Public Policy Student Hanka Kirby Selected as 2019 Millennium Fellow

Posted October 23, 2019

Hanka Kirby, an undergraduate student in the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy, has been selected as one of 17 Tech students to receive the 2019 Millennium Fellowship.

The fellowships are part of a leadership development program of the United Nations Academic Impact initiative and the Millennium Campus Network (MCN). They engage the fellows through semester-long experiential curriculum on cultivating core values, honing hard and soft skills, and sharing best practices. 

Kirby, who has been a member of the Climate Reality Project and Citizens Climate Lobby, will be working on the Sustainable Events Initiative. This initiative aims to educate students on campus sustainability, climate issues, what their school is doing to combat these problems, and how students can take action on climate solutions. Her final deliverable will include a presentation on existing infrastructure for recycling and waste management on campus, steps the school has taken to show leadership in sustainability and innovation, and how students can become involved.

Here are the other 2019 Millennium Fellowship recipients from Georgia Tech:

• Abigail Crombie (Environmental Engineering)

• Alan Matias (Computer Science)

• Amy Pollmann (Computer Science)

• Biya Haile (Mechanical Engineering)

• Caroline Efferth (Environmental Engineering)

• Charlie Ye (Computer Science)

• Ching Lam Ip (Environmental Engineering)

• Haley Tam (Mechanical Engineering)

• Hanka Kirby (Public Policy)

• Jeffrey Toler (Environmental Engineering)

• Lee-Kai Sun (Biomedical Engineering)

• Manuel Regalado (Materials Science & Engineering)

• Matthew Falcone (Environmental Engineering)

• Saman Muhammad (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)

• Shamari Davenport (Mechanical Engineering)

• Tammy Vupham (Industrial Design)

• Thiago Esslinger (Biochemistry)

MCN launched the Millennium Fellowship in 2013 to convene, challenge, and celebrate student leadership for social impact. Student leaders worldwide were invited to join a community of young leaders advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in their respective communities. Notably, 75% of MCN alumni go on to work in social impact careers in the public and private sectors.  

In the three months the application was open in 2019, over 7,000 young leaders applied to join the Class of 2019 on 1,209 campuses in 135 nations. MCN selected 69 campuses worldwide to host the 1,092 Millennium Fellows. Millennium Fellows' Projects are projected to positively impact the lives of over 978,400 people worldwide this year.

Other statistics of note:

• The Class of 2019 is 55% female

• 40% of the Class are first-generation university students

• Campus hubs have been selected in every region of the globe

• Fellows are collectively advancing every Sustainable Development Goal (most frequently listed: SDG 4 - quality education) and every United Nations Academic Impact Principle (most frequently listed: UNAI Principle 3 - Education for all).

The School of Public Policy is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.