Roberta Buffett Institute Welcomes Inaugural Cohort of Distinguished Visiting Practitioners
The Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs is welcoming its largest-ever cohort of distinguished visiting practitioners and scholars, an expansion made possible by alumna Roberta Buffett Elliott's $11.8 million gift to Northwestern University last fall.
This year, the Roberta Buffett Institute will bring 14 global leaders to campus, detailed below, in addition to its most extensive roster of visiting scholars to date. Their backgrounds span diplomacy, the military, journalism, development economics, energy, public health, photography, film, and more. Several will teach Global Lab courses, offering undergraduates learning opportunities that draw on their decades of direct experience shaping global affairs. They will also meet with faculty, give public lectures, and engage with the Northwestern community during their residencies, which range from one week to the full academic year.
The group includes Tor Wennesland, the United Nations’ (UN) former Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process; Lisa Franchetti, a retired four-star admiral who was the first woman to lead the US Navy; Chrystia Freeland, a former deputy prime minister of Canada; and Sheldon Yett, the UNICEF Representative to Sudan; among others.
"This is the most ambitious cohort of visiting practitioners and scholars we've ever assembled, and it's a direct result of Roberta Buffett Elliott’s extraordinary generosity,” said Deborah Cohen, Director of the Roberta Buffett Institute and Richard W. Leopold Professor of History. “Our students don't just read about global affairs — they learn from the people who have shaped them.”
Roberta Buffett Elliott ’54 (’09, ’13, ’17, ’21, ’24, ’26 GP) described her motivation in a statement at the time of the gift’s announcement: “I am passionate about creating international and multidisciplinary learning opportunities for Northwestern students. Addressing global issues through research and teaching is critical to the future of the University and the world.”
Several members of this year's cohort are visiting through partnerships with the Roberta Buffett International Studies Program at the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, the Energy Innovation Lab at the Pritzker School of Law, and the Global Poverty Research Lab at the Kellogg School of Management, reflecting the Institute's continued investment in cross-campus collaboration.
Preview the Roberta Buffett Institute's 2026–27 distinguished visiting practitioners and professors below, or read their full bios >>
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Nana Amma Asante-PokuVisiting Lecturer, sponsored by the Global Poverty Research Lab and our Elliott Scholars ProgramGhanaian development economist with a focus on gender integration and agricultural value chains; she is currently a research fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social, & Economic Research at the University of Ghana
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Can CandanBuffett-Keyman Distinguished Artist-Scholar in ResidenceTurkish independent filmmaker and academic whose documentaries and scholarship explore memory, power, and representation, with a focus on leveraging the power of cinema to make human rights violations visible |
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Lisa Franchetti (Medill School of Journalism '85)Buffett Distinguished Practitioner in ResidenceRetired four-star US Navy Admiral who served as 33rd Chief of Naval Operations from 2023 to 2025; she was the first Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) graduate and woman to lead the US Navy and first woman member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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Chrystia FreelandBuffett Distinguished Visiting PractitionerProminent Canadian politician, acclaimed journalist, and award-winning author who served as Canada's Deputy Prime Minister from 2019 to 2024, Minister of Finance from 2020 to 2024, and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2019; she is currently the Warden of Rhodes House and CEO of the Rhodes Trust |
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Denise GarciaRoberta Buffett Visiting Professor of International StudiesGlobal AI governance expert who is a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Northeastern University in Boston and recent appointee to the Global Commission on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military
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Kathy Im
Buffett Distinguished Practitioner in ResidenceMedia expert who oversees the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Journalism & Media Program, which aims to strengthen democracies around the world through deep investments in just and inclusive news and narratives
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Rachel JacobsonEnergy Innovation Lab / Buffett Distinguished Visiting PractitionerAttorney and government official who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, & Environment in the Biden administration
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Cody Keenan (Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences '02)Buffett Distinguished Practitioner in ResidencePolitical advisor who served as Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama, helping draft major addresses on US foreign policy, including his 2016 Hiroshima speech, remarks in Havana marking the normalization of US–Cuba relations, and speeches on multilateral initiatives like the Paris Climate Agreement
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Aïda MulunehBuffett Distinguished Visiting PractitionerEthiopian photographer, educator, and cultural entrepreneur known for her Afrofuturist photography, awarded the prestigious European Union Prize at African Photography Encounters and CRAF International Award of Photography; author of the forthcoming monograph Wax & Gold
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Vijayendra "Biju" RaoBuffett Distinguished Visiting Scholar-PractitionerDevelopment economist and social scientist who served as a Lead Economist in the World Bank's Development Research Group for more than two decades
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Lilith VerstryngeBuffett Distinguished Visiting PractitionerSpain's former Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda who, by the age of 30, had risen from student political organizer to parliamentarian, working to connect domestic policymaking with left-wing social movements and UN goals; she is currently an Associate Professor of International Relations at Sciences Po in Paris, France
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Tor WenneslandBuffett Distinguished Practitioner in ResidenceVeteran Norwegian diplomat who served as the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority from 2021 to 2025
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Sheldon YettRoberta Buffett Visiting Professor of International StudiesVeteran leader of the UN's international development and humanitarian emergency programs; he currently serves as the UNICEF Representative to Sudan
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Dasha ZarivnaBuffett Distinguished Visiting PractitionerUkrainian communications strategist and former advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine from 2020 to 2025 as well as the National Security & Defense Council of Ukraine from 2019 to 2020; she is currently the Chief Corporate Communications Officer at DTEK Group, the largest private energy investor in Ukraine |
