Dalai Lama visit to Wisconsin highlights close ties [Associated Press]

The Dalai Lama is admired around the world but he’s a particularly big hit in this slice of America’s Dairyland.

The Tibetan political and spiritual leader has developed a tight relationship with Madison over the last 30 years and it will be on full display when he visits the city for the seventh time later this month.

The six-day visit concludes with a July 24 ceremony in which Tibetans will wish the 73-year-old a long life in a series of prayers and gift offerings. Organizers say the ceremony known as the tenshug - an elaborate Buddhist ritual - has never been performed in the West.

The visit comes as the Dalai Lama’s dispute with China over his Tibetan homeland is in the spotlight ahead of next month’s Olympics in Beijing. China claims Tibetan forces allied with the Dalai Lama are seeking to torpedo the games with violent plots; he calls those claims false.

The Dalai Lama will find considerable support in Madison, where 12,000 people filled a University of Wisconsin-Madison sports stadium to hear his message of peace and understanding last year. Its growing Tibetan community of 500 residents see the Dalai Lama as their only hope to return to a free homeland, which is ruled by the Communist Chinese government.

Even Gov. Jim Doyle, who displays a picture of himself and the Dalai Lama in his office, counts himself a supporter.

“He’s a very important figure around the globe and we’re fortunate enough to have been visited by him a number of times,” said state Rep. Joe Parisi, who met him last year and has been outspoken in favor of a free Tibet. “And for the Tibetans who live here, he’s a ray of hope.”

The area’s close ties with him can mostly be traced to one Buddhist monk: Geshe Sopa.

Sopa was on the panel of scholars that questioned the Dalai Lama before awarding him his highest degree in Buddhist philosophy in 1959. They both fled to India that year after the Chinese used force to quell a popular uprising.

In the early 1960s, the Dalai Lama sent Sopa to mentor three young monks chosen to study in the U.S. and gave him the task of spreading his vision here.

Sopa spent a few years at a monastery in New Jersey before being hired to teach at UW-Madison, where he became the first Tibetan tenured professor in the U.S. During three decades on campus, he helped build the Buddhist studies program and taught Tibetan history and language.

He founded the Deer Park Buddhist Center in 1975 in a rural area about 10 miles south of Madison. It is the only full-scale Buddhist monastery and teaching center in the Midwest. The Dalai Lama performed a special religious ceremony for world peace there in 1981 for the first time in the West.

Sopa, 84, said the long-life ceremony later this month will be just as special. He said the Dalai Lama will sit on a throne as a line of supporters offer prayers and symbolic offerings. “This kind of thing is rarely done,” he said.

Tashi Namgyal of Seattle, who is coordinating the event for the North American Tibetan Association, said such an elaborate long-life ceremony had never been performed outside India and Tibet.

He said the Tibetan people will promise the Dalai Lama they will work to sustain their culture in North America. The occasion is expected to be the biggest gathering of Tibetans in the U.S. with up to 5,000 in attendance, he said.

The Dalai Lama’s visit will help open a glistening new $6 million temple at Deer Park. He plans to give public talks and teachings for several days before the ceremony.

China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially an independent state for most of that time. Chinese Communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951 and Beijing continues to rule the region with a heavy hand.

The Dalai Lama, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for advocating nonviolence, has often found time to speak at UW-Madison, which gave him an honorary degree in 1998. He has taken an interest in some of its programs, including research into the effects of meditation on health.

Joe Elder, a UW-Madison professor who is an expert on Asia, said Sopa’s hiring made the university a pioneer in the field of Buddhist studies and facilitated its unique relationship with the Dalai Lama.

“Here’s a person who is in huge demand all over the world and he chooses to come to Madison, Wisconsin,” Elder said. “That indicates how strong the tie is between himself and Geshe Sopa and now all the community of people who are sympathetic.”

