UW-Madison News – Before leaving for Ireland last September, University of Wisconsin-Madison student Sarah Zink wrote about her expectations of the study abroad experience that awaited her.
“What I really want is an experience I can look back on as being life-changing,” Zink wrote. “I can’t wait to learn about a new culture, be involved in foreign government and find out more about myself.”
Zink is one of about 2,000 students who will earn UW-Madison academic credit in another country this year. A national leader in study abroad participation, UW-Madison offers students in majors from English to engineering the opportunity to experience life in another culture.
But international education doesn’t just happen abroad.
On campus, the Wisconsin Experience provides international exposure – from language learning to international housing to certificates in area studies – so students develop the skills and knowledge they will need to navigate in a global environment.
Experiences such as these will be celebrated next week during International Education Week, which provides an opportunity to mark the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.
Wisconsin native and UW-Madison alumnus Neal Vermillion, says his undergraduate education in 20th century foreign policy “was a great stepping stone” to his present career as a U.S. consul in Perth, Australia.
“I have the best of both worlds,” Vermillion recently posted to the Badgers Abroad blog, “an international life and outlook nurtured at UW, and a Wisconsin base which will always be home no matter where I live!”
Greater globalization has increased the demand for international education.
At UW-Madison, students now can earn international certificates in engineering and global health, or enroll in an online course that includes conversation practice, oral exams and oral presentations in Mandarin.
“This is a generation that really gets that the world is global,” says Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning. “Students are aware that our actions impact people around the world and vice versa. Our job is to provide educational experiences that support this perspective.”
Among the programs that received support in the first round of Madison Initiative for Undergraduates awards are an international internship program, a service to provide better orientation to international students, and international educational opportunities in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
“This is a key moment in the history of education on our campus,” says Gilles Bousquet, dean of the Division of International Studies. “Our ability to provide students with the highest-quality, cutting-edge international opportunities will determine UW-Madison’s reputation in the next decades.”
Committed to internationalizing the campus, the Division of International Studies will host a series of town-hall meetings for students and faculty next semester to ask the where they would like to see internationalization efforts take shape.
There are a number of international activities during International Education Week, including:
- Nov. 16-22: Global Entrepreneurship Week, a program of Wiscontrepreneur, Office of Corporate Relations. For more details, visit http://www.wiscontrepreneur.org/Global-Entrepreneurship-Week.php
- Nov. 16-20: International Photo Exhibit: International Academic Programs, International Student Services, and Wisconsin School of Business International Programs will exhibit winning international student and study abroad photos from 2009. The exhibit is in the 1974 Gallery of the Red Gym.
- Nov. 17: The concept of “Global Competence” discussed on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders,” from 3-4 p.m.
- Nov. 18: Language Institute’s World Languages Day, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Memorial Union.
To follow this year’s International Academic Program Study Abroad Correspondents, visit http://blog.studyabroad.wisc.edu/.
To meet students, alumni, faculty and others on the Badgers Abroad Blog, visit http://badgersabroad.wisc.edu/blog.
###
WPR’s “Here on Earth” to discuss “global competence” during International Education Week
What is global competence? Can you learn it? How do you know when you have it?
Here on Earth: Radio without Borders, Wisconsin Public Radio’s daily call-in program about all things international, will tackle the notion of “global competence” in its broadcast on Tuesday, November 17 at 3pm (rebroadcast each evening at 9pm).
The broadcast comes during International Education Week, a program of the U.S. Departments of State and Education.
Appearing with host Jean Ferraca will be: Professor Fernando Reimers, Ford Foundation Professor of International Education and Director of Global Education; Professor Larry A. Braskamp, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Leadership, Foundation and Counseling Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, and Senior Scientist at The Gallup Organization where he conducts the Global Perspectives Inventory; and recent UW graduate Catherine Skroch, who presently lives in Morocco. A podcast will also be available after the program.
Tune in!
Here on Earth is supported in part by UW-Madison’s Division of International Studies.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison – along with more than 1,000 organizations worldwide – will mark Global Entrepreneurship Week during the week of November 15. Led by its Office of Corporate Relations, the university is taking part in a number of events on and off campus, including:
- Entrepreneurial Boot Camp: From November 15-20, UW-Madison students will visit Wageningen University in the Netherlands to participate in its entrepreneurial boot camp. For more information, contact Gitte Schober at Gitte.Schober@wur.nl.
- Briefing for companies on export control: Monday, November 16, 4:30-5:30 p.m. in Room 50 of the MGE Innovation Center, 510 Charmany Drive. Eric Wilson and Adam Briggs of Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. will explain international trade and transactions, including export and import regulations. To attend, contact Pam Munoz at Munoz@ocr.wisc.edu.
- Kenny Dichter: The Original Bleacher Creature: Tuesday, November 17, 7 p.m. at Heritage Hall in Camp Randall. Dichter will share how he turned his passion for sports into a successful venture. For more information, contact Doug Bradley at Bradley@ocr.wisc.edu.
- Third Annual Entrepreneurial Deli: Wednesday, November 18, 6:30 p.m. in the first floor lounge of Sellery Hall, 821 West Johnson Street. This interactive “deli” will feature mini-presentations by several young entrepreneurs on topics important to those considering new ventures. For more information, contact Molly Lahr at director@madisonmagnet.org.
- Wisconsin Youth Entrepreneurs Conference: Thursday, November 19, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The conference is dedicated to collegiate, emerging entrepreneurs, and to entrepreneurial education. For more information, contact Jordan Leahy at jordanwilliamleahy@gmail.com.
CONTACT: Farha Tahir, tahir@wisc.edu
UW-Madison News (November 12, 2009) – Eleven University of Wisconsin-Madison students working on an island in Uganda’s Lake Victoria knew they were making a difference when a member of the country’s parliament came to check out the fledgling girls’ soccer team they had helped to put together.
The UW-Madison students had researched community development projects and scraped together funds to travel to isolated Lingira, which is separated from Uganda’s mainland by a sliver of water. Government officials often ignore the isolated island’s residents, many of whom live in refugee camps. One of the students’ projects organized and outfitted the soccer team – the first of its kind on the island. Because of the high-ranking visitor’s stop on the island, one soccer player won a coveted scholarship that previously had been nearly impossible for an island resident to receive.
