Inspired by many other Bologna classes, in November 2020 Anton Fink took the lead of a class effort in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Bologna Class of 1980. He proposed to their classmates to celebrate this special milestone by raising funds to establish the Bologna Class of 1980 Fellowship providing critical support to SAIS students:

"The year 2020 will be forever fixed in our minds, needless to say why. However, it also marks an important milestone for our class. Believe it or not, it's our 40^th anniversary. During these years classmates have built successful careers across the globe, impacting business, diplomacy, public service, law, education, journalism, technology and culture. And we continue to celebrate the life-long friends we made in Bologna and their joys and happiness through the years. This is the reason why I started thinking about how to give back to those who can't afford the kind of opportunity we had that year in Bologna. It would be wonderful to celebrate our class anniversary leaving a permanent mark to the school. The idea is to establish a class fellowship that will benefit future SAIS Bologna students in need."

The goal was to raise $100,000 and open an endowment which will secure in perpetuity a yearly Bologna Class of 1980 Fellowship. Thanks to the generosity of a first group of classmates and the matching funds offered by James Anderson in just seven months the fund was opened.

This year, the Class of 1980 Fellowship recipient is Mr. Alseni Seck from Guinea.

Members of the Class of 1980 who would like to get involved in the initiative, should contact Anton Fink or the Bologna Center development staff.


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