History

The first cohort of thirteen Dalai Lama Fellows was named in the early spring of 2011 and the inaugural convening of the Global Learning Community took place in mid-June. Initial partners in the academic sector are Amherst College, McGill University, New York University, Oberlin College, Princeton University, Stanford University and the University of California, Irvine, where the precursor program began seven years ago. Dalai Lama Fellows is now building affiliations with additional academic partners for 2012-13 in North America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
 

At its inception, the Dalai Lama Fellows was a project of the Dalai Lama Center in Vancouver, British Columbia. In May 2011, the Dalai Lama Fellows transferred its governance and fiscal sponsorship to Community Initiatives in San Francisco, California, under the oversight of a six-person Advisory Committee. A generous seed-grant supported design and development for the 2010-11 start-up year and fund-raising is now moving forward to conclude the inaugural pilot phase of the program, through June 2013.