WAGE announces individual research award winners

The UW-Madison Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE) is pleased to announce the winners of our 2008 Individual Research Award competition. WAGE will provide $10,000 to support each of three research projects that explore the consequences of and challenges posed by economic globalization and its governance. Four faculty, Allison Christians (Law), Zhongdang Pan (Communication Arts), Yongming Zhou (Anthropology), and Jason Yackee (Law) will pursue important research respectively on tax norms and global governance, Chinese intellectual property rights, and the impact of international investment law on foreign direct investment.

Please join us in congratulating these faculty!

Allison Christians, Assistant Professor of Law
“Tax Norms and Global Governance: A Study of The Emergence and Influence of Transnational Epistemic Communities.”
Although traditional conceptions view taxation as an inherently nationalistic subject, much tax policy today is the product of transnational collaboration, especially within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  This research project identifies and analyzes the OECD’s network of tax experts as a pivotal epistemic community, which, despite its nonlegal status, defines issues for national decision-makers, frames legal norms to respond to these identified issues and, ultimately, shapes the focus and content of national law.

Zhongdang Pan, Professor of Communciation Arts
Yongming Zhou, Associate Professor of Anthropology
“Counterfeiting Order: Intellectual Property Rights and Luxury Brand Piracy on a Global Stage”
This project aims to move beyond the existing knowledge of the Chinese intellectual property rights (IPR) regime and to obtain a deeper understanding of its multidimensionality by examining 1) the spatial distribution of IPR infringements, including the making, distribution, and consumption of counterfeits on a global stage; 2) the historical, cultural, and socio-economic factors behind the counterfeiting; and 3) the dynamic power relationships among multiple players (transnational, national and individual) that have played major roles in shaping the IPR today.

Jason Yackee, Assistant Professor of Law
“International Investment Law and the Foreign Investment Decision-Making Process: the View from the General Counsel’s Office”
This project examines how multinational corporations use international investment law to reduce the political risks of investing abroad.  Professor Yackee will survey a large sample of attorneys working in the general counsels’ offices of U.S.-based corporations with overseas operations.  The survey will provide one of the first examinations of how the knowledge and advice of in-house legal counsel about international investment law helps to shape the investment decision-making process.

UW-Madison’s ‘African Storyteller’ premieres on ResearchChannel

On June 18, the ResearchChannel began airing “The Storyteller with Professor Harold Scheub,” the story of Sheub’s remarkable experience with African storytellers.

Forty years ago, Scheub, a professor of African languages and literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, walked thousands of miles along the southeastern coast of Africa recording native storytellers of the Xhosa, Swati, Ndebele and Zulu peoples.

In this program, Scheub tells the story of his journey and of the storytellers through his original photography, video and audio recordings. View the program on demand.

This program is a single channel video delivered via the Web using eTEACH. eTEACH is a new technology developed at UW-Madison that allows instructors to create dynamic and engaging course presentations that sync PowerPoint with audio and/or video.

ResearchChannel was founded by a consortium of leading research and academic institutions to share their valuable work with the public. ResearchChannel is now available to more than 30 million U.S. satellite and cable television subscribers, and more than 1.6 million visitors visit its Web site each year. The channel is also available on 70 university and school-based cable systems in the United States and the world. Viewers can also access programs online via a live webstream and an extensive video-on-demand library.

UW-Madison emeritus professor helps travelers navigate global kitchens [The Capital Times]

Susan Troller —  6/12/2008 for The Capital Times

Joan Peterson is the author of the Eat Smart series of travel guides for food lovers, which helps people discover the culture of a country through its cuisine. She hopes to give travelers the knowledge — and confidence — to find authentic dining experiences, even in places where the language is unfamiliar.

“There’s only one way to truly get to the heart of a culture and that’s through the cuisine. That’s my mantra, and I live it,” Peterson said.

77 Square talked to Peterson recently about her new book, “Eat Smart in Sicily,” the Eat Smart series and her career path from biochemistry researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to culinary tour operator and author of award-winning food travel guides.

How did someone with a biochemistry background become the author of the Eat Smart travel guides?