“It’s a huge deal that this member of parliament came to the island,” says Marissa Mommaerts, a graduate student finishing her degree in international public affairs from UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. Because of the visit, she adds, “there’s been attention drawn to the island and the living conditions there.”
The UW-Madison students traveled to the island through the EDGE Project, a student-run international development program launched by Mommaerts, Michelle Mazzeo and Farha Tahir to offer opportunities to do meaningful research that can be applied in real-world settings.
About 50 students in Madison – 7,800 miles from the island – researched the social, cultural and physical life in Lingira, providing valuable background for a smaller student group that traveled to Uganda this summer. Once on the island, the students built a grain mill, set up a women’s craft cooperative, organized the girls’ soccer team and taught the residents about global studies, family planning and HIV/AIDS, among other projects.
EDGE – which stands for Empowerment Through Development and Gender Equality – quickly got projects under way because of its lean, student-run structure, says Anthony Carroll, a UW-Madison public affairs graduate who has advised Mazzeo, Mommaerts and Tahir and opened doors for them in Washington, D.C.
“They were nimble and able to deliver assistance at the most basic community level,” says Carroll, vice president of Manchester Trade Ltd. – which promotes economic relations between developed and less-developed areas of the world – and a member of the university’s Division of International Studies advisory board.
EDGE Project grew out of an international relations seminar that Mazzeo, Mommaerts and Tahir attended together in Washington, D.C. They returned to campus looking for a project they could research and take into the field. They originally e-mailed other students in late 2008, hoping that a few would spend a semester figuring out how to plan a community garden and travel to Uganda to plant it. Instead, they received more than 100 responses – including many from students who wanted to travel to the landlocked East African nation – and realized they needed to think bigger.
Once on the island this summer, as students talked to residents, they identified a more compelling need to help women with family planning and maternal health issues, says Mazzeo, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in international studies and Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian studies. A few students went to the mainland to conduct research and prepare materials.
“We were very willing to adapt our projects when we got there based on community needs,” says Tahir, who is now working on a graduate degree in international public affairs from the La Follette School. “A lot of the projects we did on the ground were very different from what we anticipated.”
Sustainability and education are essential components of the project’s work, ensuring that Lingira residents can continue to benefit from them after the students leave, says Mommaerts. A farmer’s association, designed to develop the island’s agrarian base, continues to meet, and Lingira’s girls’ soccer team is expanding to two squads. Crafts from women on the island will soon be sold at Madison-area sales and online at http://www.fairtradeworld.org. EDGE Project has also hired a young Ugandan woman to monitor and maintain the projects until the students’ next trip.
About 50 UW-Madison students are researching additional projects this semester, and two trips to Lingira to monitor projects already in place are scheduled for 2010, Tahir says.
EDGE Project has partnered with WE International, a Madison social-justice organization, and the work in Uganda is coordinated with Shepherd’s Heart International Ministry. The group has raised about $15,000, largely through online donations, to support its work, and a banquet is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, at the University Club. Members are also collecting soccer balls, cleats, shin guards and other gear for the Lingira girls’ team.
Elisa Miller’s second-grade class at Mount Horeb Primary Center outside of Madison wanted to contribute to a project that would help people have access to clean water. Miller heard about EDGE Project and her students raised $522 by selling bookmarks to schoolmates, doing odd jobs and donating their own snack and gift money – sometimes bringing in pennies at a time, she recalls.
“They were so excited to give [the money],” Miller says. “I had a really neat group of kids that understood it and thought they were making a difference.”
The bulk of the group’s funds – including about $4,000 for a grain mill – has been spent on materials and projects on Lingira. Students have covered their own travel costs, including plane tickets that run about $1,500, but some of their living expenses have been subsidized, Mommaerts says.
“There were some girls who had never been out of the country and the first place they chose to go was Uganda,” Mazzeo says. “They were so passionate about it and they were working so hard. …These are people who are going to go on to make a huge difference in the world just because of this one experience they were having.”
For more information about EDGE Project, visit http://www.wisconsinedgeproject.blogspot.com. Read a story about the girls’ soccer team, from a Web site based in Uganda. View a video about the Uganda project.
###
- Stacy Forster, forster2@wisc.edu, 608-262-0930
UW Madison News (November 12, 2009) — The Wisconsin School of Business will attract some of the brightest real estate students from the top business schools in Asia, Europe and Latin America with a highly innovative Global Real Estate Master (GREM) program.
The program builds on the Wisconsin School of Business’s expertise and tradition in real estate education, strong alumni network and international industry connections.
Students from around the world are offered the choice to start the program at one of three business schools, each one top ranked on its continent: HEC Paris, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and INCAE Business School in Costa Rica. To gain their real estate expertise, students converge in the second phase of the GREM program at the Wisconsin School of Business for a semester of intensive classroom training and field experience.
This premier educational partnership offers students a unique experience because of the quality of the consortium of partner business schools and the creativity of the GREM concept.
“This is globalization taken to its best in education. We have assembled the ideal worldwide partnership to provide each student the best training and the best global set of classmates,” says Mike Knetter, dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. “The classroom experience in Madison will be an amazing opportunity for students to expand their understanding of the world and build bridges for future international collaboration.”
“The real estate industry has become global and our schools are becoming global,” says Bernard Ramanantsoa, dean of HEC Paris. “This unique partnership leverages obvious synergies across the four institutions to the benefit of our students, future global leaders in business.”
“We are enthusiastic Wisconsin federated us in this partnership,” adds Leonard K. Cheng, dean of HKUST. “Upon graduation, students will join both the best business alumni network on their continent and the best real estate alumni network in the world. It is a great opportunity for HKUST students and alumni who are interested in developing a career path toward leadership in the global real estate industry.”
“Our students now have access to the best training in real estate in the world,” says Condo Arturo, dean of INCAE Business School. “The cooperative and applied learning they will receive as students in Wisconsin will prepare them to understand the complexities, challenges and opportunities of markets across the globe.”
