Audrey Korte, a Wichita State graduate student studying representation and the news at the Elliott School of Communication and recent graduate of Wichita’s Civic Engagement Academy, has been selected to participate in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders’ Reciprocal Exchange.

As part of the U.S. government’s Young African Leaders Initiative, the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders fosters relations between Americans and Africans and empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, networking and local community engagement. Since 2014, nearly 4,400 young leaders from every country in Sub-Saharan Africa have participated in the program.

As a Reciprocal Awardee, Korte will collaborate with Abass Sesay, a Mandela Washington Fellow and founder and CEO of Active Ambassadors Network Sierra Leone, to co-design and implement a project that will expand markets and networks and increase mutual understanding between the U.S. and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, she will travel to Freetown, Sierra Leone to co-host the Women’s Communication and Leadership Conference with Sesay on July 3-4.

Korte hopes to be able to better understand the issues Sierra Leoneans face as they recover from an 11-year civil war, an Ebola outbreak and devastating mudslides through the exchange. She will then share the skills and knowledge she gained during her trip when she returns to Wichita.

---

Wichita State is distinctive for opening pathways to applied learning, applied research and career opportunities, alongside unsurpassed classroom, laboratory and online education. The university's beautiful 330-acre main campus is a supportive, rapidly expanding learn-work-live-play environment, where students gain knowledge and credentials to prepare for fulfilling lives and careers. Students enjoy a wide selection of day, evening and summer courses in more than 200 areas of study at the main campus and other locations throughout the metro area and online. WSU's approximately 16,000 students come from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 other countries. Wichita State's Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.