My husband and I always really loved travel in other countries. The impetus probably began back in 1971 when we had an opportunity to tour for 4 months entertaining U.S. troops in Japan and several other Pacific Rim countries because he’s a playwright, and a UW Extension professor in theater and music.

We especially enjoyed learning about the cultures of the countries we visited through the food. We took any opportunity to visit the awesome local markets. We discovered how much people love sharing their culture when we asked about family recipes, or where food came from or how it was prepared. An interest in food transcends many language barriers.

Initially I began making lists of words and helpful phrases as guides for myself, doing the research before we took a trip so we’d have some background. There wasn’t much available.

Was there a particular moment when you decided to create a guide for other travelers?

We were in Portugal and the next trip we were planning was to Brazil, so by default that was the first travel guide. What I’d learned over a number of years was that the available information — if you wanted to really experience local food — was woefully inadequate.

Originally I was only going to include menu and food items, with food glossaries and phrases, but it grew into including background notes and research about the cuisine, and also included some recipes.

How Networks Impact the Myanmar, China Disaster Responses

The recent disasters in China and Myanmar underline the network aspects of the crisis response, says emergency management expert Donald Moynihan, associate professor at the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Organizations from all over the world are trying to work together to provide basic services. Their capacity to succeed depends a good deal on the level of cooperation they receive from the governments of China and Myanmar.

“In Myanmar, in particular, the government has obstructed the flow of information about the scope of the problem, and has prevented aid organizations from establishing a coordinated approach,” Moynihan says.

“The government has, in effect, weakened the ability of responders to learn about the nature and location of needs, and to understand how they can best combine forces with other responders,” he adds. “The lack of trust the government has shown toward aid agencies has weakened the range of skills and resources the crisis network can bring to bear to respond to the situation.”

Moynihan has just published the book “The Dynamics of Performance Management: Constructing Information and Reform.” He also has expertise on how emergency responders learn from their performance during and after crises.

Moynihan is available to speak with reporters about international crisis response and can be reached at (608) 263-6633, dmoynihan@lafollette.wisc.edu.

FROM: Karen Faster, (608) 263-7657, kfaster@lafollette.wisc.edu

UW Receives Large Grant from German Government for German and European Studies

Contact: Elizabeth Covington, Executive Director, European Studies Alliance, (608) 265-4778, eecovington@wisc.edu

The Center for German and European Studies (CGES) at University of Wisconsin–Madison has received a grant for $530,000 from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) renewing the center’s funding through 2012.

“Writing a successful grant this time was a terrific challenge because DAAD had decided to shift from a center-focused to a project-focused funding model,” says Myra Marx Ferree, CGES director. “However, our faculty rose to the challenge beautifully, and we put together a compelling package that really spoke to cutting-edge concerns and will allow us to work synergistically across disciplinary lines.”

CGES proposed four international, interdisciplinary plans to DAAD including: After the Violence: The Work of Memory in German Culture and Society (Leader: Marc Silberman); Positioning ‘Modern’ Germany in the World: Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism Colonialism, Migration, (Leader: B. Venkat Mani); Transforming European Governance (Leader: Jonathan Zeitlin); Work, Family, and Education in Europe: Challenges of Globalization and Gender (Leader: Myra Marx Ferree).

DAAD’s reviewers recognized that “social science-based proposals have great potential as break-through ventures for newly integrated knowledge about major social transformations in western societies.” What is more, they wrote, humanities projects represent a “comprehensive effort to broaden existing research in German culture, political history, and mental transformation since the 19th century.”

DAAD established the CGES in 1998 under the German Marshall Plan with matching grants from UW–Madison and the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. Devoted to the development of the next generation of scholars and the production of new knowledge relating to Germany and Europe, the center supports research, teaching, and outreach in a broad range of fields and disciplines. At the heart of the center’s activities is a unique series of research projects focusing on Germany and Europe from a trans-Atlantic perspective, involving faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars.

