TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun is turning to a trio of Harvard students to assist his administration to increase talent retention and attraction in the city.
According to a news release from the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce, the effort is a part of a program the school runs called the Harvard Transition Term Program. The aim is to make Terre Haute and West Central Indiana a more attractive destination for those looking to start and grow their careers.
“Harvard’s Transition Term Program will be the first of many university and city partnerships. Their work will be an additional tool that our administration can use to market the city of Terre Haute to employers and young professionals,” Sakbun said. “Getting recent college graduates and other young people entering the workforce to see Terre Haute as an exciting community to be a part of will go a long way in helping turn recent population trends around.”
The trio of students have already arrived in town and will remain here until January 17. The Chamber said they will be involved as well helping to line up opportunities for the trio to make their impact. The program has been in existence now for six years, and is a nonpartisan program that reportedly matches newly elected leaders with teams of Harvard Kennedy School students for two-week periods.
When Sakbun first got the email from the university, he wasn’t sure if it was real.
“They actually reached out, they saw some of the news media stuff with some national articles they picked up on,” he said. “They sent us an email and I thought it was fake, and they called and it turns out it was a really strong program.”
He spoke with group of students on Tuesday, outlining some of his goals for the next two weeks and answering questions from the students.
David Clayton said he hadn’t been to Terre Haute before this week– but he thinks there are resources that can help make it more attractive for young professionals.
“The first thing I notice is how many universities there are around here. I knew that obviously Indiana State was around but I was less familiar with the other ones,” he said. “I think that’s a great opportunity like the mayor was saying. I also love nature, hiking, and the fact that this is one of the top [locations] for parks per capita anyone in Indiana, I think that’s great. I think that’s something that can be leveraged more.”
Irum Malik– originally from India– said her first impressions of the city since she arrived were vastly different than what she found online.
“What I saw on Google and what I see now during the first drive I took today is very different. I see Terre Haute as something that has a lot to offer, and I didn’t get that perspective from what I saw on the web,” she said.
The trio will meet with a variety of city, county and state officials before publishing a report on what they think can be done in the early stages of new administration.
Sakbun said he hopes this lays the foundation for other partnerships with local schools in the future.
“It just highlights why we need more educational partnerships with the city. The dream is to have several students from Rose-Hulman, Indiana State, St. Mary-of-the-Woods and Ivy Tech every semester to help out, including the summer, and those are future conversations that we’ll be having,” he said.
Previous coverage of Sakbun administration:
- Mayor-Elect Sakbun launches new recruitment website for city government
- Terre Haute Mayor Elect Sakbun announces transition team
- Sakbun announces two more appointments for incoming administration
- Sakbun announces his pick for THPD chief
- Terre Haute Mayor-elect Brandon Sakbun selects new Fire Chief
- Sakbun administration continues to take shape
The Chamber provided the following biographies of the three students involved;
Irum Malik:
Irum Malik is a first-generation female learner from India and currently studies public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School where she is the co-chair of the India Caucus, Women’s Caucus & Casteless Caucus. She also serves as the operations head for the India conference at Harvard. Previously, she worked with the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India (GoI) where she worked on program evaluation, monitoring, and systematic assessment of federal policies worth $50 million focused on social welfare, equity, and inclusion. In her role with GoI, she was also involved in projects focused on policy advocacy, stakeholder management, and capacity building. She worked on capacity-building initiatives impacting 500+ government functionaries, public representatives, and volunteers including front-line health and education workers, fishermen community, tribal populations, and rural women. Before this, Irum was working as a management consultant in the executive search sector where she provided talent management and workforce development advisory services to clients across the globe in the sectors of finance, technology, media services, consumer goods, and telecom. Irum is passionate about building the capacities of public sector professionals and increasing the economic power of women from low-income countries.
Alejandra Guardia Muguruza:
Alejandra Guardia Muguruza is a Fulbright Scholar pursuing a Master’s in Public Administration in International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, specializing in infrastructure, public financing, energy, and climate. With a background in Economics, she previously served as an Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Finance in Peru, designing national economic strategies and financing infrastructure megaprojects totaling ~$91B cost. As a Project Manager in a government-to-government agreement with the UK at the Ministry of Education, she oversaw the design, procurement, and construction of 75 schools across 9 regions in Peru with a budget of +$1BN. She also advised the Honorable Commissioner for the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in Lagos State, Nigeria, to collaborate with the design of the Lagos State Electricity Market. She worked for the IFC’s regional team at the Bogota office, assessing private-sector
investment opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. In academia, she served as a Course Assistant for Prof. Dani Rodrik & Eliana La Ferrara on Growth Theory and Country Diagnostics at Harvard and assessed the Green Growth Pathways for Peru, delivered to Prof. Ricardo Hausmann.
David Clayton:
David Clayton is a first-year graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School pursuing a master’s in public policy. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina, where he majored in Public Policy and Political Science, with a minor in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. As a Capstone project, he worked with a team at RTI International to perform a gap analysis on economic development resources available in the City of Raleigh. He then volunteered for a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA, where he worked with the Charleston Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to perform a cost-benefit analysis of their programs. This included detailed statistical analysis of their data sets, an in-depth literature review of promising reform strategies, assistance with community outreach, and presentations to Charleston County leadership. David then spent several years working for HUD’s Kansas City Regional Office as a management analyst, helping to implement housing programs throughout the states of Kansas and Missouri. He is dedicated to making sure governments do the best they can to improve the lives of their citizens, with major focuses on housing, economic development, and criminal justice.
