The first group of 27 Heyman Fellows was recognized at an inaugural dinner of the Harvard Law School Program on Government Service held in Washington, D.C., in the fall.
Established last fall with a $5 million gift from Samuel J. Heyman ’63, chairman and CEO of GAF Corporation, the program encourages HLS students to pursue public service careers with the federal government. Award recipients will commit at least three years to government service. This year’s fellows are working at such government agencies as the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and on the Senate Government Affairs Committee. Diane Rosenfeld LL.M. ’96 is director of the Heyman Fellowships program.
In announcing the gift, Heyman said, “I have a high conviction that among our nation’s most critical issues today is our increasing ability to attract a sufficient number of the best and brightest to government service. The program represents an attempt to address this issue not only by reducing the financial disincentives associated with government service, but also by encouraging federal agencies to make changes in the way they do business in order to make government service more attractive.”
“The program also offers a mentoring component,” said Professor Philip Heymann ’60, faculty chair of the program. “Fellows and senior officials from federal agencies will be invited back to the School to speak and provide advice to students about government service career opportunities. When the program is in full swing, there will be 75 graduates working throughout the federal government in a variety of agencies.”
Dinner keynote speaker U.S. Senator Charles Schumer ’74 (D-N.Y.) discussed his long career in government service and his long friendship and association with Samuel Heyman. Schumer and Heyman served together in the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s Office.