“CGES is a model for cutting-edge social science- and humanities-based interdisciplinary, international research and graduate education,” says Gilles Bousquet, dean of the Division of International Studies. “This highly competitive new award is a tribute to the leadership of Professor Myra Marx Feree.”

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Badger Alum Brings Awareness To World Hunger

Chenoweth Inspires UW Students

from Channel 3000 WISC-TV

MADISON, Wis. — Florence Chenoweth, who has been a Badger alum for nearly four decades, is the focus of WISC-TV’s Inspiring Women series.

After getting her Masters in agricultural economics In 1970, Chenoweth went back home to Liberia to serve as the country’s Minister of Agriculture.

Civil war in Liberia left her a refugee in Sierra Leone, but that didn’t stop Chenoweth from returning to Madison.

Her work has helped shape policies for agencies such as the World Bank and the World Food and Agriculture Organization for the United Nations.

But as global as her life has become, “I went back home in 1970 after my Masters feeling like a Badger, and I still do,” Chenoweth said.

News Three’s Andy Choi reported why Wisconsin is still on the map of this well-traveled Badger.

Chenoweth spoke with the world’s most powerful people about the world’s most important humanitarian issues, and this past semester, she brought that dialogue to the University of Wisconson-Madison.

UW-Madison Expertise on Beijing Olympics

(Media-Newswire.com) - As China prepares to welcome athletes from around the globe for the Summer Olympics in Beijing, interest in the games and the world’s most populous country is reaching new heights.

From China’s rapidly growing economy to its national identity to what effect the Olympics have on host cities, several University of Wisconsin-Madison scholars can serve as valuable sources for stories leading up to and during the Summer Games.

- Wei Dong, professor of design studies, can discuss his work with a team that studied Chinese architecture, landscape, interior design, and Feng Shui development in China, specifically aimed at sites of significant historic value, and has become a framework for guidelines developed by the Center of Chinese Architecture. CONTACT: ( 608 ) 262-8805, weidong@wisc.edu

- Edward Friedman, professor of political science. An expert in U.S. relations in East Asia, Friedman can discuss Chinese politics, democratization, human rights, international political economy, revolutions and national identity crises. CONTACT: ( 608 ) 263-2272 or ( 608 ) 263-2414, friedman@polisci.wisc.edu

- Giovanna Merli, associate professor of sociology, is a demographer who has studied evidence of unreported births in China. Her current work focuses on the behavioral and social determinants of HIV/AIDS and collecting data in Shanghai to test models for sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS in China. CONTACT: ( 608 ) 263-2211, gmerli@ssc.wisc.edu

- Kris Olds, professor of geography, is an academic advisor and collaborator on a major research project on mega-events and forced evictions. The project by the Geneva-based Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions uses the Olympic Games as an example to study the phenomena of forced evictions connected to preparations for a major international event. The report is available online at: http://www.cohre.org/mega-events. CONTACT: Olds is working in France until July, cell phone 33-6-14-57-18-57, kolds@wisc.edu; U.S. telephone is ( 608 ) 262-5685.

- Zhongdang Pan, professor of communications arts, spent five years teaching in Hong Kong and researching media and social changes in China, including a comparative study of journalists in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He continues to collaborate with scholars in China on a study of media reforms in the country and can discuss media effects on civic culture and public discourse in China, as well as the Chinese media system and journalistic practices. CONTACT: Zhongdang will be in China from May 23 to August 21; he can be reached by email: zhongdangpan@wisc.edu or by cell phone ( 608 ) 322-7505.

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Chenoweth featured on WISC-TV

We are delighted to announce that Channel 3 (WISC-TV) news will run a feature this evening on our distinguished international visitor and UW-Madison alum Florence Chenoweth.

The feature, which is part of WISC-TV’s “Inspiring Women” series, will appear during tonight’s 10 o’clock news. The clip will later be posted on the Channel 3000 Web site.

