putnam. The Legatum Institute is privileged to partner with Harvard and Professor Putnam in this new endeavor, which we hope will advance both academic insight as well as practical understanding of the factors that bring enduring meaning to life.”
Will Inboden, PhD, Senior Vice President, Legatum Institute
Legatum Research Fellowship 2009 -2010 Awarded
Valerie A. Lewis, PhD, is chosen as the inaugural 2009-2010 Legatum Research Fellow at the Saguaro Seminar. Dr. Lewis, who received her PhD in sociology from Princeton in June 2009, is currently working on an analysis of contemporary American religion. Her research broadly examines inequality and stigma; her dissertation used a mixed-methods approach to examine how slum residents in India are disadvantaged in health and education. Lewis’s other research has investigated the continuing causes and consequences of racial segregation in American society.
"I am honored to be chosen as a Legatum Research Fellow. I look forward to working in collaboration with the Legatum Institute on innovative and creative research on social capital that can be utilized by Legatum’s many humanitarian efforts in policymaking, advocacy, and strategic initiatives throughout the developing world."
Valerie A. Lewis, PhD, Legatum Research Fellow
Application Information
The application process for the 2010 - 2011 Legatum Research Fellowship will open in mid-December 2009. Applicants should have completed a doctorate in any social science between 2007 and 2010.
All application materials must be received by January 31, 2010.
Applications will be made available online at www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro
in December, 2009.
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