Support Programs

Past Activities: Sylff Fellows Council (SFC)

The Sylff Fellows Council (SFC) was terminated in 2009.

SFC is comprised of 9 Sylff fellows who have been elected in the regional forums, collaborates with the Tokyo Foundation’s Leadership Development to develop and improve Sylff-related programs, and build a global network among Sylff fellows and members of institutional steering committees.

The SFC was formally established on May 31, 2005, based on the Charter of the Sylff Fellows Council. The Charter was developed by the Provisional Sylff Fellows Council (PSFC). As of March 2008, the SFC members are as follows:

2008

Sherilyn Siy

MA; Researcher, Miriam College (Philippines) Sherilyn received her bachelor of arts degree in psychology, summa cum laude, in 2002 from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. She then spent 2 years in Xiamen, China, teaching English as a volunteer of the China Project of the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania. She received her master of arts degree in applied social psychology as a Sylff fellow in 2007, from the same university. Her research interests include ecological and development issues considered from a psychological perspective. She is currently working at Miriam College as a technical assistant to the President. She also serves as the president of Sylff at ADMU, the local association of Sylff fellows at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Jeanne Lee

Human Resources Manager & Special Projects, Doctor of the World USA / Médécins du Monde; MIA, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University (USA) Jeanne Lee received her Sylff Fellowship in 2004 while pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University for support of her consultancy with Thailand’s Ministry of Labour, to finalize that nation’s first National Code of Practice on Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS in the Workplace, which went into effect in 2005. Her professional background has been with the International Labour Organization in Geneva; she supported health micro-finance for women in the informal sector of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and facilitated the SOLVE Program (an educational program for the development of policy and action to address psychosocial problems at work) in India. The past four years, she has worked for several New York-based non-profits in the areas of job and economic security; youth and education; and global philanthropic networking. She also served as the president of the Sylff Fellow Council (SFC) from December 2005 through January 2008.

Severine Minot

PhD Student in Sociology, York University, Toronto (Canada) Severine has a multidiscipline academic background in social communications, sociology, international development, and project management, and her research interests include identity politics, international and intercultural relations, cultural change in developing regions, international development schemes, global business, and corporate responsibility. Her current research focuses on the cultural politics of the Western presence in, and influence on, global-South localities and processes of intercultural adaptation/exchange. In 2008/2009, she will attend Vietnam National University (Hanoi) as a non-degree research fellow, thanks in part to funds being provided via the Sylff Fellows Mobility Program. While in Southeast Asia, she will also conduct fieldwork in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Songtao Wang

Associate Professor of English, Inner Mongolia University (China) Songtao received Sylff Fellowships in 2000 and 2001. His field of specialization is American literature and Canadian aboriginal studies. He also is the secretary of the Canadian Studies Center at Inner Mongolia University, which is affiliated with the Canadian Study Council in China. In 2003, Songtao established the Inner Mongolia University Sylff Alumni Association, the first among the 10 Chinese universities supported by the Tokyo Foundation. In 2006, he was awarded financial aid from the Chinese Scholarship Council, which enabled him to serve as a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada for one year to do research concerning Canadian aborigines.

Nicholas Githuku

MA; Part-time Lecturer; Department of History, University of Nairobi (Kenya) Nicholas earned an MA in Armed Conflict and Peace Studies in the Department of History at the University of Nairobi. He has a huge academic fascination with globalization with regard to how it is affecting the Third World, and Africa in particular, which is a current development of his PhD proposal. He engaged in a pilot comparative study of the cultural heritage and politics of history of Kenya and South Africa for the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies, Open University (UK). In 2004, he helped establish the Kenya Association of Sasakawa Fellows (KASF). In 2005/2006 he was a Junior Research Fellow in the Program in African Institutions and Ideas at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya, and in 2006/2007 he conducted a JIP-funded comparative study, “Resource Management in Protected Areas and Its Impact on Human Development.” He is passionate about social transformation and the role played by leadership in this process.

Pawel Laidler

PhD; Associate Professor, Institute for American Studies and Polish Diaspora, Jagiellonian University, Kraków (Poland) Pawel received a PhD in political science (2003), and an MA in law (2000). His research mainly focuses on different issues concerning U.S. legal and political systems (i.e., common law, constitutional law, the role of the U.S. Supreme Court, legal process, separation of powers, federalism) and Canadian legal and political systems (powers of the government, dualism of law, roles of the courts), as well as some legal issues concerning Poland and the European Union. He is the author of three books and an editor of four books, as well as being the author of numerous articles concerning American legal and political systems. Pawel was a Sylff fellow in 2001/2002 at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., He is a former Public Relation director of the Krakow branch of the European Law Students’ Association. He is happily the husband of Monika and the proud father of Maciek, their child.

Duke Ghosh

PhD Student, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University (India) Duke’s doctoral research focuses on the analysis and management of risks associated with the financing of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in India. Duke thinks that facilitating the growth of SMEs is one of the critical issues facing a developing economy aiming to achieve sustainable development. He has more than 10 years of professional experience-first with one of the largest manufacturing companies in India and then with a private-sector bank. Duke has an MA in economics from Jadavpur University and holds a PGDBM (Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management) from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, with a specialization in finance. He is also a visiting faculty member at both the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, where he teaches finance and business strategies.

Dinasas Abdella (Dinu)

PhD Fellow, Faculty of Geosciences, Department of Human Geography and Urban and Regional Planning, Utrecht University (The Netherlands) In light of Dinu’s strong sense of social responsibility, it is no surprise that her interests and PhD focuses on development, gender & health issues in Africa. With Sylff’s support in 2005, Dinu received a cum laude master’s in international development studies at Utrecht University. In this time, she interned with SNV Netherlands Development Organization in Tanzania to identify interventions in service delivery. Then, she did another master’s in human geography and planning and conducted empirical research in Ethiopia on sector-wide approach and decentralization implications on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. Whilst working at the Social Science Research Council in New York, she engaged in gender mainstreaming with UNDP and the establishment of the new Research Centre on Gender, Crisis Prevention and Recovery (G-CPR). She also coordinated the International Expert Group meeting for the SSRC-UNESCO co-publication in 2008 on gender, culture and HIV.

Frederick Chieux

Cofounder of User-Level Media. Inc. (USA) Fred Chieux is an experienced entrepreneur with comprehensive experience in all aspects of technology development and marketing strategy. Fred currently is a founder and the CEO of User-Level Media whose patent-pending Video on Demand (VOD), Advertising and Consumer Insight Solutions transforms online video audiences into real-time focus groups providing you real-time consumer insight and ad testing. Previously Fred was a Founder and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Neomar (acquired by Good Technology in 2003) where he negotiated and executed OEM licensing agreements with Cingular, RIM, 724 Solutions, Bell Mobility, Palm, Google, Yahoo and Motient. Fred began his career at SBC Communications in the Vendor Strategy group and also has worked for IBM, ArgoGroup, LTD and Danger, Inc. Fred earned a JD from the University of Colorado, and an MBA from the University of Texas-Austin, where he received a Sylff fellowship. He is a member of the California Bar Association.

2005

Felix Boellmann
Israel Banegas
Stuart Graham
Paulina Berríos Cortés
Jeanne Lee
Tiejun Bu
Sherilyn Tan Siy
Stepán Holub
Rozenda Hendrickse

Provisional

Israel Banegas
Felix Boellmann
Stuart Graham
Rozenda Hendrickse
Mei Li Lean
Irene Miura
Anthony Pesec
Loukas Spanos
Guangcui “Julie” Zhang