Florence Chenoweth was the United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO) representative to the UN and executive director of the FAO Liaison Office in New York. Originally from Liberia, Chenoweth earned both her master’s degree in agricultural economics (1970) and her doctorate in land resources (1986) at UW-Madison. She became Liberia’s (and Africa’s) first female minister of agriculture at the age of 32, serving from 1977 to 1979.

While at UW-Madison, Dr. Chenoweth is working with Professor Scott Straus as part of the Human Rights Initiative. This initiative coordinates diverse, interdisciplinary human rights activities on campus, fosters new research and education on human rights, enhances existing studies, and promotes dialogue with the community.

The Distinguished International Visitor program regularly brings international practitioners to UW-Madison. Past visitors have included former U.S. ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union Stuart Eizenstat, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Jessica Tuchman Mathews. Dr. Chenoweth’s visit to UW-Madison is supported by the Chancellor’s Office, the Division of International Studies, the School of Medicine and Public Health, and the College of Agriculture and Life Science.

Human Rights International Book Series features Leigh Payne

The International Institute’s International Faculty Book Series
(formerly the World Beyond Our Borders Book Series)

on Human Rights around the World

presents

Leigh Payne (UW–Madison, Political Science)

discussing her new book

Unsettling Accounts: The Politics and Performance of Confessions by Perpetrators of Authoritarian State Violence (Duke University Press, 2007)

Tuesday, May 6 at 7pm
University Bookstore in the Hilldale Mall (702 N. Midvale Boulevard)

Payne draws on interviews, unedited television film, newspaper archives, and books written by perpetrators to analyze confessions of state violence in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and South Africa. Each of these four countries addressed its past through a different institutional form, from blanket amnesty, to conditional amnesty based on confessions, to judicial trials. Payne considers perpetrators’ confessions as performance, examining what perpetrators say and what they communicate non-verbally; the timing, setting, and reception of their confessions; and the different ways that the perpetrators portray their pasts, whether in terms of remorse, heroism, denial, or sadism, or through lies or betrayal.

International Faculty Book Series Features Human Rights Around the World

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Wendy Christensen, Communications, Division of International Studies, UW–Madison, communication@international.wisc.edu, 608 262-5590

UW­–Madison’s International Institute Faculty Book Series Features Human Rights Around the World

Celebrating the contributions that UW–Madison faculty bring to the study of human rights, this semester’s book series offers diverse perspectives and voices to shed light on these complex issues.

This popular and long-running book series, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Division of International Studies, the International Institute, and the University Bookstore, brings together avid readers and UW–Madison faculty for public, lively discussions about topics from around the world.

All the talks take place at 7pm at the University Bookstore in the Hilldale Mall (702 N. Midvale Boulevard).

They are free and open to the public.­

Tuesday, April 8
Robert Skloot (UW–Madison, Theatre and Drama, Jewish Studies)
Theatre of Genocide: Four Plays about Mass Murder in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia and Armenia (University of Wisconsin Press, 2008)

In this pioneering volume, Robert Skloot brings together four plays—three of which are published here for the first time—that fearlessly explore the face of modern genocide. The scripts deal with the destruction of four targeted populations: Armenians, Cambodians, Bosnian Muslims, and Rwandan Tutsis. Taken together, these four plays erase the boundaries of theatrical realism to present stories that probe the actions of the perpetrators and the suffering of their victims. A major artistic contribution to the study of the history and effects of genocide, this collection continues the important journey toward understanding the terror and trauma to which the modern world has so often been witness.

Three UW Faculty Receive Palmes Académiques for Work on International Environmental Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3/21/08

Contact: Masarah Van Eyck, mvaneyck2@international.wisc.edu, 608-262-5590.

Three University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty will be named Chevaliers de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques in a private ceremony with the French Consul General, Jean-Baptiste de Boissière, in Madison on March 27.

Dating from 1808 under Napoleonic rule, the L’Ordre des Palmes Académiques was established to distinguish university dignitaries and recognize service in the field of education. Today it is conferred on scholars, scientists, and those in literary and artistic fields.