Students who enroll in the GREM will be exposed to comprehensive courses in real estate finance and economics, from the core concepts of feasibility analysis and deal structuring to applied skills in real estate development and real estate portfolio management. A study tour of a major U.S. real estate market will provide opportunities for students to observe real estate projects in action and network with industry leaders. Through these exercises, students will strengthen their involvement in relevant extra-curricular activities both in Madison and elsewhere.
In addition, GREM students will have the opportunity to take full advantage of the Wisconsin School of Business’s rich support structure, which includes the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate, the student-run Real Estate Club, the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association and an international board of advisers of industry leaders specific to the GREM program.
Students will also benefit from industry partnerships with the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate; Reed MIDEM, the organizer of premier international real estate events, such as MIPIM; the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors; and other preeminent U.S. real estate professional organizations.
Applications are now being accepted. The first GREM class will graduate in May 2011. Get more information.
CONTACT: Melissa Anderson, 608-262-9213, mkanderson@bus.wisc.edu
###
Global Legal Studies Center Presents “After the Violence: Crimes, Prosecutions, and What Then?” – Workshop November 14
The Global Legal Studies Center of the UW Law School will hold a workshop on the theme “After the Violence: Crimes, Prosecutions, and What Then?” on Saturday, November 14, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. at the UW Law School. The workshop will be held in Lubar Commons of the Law School and is hosted by Professors Frank Tuerkheimer and Heinz Klug of the Law School.
The workshop features four panels drawing speakers specializing in the areas of international law, genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture from both UW-Madison and outside. The panels are: (a) International Trials for Genocide and Crimes against Humanity; (b) Genocide and Crimes against Humanity in Domestic Courts; (c) Torture: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow; and (d) the final panel discusses what happens afterward. The out-of-town speakers are: Wolfgang Form from University of Marburg, Germany; Michael Bryant from Bryant University, Rhode Island; and Lisa Laplante from Marquette University Law School. UW-Madison speakers include Frank Tuerkheimer (Law), Heinz Klug (Law), Francine Hirsch (History), Al McCoy (History), and Alex Huneeus (Law and Legal Studies).
This event is sponsored by the Global Legal Studies Center, Center for German and European Studies, and the UW Law School. The workshop is free and open to the public.
International Education a Priority in First Round Awards for Madison Initiative for Undergraduates
UW-Madison News Release
by John Lucas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11/6/09
CONTACT: Aaron Brower, 608-262-5246, ambrower@wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin and the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates Oversight Committee have identified eight proposals, ranging from an electronic system designed to capture notes of student meetings with advisers to College of Letters & Science faculty lines, to become the first recipients of funding from the innovative program.
Proposals for a second round of funding are due by mid-November and will be announced early next year.
“On behalf of the oversight committees, I congratulate all of those who submitted proposals and thank them for their commitment to enhancing undergraduate education here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” Martin says. “This is truly an historic time for this institution, and I am happy to have everyone participating as a partner in our efforts.”
Twenty-nine proposals came into the provost’s office from the deans for the Oct. 1 deadline. Of them, the following were selected to receive funding in this initial round:
* College of Agricultural and Life Sciences: Campuswide Shared Adviser Notes System. The proposal funds a system to capture notes of interactions between students and advisers so the information can be used as a resource.
* Division of International Studies: International Internship Program. The program will cultivate international internship experiences for UW-Madison students.
* Offices of the Dean of Students: Online Interactive International Student e-Tutorial. The program will provide basic information to international students about life in Madison and compliance with federal visa rules.
* College of Letters & Science: Expansion of First-Year Interest Groups (FIGS). FIGS will be expanded to 60 groups across campus.
* College of Letters & Science: Expansion of Chemistry and Physics Learning Centers. The proposal funds additional staff at the learning centers to benefit students.
* Wisconsin School of Business: Faculty Lines. The proposal funds additional lines in finance.
* College of Agricultural and Life Sciences: Globalizing Undergraduate Education. The proposal funds short-term international experiences and internationalizes course content.
* College of Letters & Science: Faculty 2010-11. The proposal funds faculty in the college.
In addition, some MIU funds were spent to open additional sections of bottleneck courses in fall 2009 and spring 2010 and to hire an institutional researcher to support campus-level data analysis and accountability, report development and dissemination related to MIU. In total, about $3.8 million has been allocated from the $10 million available this year and next.
To view the complete proposals and descriptions, visit http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu.
The review process for the first round of funding was extensive. After an initial review inside the provost’s office and Offices of the Dean of Students, the Oversight Committee, with representatives from the faculty, staff, students and administrators, then separately reviewed all proposals.
Simultaneously, a student oversight board also reviewed all proposals except those that focused on faculty hiring. The committees met separately to discuss the proposals.
Members of both committees eventually came together to share thoughts and met with Martin and Provost Paul DeLuca to present recommendations and discuss the proposals.
Proposals involving new faculty hires were required to significantly impact student access and the ability of departments to allow their faculty to teach undergraduates. In addition, faculty proposals were required to outline steps that would be taken to identify and recruit a diverse pool of candidates.
“In the initial round, the committees were very pleased to see how well proposals addressed issues of access by opening bottlenecks in high-demand areas, and some did so using many high-impact and transformative educational practices,” says DeLuca.
“It has been an inspiration to see that faculty, staff and students from across the campus have stepped up to make proposals that will truly change the undergraduate experience,” adds Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning. “All of us — students, faculty and staff — involved in this review process recognize, and in fact are humbled by, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape our university’s future.”
For the second round, the process will likely be similar, but because the provost’s office is anticipating more than double the number of proposals, the review process won’t be complete until early 2010. Going forward, Brower anticipates a spring call for proposals, and then an annual call for proposals each spring until the funds are allocated.
“Overall I’m pleased with both the chancellor’s and provost’s continual effort to incorporate student input in this process,” says Tom Templeton, vice chair of the Associated Students of Madison. “I feel students had a large role with the ratings of the proposals which we all presented to Chancellor Martin.”
Templeton says he hopes to hold another town hall session in the future to answer any questions of students, faculty, staff or deans who have an interest in the MIU process or have ideas for proposals. The goal is to serve as a resource, to explain the process and what the committees are looking for in a proposal.
