DR. Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, co-founder and publishing director of Abuja-based Cassava Republic Press, has been named a 2012 Yale World Fellow, announced Yale University President Richard C. Levin.Bakare-Yusuf is the co-founder of one of Africa's most important new publishing houses, where she provides editorial and strategic direction in publishing and marketing. Her life's work is to contribute to the transformation of the African continent through production of alternative narratives and knowledge. Cassava Republic Press helps to accomplish this by sharing stories written by and for Africans, in an effort to develop a reading culture across the continent.Several books published by the press have been included in Nigeria's national curriculum; a series on the Millennium Development Goal subtly challenges perceptions of gender roles and introduces transformative ideas. A feminist and independent scholar, Bakare-Yusuf has worked as a consultant for ActionAid, Unifem, and the European Union.Bakare-Yusuf is among 16 World Fellows selected this year, from a pool of about 2,500 applicants. This year's cohort brings the total number of Yale World Fellows since the program's inception in 2002 to 224 Fellows, representing 79 countries.The Yale World Fellows Program is the University's signature global leadership development initiative and a core element of Yale's ongoing commitment to internationalization. Each year, the University invites a group of exemplary mid-career professionals from a wide range of fields and countries for an intensive four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training.Previous Yale World Fellows from Nigeria have includedHauwa Ibrahim, Senior Partner, Aries Law Firm (2005), Ibidapo Oyewole, Technical Advisor, National Planning Commission (2008), Philomena Chinwe Uwandu, Legal Advisor, Federal Government of Nigeria (2003).This year's World Fellows include an executive with China Construction Bank; a British military officer who served in command and staff appointments in Afghanistan; an Algerian private equity entrepreneur; a former Argentine minister of economy; and a women's empowerment activist in India.'We are thrilled once again to welcome an outstanding group of World Fellows to Yale,' said Program Director Michael Cappello, M.D., professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. 'The 2012 Fellows were selected from a global pool representing thousands of innovative difference makers. We are proud to offer them this unique opportunity to develop their leadership skills while enriching the Yale community through active participation in campus life.'The mission of the Yale World Fellows Program is to cultivate and empower a community of globally engaged leaders committed to positive change through cross-disciplinary dialogue and action. It has at its core three main goals: to provide advanced training to emerging leaders from diverse disciplines and countries, to link this network of world leaders to each other and to Yale, and to expand and deepen international understanding at Yale.'We will be so fortunate to have these extraordinary men and women at Yale,' said Yale President Richard C. Levin. 'The University community is always so enriched by the World Fellows. We hope they take full advantage of all our community has to offer them.
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