The Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA) is an operating foundation established in 1925 by US industrial heir and magnate Charles Richard Crane to advance American understanding of international cultures and affairs by sending young professionals abroad to study countries, regions and globally important issues. Institute alumni include leading journalists, scholars, diplomats, activists and businesspeople.
ICWA says it selects its fellows from a diverse group of young professionals for two years of cultural immersion in locations around the globe. Fellows explore their topics through self-designed and fully funded programs of study, thought and writing. They record their research and analysis in monthly dispatches.
While in the field, fellows receive support and mentoring from ICWA staff, former fellows and ICWA members with expertise in fellowship areas.
Former fellows credit the immersion experience of an ICWA fellowship, free from deadlines and career pressures, with enabling them to cultivate their talent and engage with their subject in ways that have a profound impact.
The Institute of Current World Affairs is recognized as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
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History
The Institute of Current World Affairs supports fellowships for promising young people to gain in-depth understanding of global affairs from a local perspective. ICWA says it chooses candidates with the potential to make substantial contributions to public life in the United States.
The institute, which pays living expenses for fellows and their families, has sent more than 170 people abroad through its fellowship program.
In addition to publishing fellows' dispatches on its website, ICWA also offers analysis and commentary on global news and other developments.
It also produces two podcasts: The Cable, which addresses threats to democracy in Europe and the transatlantic relationship, and From the Field, which takes listeners around the world with ICWA fellows studying cultures and societies in depth. In October 2020, ICWA launched a partnership with U.S. online magazine Slate to offer select fellow dispatches for publication.
Alumni
The Institute of Current World Affairs has supported individuals who go on to notable careers that leverage the expertise learned during the fellowship, especially in the fields of journalism, academia and public service.
The work of the Institute's fellows has appeared in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Yorker, and elsewhere. Fellows have published dozens of books and appeared across media outlets as country experts.
The fellowships are credited with launching the careers of notable writers, leaders and foreign policy experts, including:
Julie Barlow, Canadian journalist, author, and conference speaker
David Binder, British-born American journalist, author, and lecturer
L. Carl Brown, professor of Near Eastern studies emeritus, Princeton University
Nancy Condee, professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh
William Fulbright Foote, CEO and founder of Root Capital, a nonprofit organization operating in poor rural areas of Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia
Thomas Goltz, American author and journalist who covered conflicts in the Caucasus region during the 1990s
Suzy Hansen, journalist in Turkey from 2007 to 2009 for The New York Times, author, Notes on a Foreign Country, 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist
Smith Hempstone, former U.S. ambassador to Kenya and former editor-in-chief, The Washington Times