Original version published in the 2007–08 Shorenstein APARC Annual Overview

Since 2005, Denise Masumoto has managed Shorenstein APARC’s Corporate Affiliates Visiting Fellows Program. Each summer, Masumoto welcomes a new group of fellows and their families to the Center, and helps them to navigate their new country. She also oversees the program curriculum and connects fellows with Center faculty who share their research interests.

How has the program changed since you took over?

When I started at Shorenstein APARC, the program was well established, and it gets better every year. Today, there is more interaction with our faculty and other scholars, which produces better research. The core research goal remains constant, but the changing composition of each group—more female fellows, varied professional backgrounds, new countries joining the mix—keeps the program exciting and unique.

What is the biggest challenge that visiting fellows face when they enter the program?

Definitely deciding which events to attend! In addition to the classes they audit, and the calendar of seminars and site visits arranged specifically for the visiting fellows, there are numerous events within the Center, at our parent institute FSI, all around the Stanford campus, and into Silicon Valley and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The fellows’ schedules are busy and filled with great opportunities to learn new things and to network; the biggest decision is how to prioritize. What the visiting fellows put into the program is what they get out of it.

How do the visiting fellows integrate into the Center and the University?

I strongly encourage all the visiting fellows to get out and meet people, in Shorenstein APARC and beyond, and to ask lots of questions. Whether this is done in the classroom, at a seminar or conference, or in front of the coffee pot, meeting people and having conversations are valuable parts of their experience. You never know who you might meet, what you might learn, or where it might lead.

In what ways do the visiting fellows contribute to the Center’s research mission?

Research is a continuous process and one that requires feedback and exchange. Our visiting fellows have the opportunity to interact with and learn from our distinguished faculty. At the same time, the knowledge and practical experience that they bring to the Center provide insight and international perspective.

How do the visiting fellows benefit?

In April 2008, we met with affiliate organizations in Japan so we could better understand their objectives. We learned that the affiliate organizations recognize that the program’s value lies in allowing the visiting fellows to take advantage of Stanford’s resources, to develop their professional skills, to expand their international network, and, crucially, to have their way of thinking completely changed. The visiting fellows return home with a fresh perspective on and renewed enthusiasm for their work.

What happens after the program ends each year?

While they are at Stanford, the visiting fellows develop strong relationships with other members of their class. We want this to continue after they return home. Many of our alumni are now in prominent positions within their organizations.

I am focused on growing the network of alumni by maintaining and improving a comprehensive database, which will make it easy for former fellows to stay in touch with one another and with the Center.

Masumoto returned to Japan this autumn to visit with affiliate organizations, and to reconnect with alumni during a reception that was held in Tokyo on September 10.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry has been awarded a William J. Perry Fellowship in International Security at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), where he will continue to address emerging security challenges facing the United States.

Ambassador Eikenberry has an ambitious agenda for the coming academic year, which includes teaching and mentoring students, public speaking and working closely with former Secretary of Defense William Perry. He also will take part in activities at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), such as the new China and the World research initiative.

“It’s a lifetime honor to receive the Perry Fellowship,” says Eikenberry. “I can’t think of an American in modern times who has better exemplified inspirational commitment to public service than Dr. William Perry. And I can’t think of a better institute of higher learning to be associated with than Stanford University.”

Ambassador Eikenberry has been at Stanford since September 2011 as the Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer and is an affiliated faculty member for CISAC, APARC and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), as well as research affiliate at the Europe Center – all policy research centers within Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies.

Before coming to Stanford, Ambassador Eikenberry led the civilian surge directed by President Obama from 2009 to 2011 in an effort to reverse the momentum gained by insurgents, and set the conditions for a transition to Afghanistan sovereignty. He retired from his 35-year military career in April 2009 with the rank of U.S. Army Lieutenant General after posts including commander and staff officer with mechanized, light, airborne and ranger infantry units in the United States, as well as Korea, Italy and as the Commander of the American-led Coalition Forces from 2005-2007.

"Karl Eikenberry's record of public service amply demonstrates his unique qualities, not only as a leader of the American military at a challenging time, but as a strategic thinker and an insightful diplomat,” says CISAC Co-Director Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar. “He has a rare understanding of the profound challenges facing our world, and has been a tremendous asset to CISAC and Stanford.”

Ambassador Eikenberry’s research areas include U.S. strategy in the Asia-Pacific region; China’s evolving security strategy; the United States and NATO; the future of the U.S. military; Washington’s policies in Central and South Asia; and assessing the risks of military intervention.

The fellowship was established to honor Perry, the 19^th U.S. secretary of defense and former CISAC co-director, and to recognize his leadership in the cause of peace. Perry is co-director of the Preventive Defense Project and the Nuclear Risk Reduction Initiative at CISAC and is an expert on U.S. foreign policy, national security and arms control. Perry Fellows spend a year at CISAC conducting policy-relevant research on international security issues. They join other distinguished scientists, social and political scientists and engineers who work together on problems that cannot be solved within a single field of study.

Ambassador Eikenberry is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, has master’s degrees from Harvard University in East Asian Studies and Stanford University in Political Science, and was a National Security Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He earned an Interpreter’s Certificate in Mandarin Chinese from the British Foreign Commonwealth Office while studying at the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense Chinese Language School in Hong Kong, and has an Advanced Degree in Chinese History from Nanjing University in the People’s Republic of China.