Description

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation (MMF) was created in 1983 to advance the work of the late Senator from Montana and ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield, and his wife Maureen, to promote understanding and cooperation among the nations and peoples of Asia and the United States.  An operating foundation, MMF carries out its mission through exchange, dialogue and publication efforts to inform public policy.  It also provides support to the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Center at the University of Montana.  Headquartered in Washington, DC, MMF has offices in Tokyo and Missoula, Montana.  Prior to joining MMF in 2014 as president and CEO, Frank Jannuzi served as Policy Director, East Asian and Pacific Affairs, for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1997-2012), where he advised Committee Chairmen Joseph Biden and John Kerry, and then as deputy executive director at Amnesty International, USA.
 
MMF proposes the Pan-Asian Scholars Program, an initiative intended to expand connections between academics and policy professionals working on East and Southeast Asia and promote more integrated scholarship on Asia.  Jannuzi points out that scholars of Asia typically devote themselves to a relatively narrow field of study with a concentration on only one country.  This has, he writes, “created unfortunate divides that are inconsistent with forging an accurate understanding of how the nations of Southeast and Northeast Asia will jointly, through their interactions, shape the future of the greater region.”  Moreover, he stresses, “Southeast Asia has long been subordinate to Northeast Asia in the attention it receives from U.S. scholars and policymakers, and the rise of China has only exacerbated this situation.”
 
Over the course of the grant, three cohorts of 12 participants each will participate in the program, with half of the group possessing a background in Southeast Asia and the remainder split among concentrations in China, Japan and Korea.  Applicants must have a PhD or equivalent experience earned in the past 12 years.  A senior advisory committee, comprised of leading academics and policy practitioners, will assist in selection and mentor the participants during their tenure.
 
The one-year set of activities will begin with a “Washington 101” introduction to the policy process, including media training for those who have not previously undertaken it; a retreat in Montana for the participants to share their current work and shape a policy-relevant research project required by the program; and a two-week study trip to Asia that will include Beijing, Tokyo or Seoul, Singapore, and one additional Southeast Asian city such as Bangkok, Hanoi or Jakarta.  In Asia, the scholars will meet with a wide range of policymakers, academics and industry
 
leaders.  The program will conclude at MMF’s DC headquarters with a public event to showcase the scholars’ resulting policy papers.  The incoming cohort will have the opportunity to overlap with the outgoing cohort at this time.  MMF will publicize all program activities, including the scholars’ writings, through its website, social media platforms and traditional media outlets.
 
In recent years, MMF has put particular emphasis on bridging academic and policy-making communities, particularly among the younger generation, in an effort to strengthen U.S. policy on Asia.  The Pan-Asian Scholars Program will build upon this experience.  MMF’s initiatives have included the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future and the U.S.-Korea Scholar-Policymaker Nexus Program, both modeled on the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations that the Luce Foundation helped launch.  While the Pan-Asian Scholars Program will be open-application, alumni of these three other programs will be encouraged to apply, as will those from the Southeast Asia Research Group, also a Luce Foundation grantee.
 
Grant funds will cover domestic and foreign travel and accommodation for the cohorts, advisory committee members and MMF staff; advisor honoraria; media training; program administration; publication of the policy papers; and outreach.
 
Recommendation:                                That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a four-year grant of $600,000 to the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation to support the Pan-Asian Scholars Program.