June 2011

* June 8 - 16th Annual Peniche Party. Bateau Concorde Atlantique.     RSVP  HERE.

* June 14  - HCF/ADI Speaker Series event featuring the distinguished Harvard professor Stanley Hoffmann at the Académie Diplomatique Internationale. RSVP HERE.

* June 30  -  The Annual Harvard-Yale Cocktail Party at an Exclusive Hotel Particulier. Join fellow Harvard and Yale alumni for this special event where we honor the French Scholarship students.  

Les Echos are resounding!

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HCF in Cambridge ~ Introducing Alexandra Goujon 

After an endless winter with the last snowstorm on April 1st (!), spring has finally come to Cambridge: terraces are full again, the chess-players are back in Harvard Square while some random musicians are filling the air with more or less successful lyrics, multicolor chairs are reappearing in the yard and students, mostly done with exams, are finally leaving the silent walls of the Widener Library to lie down on the lawns in the sun.

My first year in Cambridge is already over. I left France last August and my job as an economic adviser for the French Government Spokesperson to enter the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. And as every person that has been given the unique opportunity to study at Harvard, I can say that these 9 months have been unforgettable both on the professional and the personal levels. There are indeed few universities in the world where you can start the day with a Breakfast with Gordon Brown, continue with a discussion with fellow students about what is happening in the Middle East, followed by a conference with Condoleezza Rice, a class with the founder of the Obama 2008 grassroots campaign and finish with a dinner with the new elected members of Congress.

And recently, the Harvard Kennedy School Francophile Club - which we created this year together with two other Kennedy School students - was honored to co-sponsor a conference with French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Valérie Pécresse, entitled "The New French University: An Opportunity to Cooperate with American Academics?" This was a great success and the students were able to discuss the future of the French University with the Minister herself in an informal gathering after the conference, as well as with some elected representatives and academic officials who were part of her delegation. This was an important event for the first year of the HKS Francophile Club as no French Public Official had come to HKS in three years.

We will continue to work in this direction. We want to intensify the relationships between France and the campus, and especially with all Harvard alumni. This is why we have decided with Philippe Le Corre and Jonathan Kamler, when they came to Cambridge in early February, to set up a Harvard Club of France satellite on campus. The goal would be twofold:  

-  First, this cross-school structure would aim at mobilizing the French community across all Harvard Schools. This is something we have started with the HKS Francophile Club this year through co-organized events with HBS gathering students from all Harvard programs. This needs to be amplified and become one of the pillars of the French student life on campus. A launching event will be organized in September, a Facebook group will be created to facilitate the communication and several events will take place - both formal (conferences, networking...) and informal - throughout the year.

-  Second, this HCF satellite aims at strengthening the relations between alumni and current students. This will happen through the organization of events with Harvard alumni coming on campus or in the Boston area, whenever possible. Besides, we want to invite proactively alumni to come to Cambridge for thematic conferences, also as a way to increase the French representation (unfortunately still weak) on campus. A mentoring system student-alumni has been discussed and could be implemented very soon.

All ideas are of course welcome in order to reinforce our great French community. So if you miss Cambridge and its wonderful warm and welcoming weather or happen to come to Boston for professional reasons, please let us know!

Warm regards from Cambridge

Alexandra

Alexandra Goujon

Harvard Kennedy School | MPA Candidate Class of 2012

alexandra_goujon@hks12.harvard.edu

Cell: +1.617.510.7727

PS. (More pictures from the Valerie Pecresse event >>>) 

Harvard graduates tend to be interesting.  And graduates who find themselves living in one of the most interesting cities in the world, well, that just adds uniqueness. This is why we are starting a new feature in the newsletter featuring a member each month.