To view complete details about the Madison Initiative, visit http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu.
###
- John Lucas, 608-262-8287, jplucas@wisc.edu
UW-Madison News (November 4, 2009) — When the Soviet Union launched its first Sputnik satellite in 1957, it effectively defeated the United States in the first round of the space race. And while the United States responded in kind with Pioneer 1, it also transformed its Cold War engagement by launching a terrestrial initiative — one that involved UW–Madison back then and does so to this day.
After World War II, the Eisenhower administration understood that it was woefully unprepared for the country’s new position of world leadership. The government needed multilingual specialists with firsthand knowledge of the history, politics and culture of strategically important regions, and it needed to develop future foreign service personnel. These goals required centers that could house experts and serve as depositories of information about world regions.
In response, Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in 1958 to establish university centers devoted to the study of specific areas and languages: Southeast Asia, Africa and the whole of Eastern Europe, for example. Under the auspices of the Office (later the Department) of Education’s Title VI program, these National Resource Centers, or NRCs, were charged with bolstering U.S. security through research support, area and language instruction, and community outreach.
Now, more than 50 years after Sputnik, 125 successors of those NDEA centers on 51 campuses have trained most of the country’s high-level area studies experts in disciplines ranging from history and political science to law, as well as strategic regional languages.
UW–Madison’s NRCs
With eight centers UW–Madison houses the most NRCs in the country, the same as the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Washington-Seattle. Assembled within the International Institute, a joint venture of the Division of International Studies and the College of Letters and Science, these centers together span the globe.
For many on campus, NRCs are synonymous with the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) graduate fellowships (originally NDEA fellowships) that have helped the university train thousands of world area specialists in the past 50 years. Indeed, more than half of the centers’ federal funding supports this.
Read the Wisconsin Week article, written by Masarah Van Eyck.
The Brazil Initiative Presents “Brazilian Literary Networks” – Conference November 19-21
The Brazil Initiative at UW-Madison is pleased to announce a special upcoming conference, “Brazilian Literary Networks” which will take place Thursday, November 19 through Saturday, November 21 at the Pyle Center. Please view a schedule of events and opportunities.
In response to the growing global importance of Brazil in economic and political spheres, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of International Studies and the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS) Program have begun an interdisciplinary initiative aimed at producing collaborative research, teaching, and outreach projects focused on Brazil.
India Initiative and Center for South Asia Lecture: “Coalition Politics in the 2009 Indian Election” – Event November 10
The India Initiative and Center for South Asia present the lecture, “Coalition Politics in the 2009 Indian Election” presented by Eswaran Sridharan, academic director from the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study India. The talk will be held Tuesday, November 10 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., in the Auditorium at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Learn more about Dr. Eswaran Sridharan
Dr. Eswaran Sridharan is the academic director of the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India (UPIASI), (in New Delhi), from its inception in 1997, and was earlier with the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He is a political scientist with research interests in the political economy of development, party systems and coalition politics, and international relations theory, conflict resolution, and cooperation-building in South Asia. He is the author of The Political Economy of Industrial Promotion: Indian, Brazilian and Korean Electronics in Comparative Perspective 1969-1994 (1996); and has co-edited (with Zoya Hasan and R. Sudarshan), India’s Living Constitution: Ideas, Practices, Controversies (2002; 2005); co-edited (with Anthony D’Costa), India in the Global Software Industry: Innovation, Firms Strategies and Development, (2004); co-edited (with Peter de Souza) India’s Political Parties (2006); and edited The India-Pakistan Nuclear Relationship: Theories of Deterrence and International Relations (2007).
Professor Sridharan will be comparing patterns of pre-electoral coalition politics, state by state, within each pre-electoral alliance in the 2009 Indian election compared to 2004, placing this in the context of coalition theory and the dynamics of first-past-the-post electoral systems.
This lecture is free and open to the public. We welcome your attendance.
This lecture is co-sponsored by the India Initiative with funding from the Division of International Studies and the WAGE.
Learn more about the India Initiative
Established in 2007, the University of Wisconsin-Madison India Initiative brings together faculty across campus, alumni, and friends to support, enhance, and increase awareness about India’s arts, cultures, economy, history, religions, and society.
Through collaboration with diverse departments and programs, and with support from alumni and friends, the India Initiative highlights scholarship and outreach efforts and facilitates new programs to help us better understand and engage with India’s rising global prominence in such diverse fields as medicine, journalism, economy and industry, engineering, biotechnology, and law.
Recognizing the importance of India to the economic and political future of Wisconsin and the United States, this enhanced collaboration with and dissemination about India will benefit Wisconsin’s businesses and citizens as a whole.
For more information, visit: indiainitiative.wisc.edu
CONTACT: Wendy Johnson, 608-262-1473, wsjohnso@wisc.edu
UW News — MADISON – For some of Laura Koebel’s students at Plymouth High School, “ethnic” food means a Hawaiian pizza. So an excursion to an East African restaurant such as Buraka, on State Street, is the perfect way to cap off their trip to World Languages Day.
Now taking place each fall, the annual World Languages Day attracts some 700 students from 27 Wisconsin high schools. The ninth World Languages Day, presented by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Language Institute, will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St., and the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St.
Through nearly 50 class sessions on language learning, storytelling, skits, cinema and music, students are exposed to many diverse world languages and cultures. More than 30 languages are represented in these sessions, from familiar languages, such as Spanish and French, to those more ancient or distant, such as Yucatec Maya and Xhosa.
“We always say that language and culture are inextricable,” says Wendy Johnson, outreach coordinator for the Language Institute. “You can’t learn a language deeply without understanding the art forms and the history that are important to the culture. Language is always sort of about everything.”
This year’s offerings include many hands-on sessions, featuring fashion, dancing and foods from other cultures. “Speaking Swahili Through Your Clothes” shows how the brilliant kanga wraps of Kenya and Tanzania spread messages to families, friends, enemies or political groups. Lovers of Asian cultures will thrill at “Godzilla in Japanese: King of Monsters and More,” with a (slightly) serious look at the monster and what he means to the world. And if the day sounds too hectic, “Ancient Tibetan Chants” mixes meditation with mantras.
