The James C. Gaither Junior Fellow Program in partnership with The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace offers approximately twelve one-year fellowships to graduating seniors to work as research assistants to Carnegie’s senior scholars who are working on a range of policy topics. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a unique global network of policy research centers with the mission to advance the cause of peace through analysis and development of fresh policy ideas and direct engagement with decision makers in government, business, and civil society. Fellows are selected from a pool of nominees nominated by participating universities and colleges.

This year, Wesleyan has nominated Harry Zhang, who is pursuing a double major in History and Government with a minor in Data Analysis. Harry is from Wuxi, China, and he is currently working as a research assistant for the National People’s Congress (NPC) Observer, an independent English blog covering the activities of China’s national legislature. In early November, he worked with a group of Chinese international students to organize a story-sharing forum at the Fries Center for Global Studies. The forum, titled “What does it mean to be Chinese in U.S. Colleges Today?” provided a space to reflect on the complexity and multiplicity of Chinese identities, allowing people with different perspectives to have genuine and meaningful conversations. Harry is also working on a senior thesis on the intellectual history of the 1989 Tiananmen Student Movement. Harry is interested in applying for the James C. Gaither Junior Fellowship because he wants to explore ways to promote mutual understanding between the U.S. and China. He is hoping to use his career to build a more constructive and mutually sustainable U.S.-China relationship as the two countries are decoupling from each other.

With a background in government, history, data analysis, and research, Harry is an excellent candidate for the James C. Gaither Junior Fellowship. He brings an interesting and passionate perspective to the work that he would be doing as a research assistant. We wish him the best in the rest of the application process!