() – After stepping down as New Zealand’s prime minister earlier this year, Jacinda Ardern has revealed she is swapping the chaos of politics for a period of quiet reflection in academia abroad, heading to Harvard University this fall on two scholarships.
Ardern has been awarded a double scholarship to the Harvard Kennedy School, the university’s school of public policy and government, according to a Harvard press release.
He will serve as an Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow, a program geared toward high-profile leaders transitioning out of public service roles, and a Hauser Leader in the School’s Center for Public Leadership, a program where leaders from various sectors help students and faculty develop leadership skills.
“Jacinda Ardern showed the world strong and empathetic political leadership,” said Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf, in the statement. “He has earned respect far beyond the shores of his country, and will provide important insights for our students and spark vital conversations about the public policy choices facing leaders at all levels.”
“I am incredibly honoured to be joining Harvard University as a Fellow – not only will it give me the opportunity to share my experience with others, but it will also give me the opportunity to learn,” Ardern said in the statement. “As leaders, there is often very little time for reflection, but reflection is critical if we are to properly support the next generation of leaders.”
Jacinda Ardern is the world’s most important leader in 2021, according to Fortune
At the same time, Ardern will complete a separate fellowship at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, where she will study ways to curb extremist content online.
In an Instagram post On Wednesday, Arden said she would be “talking, teaching and learning.”
She added that Harvard had been an important partner in her work for Christchurch Call, an initiative she helped launch in 2019 to counter terrorist and violent extremist content online, two months after the Christchurch terror attack that killed 51 people at two mosques. The attacker had live-streamed the incident and posted a manifesto online beforehand.
Ardern said she would be leaving for a semester, missing New Zealand’s general election, but would return when she finished her studies. “After all, New Zealand is my home!” she wrote.
When Ardern became prime minister in 2017 at age 37, she was the third woman to lead New Zealand and one of the youngest leaders in the world. Within a year, she had become only the second world leader to give birth in office.
His time in power was defined by multiple crises, including the Christchurch attack, a deadly volcanic explosion and a global pandemic.
She quickly became a progressive global icon, remembered for her empathy as she guided New Zealand through these crises and for taking her young daughter to the United Nations General Assembly.
But at home his popularity has waned amid rising living costs, housing shortages and economic anxiety. And he has faced violent anti-lockdown protests in the capital, Wellington, and even received threats against him.
Ardern announced her surprise resignation in January, saying she no longer had enough fuel in the tank to contest an election.
She said goodbye for the last time earlier this month with an emotional speech in Parliament, telling all the nerds, crybabies, huggers, mothers and ex-Mormons of the world: “You can be all of this. And you can not just be here; you can lead just like I do.”
Add Comment