By Ross Tanner

I was awarded a Fellowship in 1980, for 21 months tenure in the US commencing August 1981.

At university, I had majored in English literature and language, and then was employed in The Treasury as a policy adviser.

During the years preceding the Fellowship, I had been seconded twice to work as the Treasury adviser, first in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition and then subsequently for the Minister of Finance. My goal for the Fellowship was to take time out from what had been a busy few years, build my knowledge in economics as well as public policy, and reflect on and learn the skills that might help me move into leadership roles in the public service.

Sharpening skills at the Kennedy School

So I chose to spend my time at Harvard University, based at the Kennedy School of Government. I was joined there by the second Harkness Fellow for 1981, Colin Knox. Together we completed the Master’s in Public Administration degree program, but each of us undertook more than the necessary quota of coursework, endeavouring to obtain maximum benefit from the experience.

We studied macro and micro economics, policy analysis, statistics, project economics, cost-benefit analysis, and, (for me) agribusiness ( at the Harvard Business School) and the management of government-business relations. I then stayed on at the Kennedy School for another academic year, while Colin moved to UC
Berkeley to a local Government research institute there.

Road-tripping America: Life beyond the lecture halls

During the summer, my fiancée Annie Fleetwood, who had joined me during the Christmas break in Cambridge, and I, bought a car and drove around the USA. This created a kaleidoscope of experiences and memories: the humidity and musical richness of the deep South, the endlessly long roads of the Midwest ( Oklahoma, Texas), and the extraordinary vistas of the canyons in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. We frequented camping grounds on our journey, and visited diners, cafes and bars, which still evoke memories of
the people we met and observed (how many utes have a shotgun hung in their back windows!!).

Then time in California where we caught up again with Colin, and his wife Helene Wong, before leaving to drive back across the country to Boston through the northern states– Wyoming, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, then New York state.

A second year of deeper learning and mentorship

My second academic year was spent as a special student at the Kennedy School again. Freed from the need to complete another degree, I enjoyed the best of that Harvard has to offer by way of teaching—more agribusiness, and competitive strategy ( at the Business School again), international monetary economics and international trade economics, more policy techniques, and a teaching assistant role in support of Robert Reich ( who later became Secretary of Labour under President Clinton).

Another important mentor was Professor Richard Zeckhauser, who ran a small weekly seminar with renowned guest lecturers such as Mancur Olson ( rational choice theory), Appeal Court Judge Stephen
Breyer ( later to become a Justice of the Supreme Court), and Larry Summers (economic adviser to several US Presidents and later himself the President of Harvard).

Returning home: The enduring impact of a Harkness Fellowship

I returned to New Zealand in June 1983, very much the richer in terms of the ideas and experiences I had benefitted from. The Harkness experience was an extraordinary gift, which has shaped my thinking and contributions across both public and voluntary service in the years since my return.