WELLESLEY, Mass. — Forty promising young women from all over the world spent the month of January learning to become effective global leaders. Hilary White, a senior history and mathematics major from Paris, Maine, was among the select group of Wellesley College juniors and seniors participating in The Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs at Wellesley College.

“We are witnessing a generational change in the American political scene,” said Madeleine Korbel Albright, a member of the Wellesley College class of 1959, at the launch of the first institute in 2010. “This is the right time — and Wellesley is the right place — to help train a whole new group of young women leaders.”

The Albright Institute is an intensive, three-week course held during January. Albright Fellows learn from the expertise and perspectives of faculty and thought leaders who represent a wide variety of fields including environmental science, sociology, political science and economics. Drawing from what they learn during the expert presentations and from their own multidisciplinary studies at Wellesley, the fellows team-up in groups to develop and propose innovative solutions to world problems. In the final week of the program, Fellows present their proposals to the institute’s faculty for critique and analysis.

This summer, each fellow will have the opportunity to further apply what she has learned by participating in a global affairs internship in the United States or abroad.