Daniels joins KSG as director

Helaine Daniels, formerly of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Oxfam, Mobil Oil Africa, and the Boston Globe, has been named director of international student programs at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), Associate Dean Joseph McCarthy announced.

Reporting to Associate Dean McCarthy, who is also the director of degree programs, Daniels will be responsible for developing a strategic plan for international student programs. Daniels will focus on the recruitment of outstanding students, fundraising to ensure that international students are able to complete their studies, and the facilitation of international students’ stay at KSG. “We also plan to take a critical look at global aspects of the school’s curriculum,” Daniels said.

“Helaine Daniels has just the kind of expertise in academic administration, strategic planning, and training we were looking for, and I am delighted she will be joining us in this vital role,” McCarthy said. “Helaine’s wealth of experience in project management, research, and communications will help us move in an exciting new direction with international programs.”

Daniels said she was looking forward to joining KSG: “The Kennedy School of Government is the most exciting place to be at this crucial point in history when globalization is of such primary importance. International students make up 44 percent of the current student body. Our graduates will play increasingly important roles in the shaping of world affairs.”

In 1996, Daniels traveled to Africa where she spent four years. While in Africa, she served as technical adviser to the U.S. Department of State, USAID in Mali; senior business analyst at Mobil Oil Africa/ Middle East; and visiting scholar/ managing director at the Center for the Promotion of Industrial Society and Private Enterprise in Nigeria.

Previously, she was deputy director of the National Black Women’s Health Project and a consultant to the International Foundation for Education and Self Help. Daniels has also worked in a variety of senior management roles at Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Roxbury Community College. She was also a news reporter with the Boston Globe early in her career.

Daniels received her B.A. in French and political science from Hampton University, her master’s degree in education from Washington University, and her doctorate in education from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.