But students aren’t the only ones learning new things. Sessions for teachers show how to add more international flair to everyday lectures or prepare students for UW-Madison’s undergraduate language requirements.
Organizers can point to many reasons why exposure to languages is so vital. Some students may enjoy learning about their own roots, as with sessions on Viking history, or bone up on cooking their favorite cuisines. Others may wish to travel abroad, either for a brief vacation or an extended sojourn, and enjoy traveling off the beaten path.
With ever-increasing globalization, many students also find that World Languages Day introduces them to cultures that now exist side-by-side with their own.
“World Languages Day shows students that these languages are alive and well in Wisconsin,” says Johnson. “You don’t necessarily have to travel that far to learn a bit of Tibetan, meet native speakers and delve into their world.”
Now in her second year at UW-Madison, Kadie Ray attended World Languages Day twice while a student at Poynette High School. The variety of languages she encountered during World Languages Day cemented her desire to attend UW-Madison. Following her high school graduation, she attended a program in Jordan, quickly realizing that not everyone in her group could continue their study of Arabic back home. She has not only continued her studies in both Arabic and Spanish but picked up Chinese as well.
Today, Ray serves as volunteer coordinator for World Languages Day.
“I remember how I felt. That one day made me want to learn anything and everything I could about the rest of the world,” says Ray. “I see excitement and awe when students come out of a session that taught them something they didn’t know about a place they’ve never studied, and I know we’re doing something right.”
For Laura Knoebel and her students, the message is powerful: This day changes lives.
“When one of my students goes through hard times, she looks forward to stepping outside of her world and into another culture,” says Knoebel. “Today, another student said she was so happy to attend because it really made her think about others and want to see the world. That’s what it’s all about.”
UW-Madison is a leader in foreign language instruction and research. The university is home to 11 internationally respected departments of language and literature, 11 area studies centers, the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages and the National African Language Resource Center. The Language Institute draws on the wealth of these resources to promote collaboration for research, education and community outreach in world languages, literatures and cultures.
For more information on World Languages Day and foreign language instruction and research, visit http://www.languageinstitute.wisc.edu.
High schools participating in World Languages Day this year include Argyle; Gillett; East, Edgewood, La Follette and West (Madison); the Academy for International Studies (Janesville); Johnson Creek; Tremper (Kenosha); Kewaskum; Milwaukee School of Languages and the University School of Milwaukee; Mineral Point; Mukwonago; Nekoosa; New Holstein; New Lisbon; Onalaska; Plymouth; Poynette; Reedsburg; Richland Center; Sauk Prairie; Waupun; Wausau East; Westby and Assumption (Wisconsin Rapids).
###
- Susannah Brooks, srbrooks2@wisc.edu
WAGE Advanced Dissertation Research Assistantships – Deadline December 4
The Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE) is pleased to announce that it will award one or more doctoral research assistantships for spring semester 2010. Applications must be submitted no later than close of business, Friday, December 4.
WAGE is a research center that brings together scholars from economics, political science, public policy, sociology, business, law, and other fields to study contemporary processes of globalization and its governance. In the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, WAGE shares international expertise with the businesses, government, and public of Wisconsin. WAGES organizes and funds university events, faculty research, graduate education, and public outreach and is a member program of the International Institute, a joint initiative of the Division of International Studies and the College of Letters & Science. To learn more about WAGE, visit our web site.
With these assistantships, WAGE aims to support the completion of graduate work that explores the consequences of and challenges posed by economic globalization and its governance. The program defines economic globalization as encompassing all aspects of international interdependence resulting from intensified cross-border flows of goods, services, capital, people, and ideas. WAGE is interested in institutions and arrangements for the governance of economic globalization at all levels – international, regional, national, and subnational – and interprets relevant policy areas broadly to include, as examples, trade, finance, industry, agriculture, environment, law, health care, labor, science and technology, social policy, security, exchange rates, and macroeconomic management. WAGE also welcomes studies focused on social movements critical of globalization or raising questions of democratic accountability that accompany enhanced international interdependence.
The WAGE research assistantships will be granted to students who are completing doctoral dissertations on topics related to WAGE’s agenda. Research assistantships will be for spring semester 2010 at a 50% time basis. A stipend of approximately $8,253 plus tuition waiver and health benefits is provided. Budgets permitting one or more research assistantships will be awarded.
WAGE research assistants are free of teaching and other administrative duties. Their primary responsibility will be to work towards the completion of their doctorate. Research assistants are encouraged to cooperate with one or more WAGE-supported projects and may from time to be asked to participate in WAGE events.
Students from all disciplines, departments, and schools offering doctoral degrees at the UW-Madison are eligible. SJD candidates are eligible. Candidates must be working on a topic related to globalization and its governance:
a) be in good standing in their school or department
b) have completed their preliminary exam requirements
c) have largely completed the research phase of their doctoral work
d) have begun to write up the dissertation
e) expect to complete the dissertation by January 2012, and
f) be registered as a full-time student in Spring 2010.
To apply, students should send WAGE a cover letter describing their project and explaining how it relates to WAGE’s agenda, a 1000 word synopsis of the dissertation, and a curriculum vitae. In addition, students must submit two letters of recommendation, which are to be sent to WAGE separately. One letter must be from the dissertation committee chair who should address both the quality of the work and the likelihood of timely completion during the assistantship. A second letter should come from another member of the UW faculty, preferably someone who works on issues related to the WAGE agenda.
Submit all material electronically to wage@intl-institute.wisc.edu. Application materials, other than the letters of recommendation, should be in a single file. All submissions, including letters, should carry the subject line “WAGE Research Assistantship” plus the applicant’s last name. Applications must be submitted no later than close of business, Friday, December 4. The selection committee’s decisions will be announced in late December. For further information, contact WAGE Associate Director Dr. Alison Alter by email at abalter@wisc.edu.
Wednesday night, November 4, at the Marriott Madison West, the Combat Blindness Foundation (CBF) – founded in 1984 by Suresh Chandra, an ophthalmologist at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health – will celebrate its 25th anniversary.
For a quarter century now, Chandra, originally from India, has been leading trips to the developing world with the goal of eradicating preventable blindness.
