Two Phi Theta Kappa Alumni Chosen as White House Fellows
Two Phi Theta Kappa alumni were among the 14 outstanding young Americans
named to the White House Fellows Class of 2006-07. Chosen in a highly competitive
selection process, each Fellow works full time as a special assistant to
a Cabinet member or senior presidential advisor and also participates
in an education program designed to nurture his or her development as a leader.
Fellow Bedouin Joseph, an attorney in New Jersey, was inducted
into Phi Theta Kappa at Florida Community College. He has been placed with
the Office of Management and Budget.
Fellow Wes Moore, a Rhodes
Scholar and 2006 International Convention panelist, was inducted into
Phi Theta Kappa at Valley Forge Military College in Pennsylvania. He has
been placed in the Department of State.
"The White House Fellows
program is an extraordinarily competitive program for proven leaders
who will have significant impact on the future of public policy in our country.
To have two Phi Theta Kappa members named Fellows this year gives evidence
that two-year colleges today serve as an effective and viable channel for
accessing significant leadership positions previously reserved for
the elite," said Phi Theta Kappa's Executive Director, Rod Risley, who
addressed the 2006-07 Class of White House Fellows during their recent
retreat in Virginia.
Joseph is a complex litigation and class
action attorney at Adams and Reese LLP. He has represented Fortune 100 clients
in civil actions involving claims of property contamination, exposure
to radiation and hazardous chemicals.
Prior to becoming a lawyer,
Bedouin was the officer-in-charge of the Transportation section of the
174th Fighter Wing, Syracuse (New York). He also served as officer-in-charge
of the Management and Systems Flight of the Logistics Squadron at the 174th
Fighter Wing, and prior to that, as a Medical Corpsman with the 3rd Combat
Medical Battalion at Marine Corps Base Camp Hansen (Okinawa, Japan).
He
is a former Regimental Commander at the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
His community activities include service as co-chair and team leader for
Rebuilding Together (formerly Christmas in October), board member and
Executive Committee member of the Preservation Resource Center, volunteer
attorney for the Pro Bono Project, tutor and mentor for at-risk children
in various programs.
He has published legal articles in the
Louisiana State Bar Journal and the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law
Journal. His awards include Top 25 Multicultural Leader, Distinguished
Service as a Pro Bono Volunteer, Naval Order of the United States New York
Commandery, and Community Service Volunteer of the Year.
Joseph
received a law degree from the Florida State University College of Law,
a bachelor of science degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy,
and an Unlimited Third Mate License with radar observer endorsement from
the U.S. Coast Guard.
At 27 Moore is the youngest of the White
House Fellows and was the subject of recent C-Span coverage of the Fellows
program. He is an investment banker with Deutsche Bank's prestigious Global
Markets Division in New York and London. His work focuses on structuring
and procuring a range of complex transactions in emerging markets in Central
and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Moore,
a paratrooper and Captain in the United States Army Reserves, recently
returned from a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan, where he served as the
Director of Information Operations with the elite 1st Brigade of the 82nd
Airborne Division.
During the tour he spearheaded the American
strategic support plan for the Afghan Reconciliation Program that unites
former insurgents with the new Afghan Government.
Prior to
his career in finance, Moore completed a master of letters degree in International
Relations from Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar.
His thesis topic was "The Rise and Ramifications of Radical Islam in the
Western Hemisphere."
After attending Valley Forge, where
he was president of his Phi Theta Kappa chapter, Moore graduated Phi Beta
Kappa from Johns Hopkins University and was inducted into the Maryland
College Football Hall of Fame.
Moore's troubled childhood
led him to found a non-profit organization that works with youth justice
offenders, which still effectively functions to this day. He is also authoring
a book about African-American involvement in international affairs.
Moore served as a panelist during the debate between Newt Gingrich
and James Carville at Phi Theta Kappa's 2002 International Convention
in Nashville and as a positor for the 2006 International Convention in Seattle
for speaker Madeleine Albright.
Founded in 1964, the White
House Fellows program is America's most prestigious program for leadership
and public service. White House Fellowships offer exceptional young men
and women first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the federal
government.
White House Fellows typically spend a year working
as full-time, paid special assistants to senior White House Staff, the
Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries and other top-ranking government
officials.
Fellows also participate in an education program
consisting of roundtable discussions with renowned leaders from the private
and public sectors, and trips to study U.S. policy in action both domestically
and internationally. Fellowships are awarded on a strictly non-partisan
basis.
Learn more about the White
House Fellows Program and other Phi
Theta Kappa alumni online.
