September 14, 2022 — The Henry Luce Foundation recently elected Asia Foundation trustees Terry Adamson and Debra Knopman as co-chairs of their Board of Directors. The Luce Foundation is a long-time partner of The Asia Foundation in promoting leadership development through the Luce Scholars Program. Launched in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program is a unique exchange American-Asian exchange program that builds on both organizations’ commitment to building understanding and strengthening the relationship between the United States and Asia. Following the decision of Margaret Boles Fitzgerald to step down as Chair of the Henry Luce Foundation after twenty years of leadership, the Board of Directors has elected two members, Terry Adamson and Debra Knopman, to serve as Co-Chairs for the next five years. As Luce Scholars alumni and long-serving members of the Board, Terry and Debra bring extensive expertise in their respective fields as well as deep knowledge of the Foundation and its history to their new role.
Luce Scholars Program
The Asia Foundation Announces the 2021-2022 Luce Scholars
Monday, March 29th, 2021March 29, 2021 — After a three-month remote selection process, The Henry Luce Foundation and The Asia Foundation are delighted to announce the 2021–2022 class of Luce Scholars. This year, nominations came from over 70 participating colleges and universities screened by program staff from a dozen non-affiliated campuses. More than 160 applicants contended for 18 spots in the new class. The Luce Scholars Program has long been dedicated to enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion; the Foundation is proud to welcome the most diverse cohort in the program’s history. Each year, the Luce Scholars Program provides young Americans who have great leadership potential but little exposure to Asia with a year-long immersive experience in the region. The professional, cultural, and linguistic challenges they encounter are central to the Luce experience and help the scholars grow personally and professionally. They develop a sophisticated understanding of a dynamic region that is critical to the United States’ future and gain a new perspective of the world. In 2020, scholars not only had to adapt to new geographies, languages, and cultures, but they also were tasked with navigating the effects of the pandemic. As repercussions from the Covid-19 pandemic continue to unfold, much remains uncertain. The Luce Scholars Program is committed to working with the scholars—individually and as a cohort—by providing them with flexible and personalized support. More than ever, the United States needs a new generation of leaders who deeply understand Asia, and can build bridges and work effectively with their counterparts and communities in Asia. Learn more about the Luce Scholars Program and the 2021-2022 class. The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia. Informed by six decades of experience and deep local expertise, our work across the region addresses five overarching goals—strengthen governance, empower women, expand economic opportunity, increase environmental resilience, and promote international cooperation. Read more about the Foundation’s work. For media inquiries, please visit our News Room. Engage with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves
Wednesday, September 11th, 2019A Conversation with Jason DeParle “The two main themes of Filipino Overseas Worker life are homesickness and money,” writes New York Times reporter and two-time Pulitzer finalist Jason DeParle early in his new book, A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves. As a Henry Luce Scholar in the mid-1980s, with no previous experience in Asia, DeParle was placed for a year in Manila by The Asia Foundation, where he found himself writing grants for an activist nun. Restless, and searching for a better understanding of poverty, DeParle was introduced to Tita Comodas and her family, who invited him to live with them in the shantytown of Leveriza. His year-long fellowship was the beginning of more than three decades of reporting on Tita and her husband, children, and grandchildren as they came to embody the rise of global migration. At the heart of the story is Rosalie, Tita’s middle child, who becomes a nurse and lands jobs in Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, and, finally, Texas. The book is a chronicle of success against overwhelming odds, but also of painful sacrifice, as Rosalie and her fellow labor migrants endure years of separation from their families, watching their children grow up over the internet as they work to give them a better life. At a time when migration is central to global politics, DeParle offers a human portrait, backed by extensive research, of one extended family and their part in what he calls “the world’s largest antipoverty program.” He joined us recently to talk about his new book. Jason, how did you meet Rosalie, the central figure in this story? I got to the Philippines in 1986 as a Luce Scholar. I went to Manila because I was interested in shantytowns, and I asked a prominent nun if she would help me find a family who might be willing to let me move in. Leveriza is one of the city’s oldest squatter areas. Some of its residents could recall childhoods spent there before World War II, when it was still a mudflat. Emet Comodas was away as a guest worker in Saudi Arabia. His… Read more