International activist Emma Sky to direct World Fellows Program

Emma Sky, an expert in international politics and senior fellow at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, will begin a three-year term as director of the Yale World Fellows Program on July 1, announced President Peter Salovey.

She succeeds Dr. Michael Cappello, who served as director of the program for nine years.

Sky’s experience spans the fields of development, defense, and diplomacy, and she has worked at senior levels on behalf of both the U.S. and U.K. governments. Prior to arriving at Yale, she was a visiting professor at King’s College, London, a fellow at Oxford University, and a fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Sky worked in Iraq with the Coalition for several years. She was based in Jerusalem for a decade, working in support of the Middle East peace process. She has also provided technical assistance on poverty alleviation, human rights, access to justice, public administration reform, security sector reform, and conflict resolution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. As a senior fellow at the Jackson Institute for the past three years, Sky has taught courses on the new Iraq and on Middle East politics.

Yale World Fellows is the university’s signature global leadership development program. Each year since 2002, Yale has invited a group of accomplished mid-career professionals from a wide range of fields and countries for an intensive four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training.

“Not surprisingly given her interests, Emma has regularly engaged with the World Fellows directly,” said James Levinsohn, director of the Jackson Institute. “I’ve seen the passion that she brings to her work, and I know she’ll bring that same creativity and energy to her role as director of the World Fellows.”

Levinsohn also noted that on July 1 the World Fellows Program will become part of the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, which aims to inspire and prepare Yale students for global leadership and service, and that Provost Benjamin Polak is appointing an advisory committee for the World Fellows Program.

“The World Fellows Program is an amazing asset to Yale, one underwritten by the stunning quality of the fellows themselves,” said Levinsohn. “I very much look forward to this next chapter as the program moves forward.”