Ashley Yu, MAIS alumna, has been named a Franklin Fellow. Ashley A. Yu serves as a Franklin Fellow to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of International Visitors to provide guidance on strategic communication initiatives designed to highlight the impact of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). The Franklin Fellows Program is a unique and innovative program that brings outside experts to the Department of State and USAID and allows citizens a chance to serve and to deepen their professional experience. Mid-career and more senior Franklin Fellows work on issues of vital importance to the United States, such as trade and financial policy, entrepreneurship, counterterrorism, regional issues, human rights, and trans-national diseases. Fellows are not compensated by the Department of State. Rather, their employers or other organizations sponsor them, or they sponsor themselves. They return to their home organizations and communities with a much-enhanced knowledge of foreign and development policy and government operations and culture.