WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary, and Chelsea Manning, former U.S. Army intelligence officer, have recently been named visiting fellows at Harvard University.
"Broadening the range and depth of opportunity for students to hear from and engage with experts, leaders and policy-shapers is a cornerstone of the Institute of Politics," said Bill Delhunt, acting director of the institute at the Harvard Kennedy School, in a statement published on the school's website.
"We welcome the breadth of thought-provoking viewpoints on race, gender, politics and the media," the director added.
Spicer and Manning are among a dozen of political leaders and journalists who will join the institute as visiting fellows this fall for the 2017-2018 academic year.
Spicer served as press secretary and acting communications director for U.S. President Donald Trump until he resigned in July amid a series of shake-ups in the West Wing. He was known for acerbic exchanges with reporters during his tenure at the White House.
With a decades-long career in Republican politics, Spicer recently signed with an organization as a speaker on range of topics including providing perspectives on the current administration, politics and conservative issues.
Harvard introduces Manning, 29, as network security expert and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst who speaks on the social, technological and economic ramifications of artificial intelligence and advocates for queer and transgender rights.
The transgender woman was convicted in 2013 of leaking over 700,000 classified military and State Department documents but her 35-year sentence was commuted by then-U.S. President Barack Obama and was released in May from a prison in Kansas.
Other visiting fellows include Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager of U.S. President Donald Trump, and MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
Harvard said they will come to campus for "a limited, yet comprehensive number" of events designed to provide short-term engagement with the student community and spark campus discussions.