Read the full article, written by Doug Moe, that appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal.
Talk on “Agent of Change: Road Building and Global Positioning in Southwest China”- Event November 5
Zhou Yongming, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will present, “Agent of Change: Road Building and Global Positioning in Southwest China” Thursday, November 5, at 11 a.m. at the Pyle Center, Room 227.
Viewing roads as agents of change that can bring rapid and complex transformations in both the ecological and social systems, Yongming purposes to bridge the gaps separating mono-disciplinary research on “road ecology,” “road economics,” and “road sociology,” making an interdisciplinary study of “roadology” and therefore, appreciating better the complexity of roads’ impacts. Using China’s recent massive road building in the Southwest as a case in point, Yongming will examine the efforts by local authorities to rebuild the Stilwell Road (Burma Road) and analyze how spatial reconfiguration, historical reinvention, and economy of hope all contribute to make the road building as an imagined means of global integration in Southwest China.
The event is sponsored by the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).
Learn more about Zhou Yongming
Zhou Yongming is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Ph.D in cultural anthropology from Duke University. He is the author of books Anti-Drug Crusades in Twentieth-Century China: Nationalism, History, and State-Building (Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) and Historicizing Online Politics: Telegraphy, the Internet, and Political Participation in China (Stanford University Press, 2006). In 2001-2002, he was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington DC. He has also been a Mellon Fellow at the Needham Research Institute at Cambridge and a visiting fellow at the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.
Dr. Flavia Agnes to Speak on “Women’s Rights and Legal Advocacy in India” – Event November 10
The Gender and International Policy Research Circle and Transnational Applied Research in Gender Equity Training (TARGET) presents, “Women’s Rights and Legal Advocacy in India,” a talk by Dr. Flavia Agnes, attorney at the Bombay High Court. The event will be held Tuesday, November 10 from 2-3:30 p.m. at 336 Ingraham Hall.
Dr. Flavia Agnes is a lawyer at the Bombay High Court and founder of Majlis, a legal and cultural resource centre in Mumbai, India. She is a relentless advocate of gender equality through the law and a staunch critic of the Uniform Civil Code. Flavia appeared before the Sri Krishna Commission enquiry into the 1992 riots in the Indian cities of Mumbai and Berhampada. She has written and published extensively, including in the journals, Subaltern Studies, Economic and Political Weekly and Manushi, on the themes of minorities and the law, feminist jurisprudence, gender and law, and law in the context of women’s movements. She is author of the book, Law and Gender Inequality: the Politics of Women’s Rights in India, published by the Oxford University Press (1999).
Event Co-Sponsors: The Gender and International Policy Research Circle, the Transnational Applied Research in Gender Equity Training, Global Legal Studies, the Center for South Asia, and the Center for Research on Gender and Women
The Gender and International Policy Research Circle is a collaborative research circle and component of TARGET.
Sponsored by the Division of International Studies, the International Institute, and Global Studies, research circles bring together faculty, graduate students, and staff from across campus to address issues with international relevance.
The Wisconsin International Scholars (WISc) Program is an enrichment program offered by the Division of International Studies for undergraduate students in any college or major who are interested in adding an international dimension to their education. The program provides students with scholarship, mentoring, and networking opportunities. In 2003, the program began with 10 students, and currently, there are 100 student and alumni WISc scholars!
The new WISc scholars for 2009-2010 are: Tara Baumgarten, Laura Bechard, Kristof Didrickson, Andrew Dobies, Cameryn Ehlers, Kathryn Eszes, Sebastian Jankowski, Katherine Johnson, Thomas (TJ) Leahy, Victoria Little, Kristina Nielsen, Claire Poelking, Elana Siegel, David Stein, and Anoushka Syed.
The Division of International Studies asked three current WISc students to take the time to expand on their international experiences and define what it means to be a WISc scholar.
WISc Scholar Profile: Peter Culviner
Peter Culviner
What were your international experiences before coming to college?
My most significant international experience I had before coming to college was a summer trip to Japan through Youth for Understanding. It was a seven-week home stay experience with a family living in southern Japan. I still remember those seven weeks as some of the most interesting and exciting times of my life.
Why did you want to join the WISc Scholars group?
Well, this is kind of a complicated answer, but I guess I really just wanted to force myself to pursue my international interests. The major I intended to get (and still my primary major) was biochemistry. Majoring in sciences, it’s easy to push aside all other interests and devote all of your time just to your research project or your latest chemistry class. I wanted to make sure I didn’t fall into this trap. I joined WISc because I knew it would make sure I expanded my world beyond the bench and my petri dishes. Many interesting lectures, most of a Chinese major and a summer in China later, I’d say it’s worked.
What international experiences have you had since being at UW?
My most significant one so far has been a trip to China on the UW’s Tianjin program. Apart from that I go to the WISc events and take my Chinese classes. Also, just last week I signed up to get two conversational English tutees—I’m really looking forward to adding this to my too short list!
What was the best international educational experience you think you’ve had?
Undoubtedly, it was my trip to China last summer. It was the longest so far and I definitely learned the most.
What, if anything, would you have changed from your experience?”
I would make it longer!
If you were to tell a student one reason to live and study abroad, what would you say?
It humbles you a lot. It’s easy to get caught up in the way we do things here in the U.S. Studying abroad can help kill this self-righteousness and make us all understand that there’s a lot of different ways of doing things. While you’re abroad, you might even sometimes find you like your host county’s ways better!
What do you think is the benefit of learning other languages?
You can’t really begin to experience another culture to the fullest until you start learning their language. Language is irreversibly intertwined with the mind; it’s the method we use to express complex thoughts both internally and externally—the formatting of culture and society at its most basic level.
How will this education help you in your career?
I want to go to graduate school in a biochemistry-related field and hopefully end up being a professor somewhere. I guess I can’t think of an immediate application to my work, but I think it will help me in interpersonal relations (the sciences are international) and it will teach me to be a better citizen outside of work.
Where do you plan to travel next?
Well, continuing in the vein of places in East Asia, I want to head to Taiwan for a year or so after undergrad and before grad school. Teaching English? Doing science? I don’t know, but at least I’ll be abroad!