The three will receive the Palmes Académiques for their efforts in building and running the intercultural program Environmental Policy, Land Use and Conservation Biology in Franco-American Perspective with the support of the New York-based French American Cultural Exchange (FACE) Foundation and the Cultural and Scientific Services of the French Embassy.

The Consul General will recognize their contribution in building strong research and education ties between the UW and the French school, l’École National Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier. In just three years, 13 U.S. and 12 French graduate students have participated in the program, developing their scientific and linguistic knowledge and cultural insight. The program has included faculty exchanges as well.

Consul General de Boissière will deliver a public talk, “The New Context of the French-American Relation,” at noon on March 27 in 206 Ingraham Hall. Introducing de Boissière will be Gilles Bousquet, dean of the Division of International Studies and himself a recipient of the Palms Académiques.

Award recipients are:

International Faculty Book Series features V. Narayana Rao

The International Institute’s International Faculty Book Series
(formerly the World Beyond Our Borders Book Series)
on Human Rights around the World

presents

V. Narayana Rao (Languages and Cultures of Asia)

discussing his new book

Girls for Sale: Kanyasulkam, A Play from Colonial India

Tuesday, March 11 at 7pm
University Bookstore in the Hilldale Mall (702 N. Midvale Boulevard)

First staged in 1892, the South Indian play Girls for Sale (Kanyasulkam) is considered the greatest modern work of Telugu literature and the first major drama written in an Indian language that critiqued British colonialism’s effects on Indian society. Filled with humor, biting social commentary, parody, and masquerade, the plot revolves around a clever courtesan, a young widow, and a very old man who wants to buy as his wife a very young girl. V. Narayana Rao has prepared the first idiomatic English translation, with notes and a critical essay. Itself a masterpiece of Indian literature in translation, this edition makes Apparao’s work available to new audiences.

Questions? Please call Masarah Van Eyck, Director of Communications, Division of International Studies: 608 262-5590

More information is available on the entire series here.

Date Change: International Institute Faculty Book Series, February 26

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT IS RESCHEDULED FROM FEBRUARY 12 TO FEBRUARY 26

The International Institute’s International Faculty Book Series
(formerly the World Beyond Our Borders Book Series)
on Human Rights around the World

presents

Gay Seidman (Sociology)

discussing her new book

Beyond the Boycott: Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Transnational Activism

Tuesday, February 26 at 7pm
University Bookstore in the Hilldale Mall (702 N. Midvale Boulevard)

Beyond the Boycott examines three campaigns (in South Africa, India, and Guatemala) in which activists successfully used the threat of a consumer boycott to pressure companies to accept voluntary codes of conduct and independent monitoring of work sites. As trade and capital move across borders in growing volume and with greater speed, civil society and human rights movements are also becoming more global. Highly original and thought-provoking, Beyond the Boycott vividly depicts the contemporary movement to humanize globalization—its present and its possible future.

Questions? Please call Masarah Van Eyck, Director of Communications, Division of International Studies: 608 262-5590

More information is available on the entire series at http://www.news.wisc.edu/14694

Center for Global Health featured in Academic Medicine

Academic Medicine. 83(2):148-153, February 2008.

Creating a Center for Global Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Global Health Initiatives

Haq, Cynthia MD; Baumann, Linda PhD, RN; Olsen, Christopher W. DVM, PhD; Brown, Lori DiPrete MSPH; Kraus, Connie PharmD, BCPS; Bousquet, Gilles PhD; Conway, James MD, FAAP; Easterday, B C. DVM, PhD

