2011 Entering Class Profiles

Patrick Kabanda , 2013, Uganda

How I first learned about Fletcher: I first learned about Fletcher during my orientation at Juilliard when the school’s president, Joseph Polisi, a Fletcher alumnus from the MALD program, was telling us about his education and background.  Later, I gained more information about Fletcher when I received a Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship from Juilliard. In the consortium of sixty-nine institutions, Fletcher was the first to receive the endowment for Young Leaders Fellowships from The Tokyo Foundation. Ever since then I was hooked.

On the thesis: I’ve always wanted to examine the role of the arts in international affairs and write about my findings. The thesis requirement at Fletcher challenges me to narrow my topic and to come up with reasoned arguments that can be a meaningful addition to the literature already out there. Furthermore, Fletcher encourages us to write a thesis that informs our practice in the field. For me, theory meets practice here.