By Nik Karaffa (MPP/MBA 2028)
The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) has played a foundational role in my experience at Harvard Kennedy School. As a Harvard joint-degree student, CPL events have served as consistent points of reflection throughout the year and have helped re-ground me in my purpose for pursuing an MPP and an MBA. Graduate school is often a time to upskill, pivot, and deepen your understanding of complex issues. It is also a period of self-discovery, in which the tension between academic, familial, and personal commitments forces you to balance competing priorities in pursuit of your long-term goals.
What makes CPL unique is that you do not have to navigate that tension alone. The fellows and staff form a community in which former heads of state, executives, and senior public servants openly share their hard-earned wisdom about balancing impactful public leadership with the responsibilities of being a good spouse, parent, and neighbor. CPL reinforces that our lives as leaders cannot become myopic. The people closest to us matter just as much as the change we hope to create. It offers a lifelong community to lean on whenever you need guidance, perspective, or simply someone willing to listen.
Some of my most meaningful moments at HKS are tied to CPL. From engaging with AI industry and policy leaders in San Francisco to quiet, reflective conversations with my Rubenstein cohort, CPL provided the structure and support that allowed me to make the most of my time here. Its mission to empower and inspire principled and effective public leadership is evident in its rigorous scholarship, generous fellowships, distinctive programming, and the community it cultivates. I had the opportunity to participate in a CPL Leadership Intensive that allowed me to explore leadership beyond the traditional classroom. My peers attended small-group negotiation coaching clinics, seminars on running for office, and sessions on leadership at the intersection of faith. All of these opportunities were hosted by CPL and taught by world-class faculty, fellows, and practitioners.
“CPL reinforces that our lives as leaders cannot become myopic. The people closest to us matter just as much as the change we hope to create.”
For my young family, CPL’s support was transformative. The fellowship made it possible for us to attend HKS and allowed me to take a professional leap of faith through summer funding opportunities. Internships that would have been financially out of reach are now accessible. CPL understands that material circumstances can limit opportunity and chooses to invest in fellows so that those barriers do not define their path. It is far more than a funding source or a place to meet influential people. It is a community, a space for reflection, a source of empowerment, and a springboard for creating meaningful change.
I am grateful for the chance to learn from peers who are policymakers, civil servants, doctors, business leaders, and nonprofit champions from the United States and around the world. I am equally grateful for the exceptional staff and faculty who support CPL. If you want to engage with leaders who are working on the world’s most pressing challenges, I encourage you to apply. My HKS experience would be fundamentally different without CPL, and I have made lifelong friends through this program.
CPL Fellowships
The Rubenstein Fellowship is part of CPL's fellowship offerings, which provide tuition support and robust, cohort-based co-curricular programming grounded in servant leadership and experiential learning.
