The former President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, visited Harvard at the invitation of the Center for African Studies to deliver a keynote address at the inaugural Conference on the Role of the Diaspora in the Revitalization of African Higher Education. Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong brought President Kikwete and his delegation to Wadsworth House for a courtesy visit with the Marshal before the conference began.

Pop singer and philanthropist Rihanna received the Harvard Foundation's 2017 Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award during a ceremony in Sanders Theater. Prior to the event, Rihanna visited Wadsworth House to meet the University Marshal and a group of Harvard College students.  See Harvard Gazette story on the award ceremony here.

All twenty-four of the fall 2016 Eisenhower Fellows visited Harvard on the same day for a group session co-sponsored by the Marshal's Office and the Center for African Studies, followed by individual appointments across the university with faculty and affiliates. This was the first time in the Eisenhower Fellowships' 60+ years that the program hosted an entire cohort from Africa. Participants came from Ghana, Kenya,