Center for Public Leadership

The 2025 Gergen Fellows are driven by family roots and passion for public service. Five new summer fellows talk about their upbringings and why they were called to public service. The cohort of Gergen Fellows hail from California, Ohio, Poland, Seattle, and Vermont with an array of life experiences.

CPL announced Chef Andrés as this year’s recipient of the Gleitsman International Activist Award for his leadership as founder of nonprofit World Central Kitchen and the organization’s global effort to feed and affirm the dignity of victims of climate disasters, conflict, and humanitarian crises.

CPL announced an expanded commitment to training the next generation of leaders with a new $1 million gift from the George Family Foundation. This gift will extend and expand the George Leadership Fellowship over the next five years.

At the William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice, Prof. Cornell William Brooks teaches students about effective advocacy tools, the history of successful social justice movements, and how to match the needs of local communities with the political realities of government. 

CPL Hauser Leader Leo Varadkar, the former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland, gave the 2025 Gustav Pollack Lecture in collaboration the Women and Public Policy Program and the Institute of Politics. Varadkar shared insights on leading Ireland through various challenges, such as the pandemic.

In a conversation with CPL faculty director Anthony Foxx, Congressman Clyburn discussed restoring faith in institutions amid voter fatigue, the future of the Democratic Party, and the importance of political courage, and finding the spiritual and moral compass in politics today.

Not long after Melissa Velez was promoted to Senior Planner for the City of Allentown, Pennsylvania, she got a call from the mayor suggesting she apply to a program offered by Building State Capability at CPL. What happened next would help shape her approach to housing policy.

Marking the launch of the new Culture and Civil Society Initiative, CPL Director Secretary Anthony Foxx welcomed Grammy Award-winning musician Wynton Marsalis to the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum to discuss why the arts are vital to strengthening democratic societies and shaping public leaders.