TONGAI AT A GLANCE Profession: Graduate student at Cornell University
Tongai Makoni
Major: Economics
CLASS OF 2012
Year of Graduation: 2012
Growing up in Zimbabwe, Tongai Makoni cultivated a desire to
Hometown: Harare, Zimbabwe Extracurricular Activities: Volunteering, tennis, mentoring, missions
effect change in his home country at the governmental level. His interest in public service was born out of the energetic drive for development and unity displayed by his generation, and through his political science faculty mentor at Gordon, Tongai found a pathway to contribute to that effort. Today, he is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at Cornell University, where he has received numerous accolades, including fellowships through the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs and the Institute for African Development. He also was selected to be a Telluride Scholar and is an intern at the UN International Labour Organization. But it was his undergraduate professors who helped him connect his ambitions to his current training. As he says, Gordon “played an integral part in supporting and directing me on the steps to take for life after college.”