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November 2007 Development Report
By Jeannette Belliveau To Jennifer Brinkerhoff, the globe is a place of people in motion, most trying to better themselves, many also wanting to help the less fortunate. As an associate professor of public administration and international affairs, Brinkerhoff conducts scholarly research on diasporas, nongovernmental organizations, and governance in international development. She remembers the exact moment—it was in the year 2000—when she considered the connection between her professional work and her personal commitment: What, in addition to their scholarly contributions, did she and her husband want to leave as legacy? Brinkerhoff’s husband, Derick, is an associate faculty member, also in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. “For me personally, the ‘eureka’ moment was reading a book about what to do if you are not going to have kids,” Jennifer Brinkerhoff says. “The book asked, ‘What is your legacy and what do you want to leave behind?’” Thinking about the answer led them to make a commitment to GW. Derick understands the power of philanthropy. He is following the path that his mother and his father, an emeritus professor of the history of art at the University of California, Riverside, had taken in donating generously to their own university. The Brinkerhoffs decided to endow a scholarship as part of their estate planning. The Derick and Jennifer Brinkerhoff Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide annual scholarships for students in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration working toward careers in international public service. The scholarship, established as a percentage of the couple’s estate, aims to encourage diversity among entrants into international public service careers. They hope to make a difference in the world through their gifts and through their work. “My husband and I wrote a book, Working for Change: Making a Career in International Public Service,” says Jennifer. “We’d been dreaming about writing this book for a long time, to try to encourage people to pursue public service in the international arena but to do it with a real consciousness.” As the Brinkerhoffs wrote their book, “We started thinking about this endowment because we feel very strongly that all public service should reflect the public and the demographics of the public,” she says. “Very few minorities, especially of African American descent, enter the field of international public service,” she says. “Meeting the challenges of today’s international problems calls for the contributions of every group in our society, including those who may not have thought of the international arena as a career path.” Their decision to support students interested in public service reflects their belief that society as a whole benefits from diversity. “If we could help to support a student consistent with our vision for what we want public service to be, that is what we want to do,” she explains. “We worded the gift so that it would support diversity among those who pursue international public service at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Administration. We anticipate that the meaning of diversity in the future may change.” “We’re still young,” she says, “but we wanted to get the commitment in place as an expression of what we believe in.”
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