Launched on December 1, the Bouriez Family Fellowship sponsors exceptional students from Francophone Africa as they pursue professional training in law or global development at Cornell University. The fellowship is administered by the Institute for African Development (IAD), part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

The Bouriez fellow is selected through an annual competitive process that considers applicants' academic excellence, professional trajectory, dedication to social equity and commitment to advancing Africa’s development in their chosen profession. David Arnaud Ngam à Kibeng, a 2017 graduate of the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon, is the inaugural fellow.

Awards are for one year of study in the Cornell Law School LLM program or the Global Development MPS program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The fellow receives a $20,000 stipend and a college tuition waiver.

Credit: Provided

Created by a generous gift from Pierre and Aurélie Bouriez, the fellowship supports graduate study for citizens of French-speaking African countries, fostering connections between Cornell and institutions of higher learning in Francophone Africa. The gift advances Cornell's mission to educate the next generation of global citizens.

“The Einaudi Center is honored to host David Arnaud Ngam à Kibeng and future Bouriez fellows during their time at Cornell,” said Einaudi Center director Rachel Beatty Riedl.

“These outstanding students from our partner institutions in French-speaking Africa hold tremendous promise to become leaders in their fields. Their skills, energy and personal commitment to community engagement in their home countries will build local capacity to deliver on human and environmental well-being, sustainability and increased access to justice," Riedl said.

Arnaud Ngam à Kibeng currently serves in Cameroon's Ministry of the Economy, Planning, and Regional Development, where he assesses the portfolios of public investment projects. He will enter the MPS program in the spring. He intends to focus on reducing poverty and building a more skilled African population.

"I plan to put my education to use by producing innovative research in order to find new development perspectives adapted to our local realities in Africa," he said.