Making Dreams Come True at The Fletcher School
Linda Yeung, F91, describes her opportunity to attend The Fletcher School as a “dream come true.” Fletcher faculty “encouraged us to look at the world through a legal and interdisciplinary perspective,” she said, while students from around the world added a range of viewpoints. “Everything I wanted in a graduate school experience came together at Fletcher.”
With gratitude for that education, Yeung was inspired to establish an endowed scholarship at Fletcher through the Women Impact Tufts (WIT) initiative. “I am thankful for the generosity of the people and scholarships that made my Fletcher studies possible and rewarding, including the Patricia Roberts Harris Scholarship and mentorship from Dean Jerry Sheehan,” said Yeung. “It’s my turn to make another student’s dream come true. I believe Fletcher students will be part of the solution to the local and global issues that face our communities.”
Yeung appreciates how WIT is bolstering scholarships for students across the university “who may not have had the opportunity to attend Tufts and who contribute valuable perspectives,” she said. “The WIT vision personally resonated with me because I was that student 30 years ago.”
Yeung, who emigrated from Hong Kong, was encouraged in her educational achievements by her parents, who never had the opportunity to complete elementary school. A summa cum laude graduate of UC Berkeley and recipient of a departmental citation, she majored in political science and Oriental languages.
She was drawn to Fletcher’s Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy program, where she advanced her knowledge of international trade, private international law, and the United States’ diplomatic history with Asia. One of her first jobs was in Washington, D.C., as the deputy director for Taiwan and South Korea at the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
Returning to California, she built her career, first in Los Angeles with Mayor Tom Bradley’s office during the 1992 civil unrest and later with the City of San Francisco. She was the deputy city administrator for Mayor Edwin Lee and, in time, took on additional responsibilities as chief of staff for City Administrator Naomi Kelly. During the pandemic, she was the unified commander of San Francisco’s COVID Command Center. Today, she is executive director of the Leadership Development Program for the Department of Human Resources, City and County of San Francisco.
“What I learned at Fletcher gave me the foundation to devote myself to public service,” said Yeung, whose career highlights include speaking at the UN Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction about San Francisco’s resilience efforts.
“All of these opportunities make me incredibly grateful for my Fletcher experience and inspire me to give back to future generations of Fletcher students,” she said. “It’s always about the people and the relationships that we choose to have with one another that will make the world a better place.”