Fillipos Manoltzas, MacJannet Fellow 2004

In the preamble of the Odyssey, Homer defines what it means to be a cosmopolitan-a citizen of the world who exposes him or herself to a plethora of cultures and peoples, while gaining a universal perception of humanity.  In my quest to pursue this maxim, I traveled to different parts of the world, from Europe to the United States and from Mexico to Turkey; to discover new cultures, and new customs, to learn different languages, and to study different disciplines from education to history, to negotiations and conflict resolution, to international public law.   I started my professional career as a teacher in a secondary school in Athens; then through my military service I was sent to NATO's Regional Headquarters-Allied Forces of Southern Europe in Naples, Italy where I was assigned as an assistant to NATO's Deputy Commander-in-Chief.  In this post, and with support of my superiors I spearheaded multicultural exchange and dialogue lectures between Greece and Turkey and observed meetings between military officials during the Kosovo peacekeeping process.  This experience exposed me to the importance and the necessity of dialogue between nations which led me to choose the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, an ambition that the Fulbright Foundation helped me achieve.  Now in Geneva, with the generous help and support of the MacJannet Foundation, I am able to take another step towards the future. ♦ (March 2004)