IOP Names Spring Fellows

The Institute of Politics (IOP) is opening its doors this spring to a new crop of resident fellows whose collective experiences span the issues of the modern political landscape: elections, globalization, and the environment.

The six one-semester fellows, announced yesterday, hail from Ireland, Indiana, and places in between. They will lead study groups where students can gain a firsthand perspective on public service, and work with undergraduates on special projects.

In addition to several politicians and political journalists, the institute also selected an environmental advocate as a result of student interest, IOP Director Jim Leach said yesterday.

The fellows include David Yepsen, a political columnist for The Des Moines Register who has covered the Iowa caucus since the 1976 presidential election. He hopes to study the role of early primary election states in the presidential nomination process.

“We’re ground zero for all these presidential campaigns,” Yepsen said in an interview yesterday. “I want to look at the calendar, the role of money and debates, all of those aspects to the early states.”

Yepsen also said he was eager to work with undergraduates and Kennedy School of Government students.

“I’m not here just to hole up in my own little world,” he said. “The students are a big attraction for me to come and talk and learn from them.”

Yepsen will be joined by, among others, Connie A. Morella, a former U.S. ambassador to the 30-country Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and a longtime Republican representative of Maryland in the U.S. Congress.

Drawing from her experience in American politics, Morella will head a study group on the past, present, and future of political moderates in Congress.

She was one of six Republicans who voted against authorizing military action against Iraq in 2003 and describes herself as “a minority in the minority and a minority in the majority.”

Morella, who was also an IOP fellow in 2003, said she is pleased to return to Cambridge to discuss issues such as redistricting, special interest groups, and globalization with students.

The other spring 2008 IOP fellows are Bart Peterson, a former mayor of Indianapolis; Lois Romano, a political reporter at The Washington Post; Sile de Valera, a former member of the Irish National Parliament and the European Parliament; and David R. Zwick, founder and president of advocacy group Clean Water Action.

The new IOP study groups will kick off in early February.

—Staff writer Athena Y. Jiang can be reached at ajiang@fas.harvard.edu.