WISc Scholar Profile: Mai Lee Chang
Astronaut Shannon Walker with Mai Lee Chang (right)
What were your international experiences before coming to college?
In high school, I participated in a short traveling abroad program in France. A part of the program included a family stay which was my favorite part. The family stay had the most impact on me because it allowed me to directly learn about the French culture. Overall, the experience increased my interest in international affairs and set my goal of at least studying abroad once during college.
Why did you want to join the WISc Scholars group?
I find the WISc Scholars group to be attractive because I wanted to enrich my educational experience with an international component through various activities within the group as well as on campus and within the Madison community.
What international experiences have you had since being at UW?
During the summer after my freshman year, I studied abroad in Toulouse, France at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Constructions Aéronautiques (ENSICA) which is now a part of Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE). I took two engineering courses. In addition, I was able to improve my French speaking skills, saw the influence of culture on engineering, and acquired more knowledge about the French culture. Then the following summer, I decided to visit a different part of the world and studied in Chiang Mai, Thailand at Payap University. There I took a course about sustainable environment and the ethnic minorities of Thailand. As part of the ethnic minorities course, we learned first hand about their culture by spending time at the villages. I seized the opportunity to learn more about my roots, Hmong, and developed a deeper appreciation for my culture. I also gained more insight about the Thai culture, especially Buddhism, and learned the Thai language.
What was the best international educational experience you think you’ve had?
All of my international experiences were amazing in their unique ways. However, the application of the knowledge and skills acquired from my international experience is invaluable to my overall educational experience.
What, if anything, would you have changed from your experience?
One thing that I would have changed is the duration of the programs. It would have been better to spend more time than a summer abroad. However, a summer is still better than none.
If you were to tell a student one reason to live and study abroad, what would you say?
Living and studying abroad is like a jumping off of the “flat” world to discover the unknowns, re-challenge your beliefs and assumptions, and create tons of fun memories!
What do you think is the benefit of learning other languages?
Learning other languages is priceless. One benefit is that it serves as the gateway to truly learn about a culture since some meaning and understanding are lost through translation. Also, it makes learning multiple languages easier. In addition, speaking other languages is a great advantage in the professional arena. For example, my French skills came in handy when I worked at NASA because it allowed me to converse in French with European Space Agency astronauts and learning Russian was not too difficult.
How will this education help you in your career?
Coming from an engineering background, this internationally enriched education is one of the factors that make me unique from others. It prepares me to be globally competent which is critical in today’s society. With my passion for space exploration, this education is a great advantage because in order to make advancements in future space exploration, the need for international cooperation is greater than ever before.
Where do you plan to travel next?
After graduation, I will be teaching English in Thailand. I’m also very interested in traveling to Africa in the near future.
WISc Scholar Profile: Allison Neumann
- Allison Neumann
What were your international experiences before coming to college?
I took some Spanish, but more importantly, I spent a year studying in Japan with the Rotary Youth Exchange program.
Why did you choose to join the WISc Scholars group?
I was excited to find a group of intellectual, globally-minded students with which to discuss how big and awesome the world is!
What international experiences have you had since being here? What did these experiences bring to you?
I studied in Jerusalem (with some WISc funding) for a semester and spent two weeks in Egypt and one week in Jordan while I was there. My time there was invaluable in furthering my understanding of conflict– especially on a personal level. There are innumerable human facets of conflict that can only be learned through personal experience.
What was the best international educational experience you think you’ve had and why?
My single favorite day abroad involved taking a friend of mine with dual Israeli/American citizenship to “experience” the West Bank. (It’s illegal for those with Israeli citizenship to go to the West Bank.) We went without a very specific plan and everywhere we went (Hebron, Bethlehem, and Ramallah, mostly) we met people on the streets who were only too happy to talk to us; lead us around their homes; and give us food, tea, and hookah. I never learned more in a single day about what conflict and war means to people, and therefore what peace means as well.
If you were to tell a student one reason to study abroad, what would you say?
There is no better way to learn the language, culture, and history of a particular people or place– and enjoy (almost) every minute of it.
What do you think is the benefit of learning other languages?
Beside the obvious necessity of fostering global communication, language-its structure, its semantics, everything- offers a profound insight into the values of those who speak it. Furthermore, even if you’re meeting someone who speaks English well, showing the willingness to try and learn a language is also a great sign of respect.
How will this internationally focused education help you in your career?
My career is undoubtedly going to be “internationally focused.” I hope to take some part in the peace process, perhaps as a Non-governmental organization (NGO) worker or something similar. Obviously, international education is invaluable, but my experiences in these circles at home and abroad have afforded me important connections in breaking into this field.
Global Hot Spots: “Is Organic/Fair-trade Agriculture Sustainable? Observations from Mexico, Peru and Wisconsin” – Event November 13
The Global Hot Spots Lecture Series event will be on the topic “Is Organic/Fair-trade Agriculture Sustainable? Observations from Mexico, Peru and Wisconsin.” The event will be held Friday, November 13 from 1:30-2:30 p.m., at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street.
The Global Hot Spots Lecture Series lends insight you can only get from renowned UW faculty. These thought-provoking lectures focus on everything from politics to global health to human rights, the economy, and the environment. Global Hot Spots are held monthly from 1:30-2:30 p.m., at the Pyle Center. These lectures are all free and open to everyone, although an RSVP is requested for each event.
For the latest updates, specific topic information, and more, visit uwalumni.com/learning. To get questions answered, e-mail Kevin Check at kcheck@waastaff.com or call him directly at (608) 262-9599 or toll free at (888) 947-2586.
For more information about lectures and resources on global topics, visit the International Institute, where you will find a list of area studies centers on campus.
The 2009 Global Hot Spots Lecture Series is co-sponsored by the UW-Madison Division of International Studies, the Wisconsin Alumni Association, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), and Participatory Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO), which is a program of OLLI.
UW-Madison News – As the financial markets melted down last fall, UW-Madison economist Menzie Chinn says he was surprised not only by the depth of the economic downturn that set in, but also by the certainty of Monday-morning quarterbacking from observers of the government’s response to the crisis.
-
Menzie Chinn
“It’s easy to criticize, but unless you’ve ever been in a situation like that, it must be very hard to really understand how big these choices are, how little one can be sure about what’s going on,” says Chinn, a professor of public affairs and economics at UW-Madison’s Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs and senior staff economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2000-01. “The data are incomplete, you’ve got all sorts of people bombarding you with different ideas, and picking out the right thing to do in the middle of a crisis is really hard.”
Still, in the classroom and through his work, Chinn is putting himself and his students inside the decision-making by taking a closer look at the credit crunch and the recession as they evolve. In a seminar on the policy response to what’s being called the “Great Recession,” a small group of graduate students are evaluating, in real-time, the effect of this year’s American Recovery Reinvestment Act on such indicators as employment and job creation, state budget gaps and gross domestic product.
Read the full article from University of Wisconsin-Madison News.
UW-Madison News Release
CONTACT: James Schauer, 608-262-4495, jschauer@engr.wisc.edu
MADISON – An unprecedented effort to collect air pollution data in the Middle East has united researchers in a region mired in conflict.
Scientists in Israel, Jordan and Palestine initiated the four-year project with funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development Middle East Regional Cooperation Program. Research partners included the Jordanian Society for Sustainable Development, Al-Quds University, and the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies.
University of Wisconsin-Madison civil and environmental engineering professor Jamie Schauer, an internationally recognized expert in developing tools to identify the sources of atmospheric aerosols and using such data to assess the effects of aerosols on health, climate and the environment, served as project adviser.
He helped the researchers design the study, choose sampling equipment, train staff to operate the sample collectors, develop chemical analysis strategies and quality-control measures, and analyze the data.
Schauer is among authors of the first research paper related to the study, published online this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
The study area spans international boundaries within an area the size of the Los Angeles air basin. The region has air-pollution levels that do not meet World Health Organization standards, says Schauer.
“One of the goals of the project is looking at the chemical composition of the atmospheric aerosols so we can understand the sources are and how they can be controlled to mitigate unhealthy air,” he says.
The research team set up air-monitoring sites in 11 locations – including two in Jerusalem – that ranged from urban and industrial areas to costal ports. They collected samples every sixth day for a year, then chemically analyzed the samples and studied the data to identify and better understand particulate matter sources, such as biomass burning, vehicle emissions, or transport from Europe or Africa. One of the key conclusions, says Schauer, was that in some of the industrial areas, levels of pollution, and, in particular, toxins, were very high.
From a scientific standpoint, he says the research forged new ground and paved the way for future cooperation among Israel, Palestine and Jordan for environmental research and air-pollution mitigation. “The project was wildly successful in the sense that we’ve collected detailed chemical data about aerosols and particulate matter that has never been collected in the region before,” he says.
Although the researchers gathered data that can provide a baseline for future studies, they also learned to use Schauer’s advanced tools for chemically analyzing air pollutants. That knowledge is key as new research continues to link atmospheric particulate matter to public health concerns, ecosystem effects and climate change.
“As awareness about the impact of atmospheric particulate matter has grown rapidly in the U.S. – it’s still a very new field – there are many parts of the world where studies of this nature have not been conducted yet,” says Schauer. “Helping to develop the research and monitoring capacity to measure and study the sources of atmospheric particulate matter is very important to me.”
Beyond the opportunity to share his knowledge and tools, Schauer says it was amazing to be involved in a project that joined researchers despite political challenges.
“The science transcends those challenges,” he says. “The broader impacts of this study are beyond anything that I had anticipated to participate in within my research efforts.”
###
- Renee Meiller, 608-262-2481, meiller@engr.wisc.edu
Ambassador Designate to Mongolia Jonathan Addleton to Speak on “US-Mongolia Relations: Looking Forward, Looking Back” – Event October 29
Ambassador designate to Mongolia Jonathan Addleton will speak on “US-Mongolia Relations: Looking Forward, Looking Back” at the Mongolia Lecture Series’ inaugural event which will take place Thursday, October 29, from 5-7 p.m. at the Alumni Lounge in the Pyle Center located at 702 Langdon Street. The talk will be followed by the American Center for Mongolian Studies opening event and reception.
The Mongolia Lecture Series aims to promote discourse and sharing of knowledge about Mongolia and the Inner Asian Region and is organized by the Center for East Asian Studies and American Center for Mongolian Studies.
This Mongolia Lecture Series event is co-sponsored by the International Institute; Center for East Asian Studies, Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia; and American Center for Mongolian Studies.
Learn more about the October 29 Presentation and Ambassador designate to Mongolia Jonathan Addleton
Ambassador designate to Mongolia Jonathan Addleton will offer reflections on past encounters with Mongolia during his prior assignment as USAID Mission Director in Ulaanbaatar (2001-2004) — and provide a perspective on future opportunities and challenges that are likely to dominate US-Mongolia relations in the years ahead. Drawing to some extent on recent Senate confirmation hearings, he will focus especially on five areas: development; private investment; democracy and good governance; security; and people-to-people relationships. Scheduled to depart for Ulaanbaatar in mid-November, his participation at the opening of the American Center for Mongolia Studies marks his first appearance at an external event since being confirmed as the next U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia earlier this year.
Mr. Addleton has been a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service since 1984. Previous assignments include service as USAID Representative to the European Union in Belgium; USAID Mission Director in Pakistan, Cambodia, and Mongolia; and USAID Program Officer in Jordan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, and Yemen. During his previous three-year tenure in Mongolia (2001-2004), he traveled extensively within the country and was involved in a number of USAID-funded programs, including the revitalization of Xaan Bank as well as small business development through the Ger and Gobi initiatives.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Addleton worked briefly at the World Bank and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, both in Washington, DC. He has a PhD and MA from Tufts University and a BS from Northwestern University. He has written two books, Some Far and Distant Place (University of Georgia Press), a memoir of a childhood spent largely in Pakistan; and Undermining the Center (Oxford University Press), an assessment of the impact of international migration on development. In addition, he has published articles on Asia in a variety of journals, including “Asian Survey,” “Asian Affairs,” “Muslim World,” and the “Foreign Service Journal.”