Abstract:
Globalization, migration, and widespread health disparities call for interdisciplinary approaches to improve health care at home and abroad. Health professions students are pursuing study abroad in increasing numbers, and universities are responding with programs to address these needs. The University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison schools of medicine and public health, nursing, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, and the division of international studies have created an interdisciplinary center for global health (CGH). The CGH provides health professions and graduate students with courses, field experiences, and a new Certificate in Global Health. Educational programs have catalyzed a network of enthusiastic UW global health scholars. Partnerships with colleagues in less economically developed countries provide the foundation for education, research, and service programs. Participants have collaborated to improve the education of health professionals and nutrition in Uganda; explore the interplay between culture, community development, and health in Ecuador; improve animal health and address domestic violence in Mexico; and examine successful public health efforts in Thailand. These programs supply students with opportunities to understand the complex determinants of health and structure of health systems, develop adaptability and cross-cultural communication skills, experience learning and working in interdisciplinary teams, and promote equity and reduce health disparities at home and abroad. Based on the principles of equity, sustainability, and reciprocity, the CGH provides a strong foundation to address global health challenges through networking and collaboration among students, staff, and faculty within the UW and beyond.

Click here to download full article. Subscription required.

Integrating International Faculty [Inside Higher Ed]

By Elizabeth Redden, Insider Higher Ed, January 24, 2008

For all the talk about getting visas for foreign scholars to teach at American campuses, there’s relatively little attention to how they fit in once they arrive.

“People on campus generally aren’t talking about international faculty,” said Rebecca Theobald, of the University of Colorado at Boulder’s geography department. She recently completed her dissertation on “Foreign-Born Early-Career Faculty in American Higher Education.”

“Many of the deans and chairs I interviewed said, ‘Why are you doing this?’”

Researchers presented their inquiries into the integration of international faculty on North American campuses this week in Monterey, Calif. during ConnectEd: A Conference on Global Education hosted by Middlebury College and the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Theobald, who surveyed 103 foreign-born faculty teaching in the U.S. in addition to interviewing 30 chairs and 10 deans, presented her findings relative to what administrators are thinking. In addition, two Canadian researchers showcased the new online module they’re developing to address some of the key barriers to success for international faculty there. “The wish would be that the same way we have guidelines to develop good courses, that we also have guidelines to develop a culturally inclusive environment,” said Aline Germain-Rutherford, director of the Middlebury College French School and associate professor at the University of Ottawa — and the principal investigator for the SuccessinAcademia.ca project.

Henry Kissinger & the Seeds of the Contemporary Middle East Crisis

The Madison Committee on Foreign Relations invites you to our regular January 23 event, co-sponsored with WAGE, the UW-Madison Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy, for a discussion with: Jeremy Suri, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison”Henry Kissinger and the Seeds of the Contemporary Middle East Crisis.”

Professor Suri likes to think of himself as bridging the worlds of social history and political history, exploring the interaction of ideas, personalities and institutions. In his latest book, published in 2007, Henry Kissinger and the American Century he shows that the current situation in the Middle East has deep roots in the diplomacy of Kissinger and his disciples. He argues that our understanding of the Middle East must be informed by an examination of these roots and the fact that Kissinger and his policies continue to operate in this area.

Professor Elder on Bhutto’s Assassination [ABCNews.com]

By Emily Friedman, ABCNews.com Dec. 27. 2007

The assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is likely to call into question the future of democracy in Pakistan as well as the country’s role in fighting terrorism in the region, several international policy experts told ABC News.

Bhutto was shot Thursday in the neck and the chest by a suicide bomber who later blew himself up, killing at least another 20 people, as she left a rally for her Pakistan People’s Party. She had just finished addressing thousands in advance of the country’s Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.

Current Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has yet to decide whether the elections will be postponed.

“The fact that the election could be delayed and a major candidate has been killed makes it very difficult to go ahead with establishing the impression that Pakistan has at last returned to a democratic process,” said Joe Elder, professor of sociology and a specialist on Pakistan at the University of Wisconsin. “This is a very serious blow to the democratic process in Pakistan.”

Call for Proposals

Call for Research Circles, Seminar Series, Strategic Speakers, and Development Funds

For complete information on these opportunities, click here.

The International Institute, with generous support from the Division of International Studies and Global Studies, announces a competition for new initiatives in International Studies.

I. Research Circles

The International Institute Research Circles join together groups of faculty, graduate students, and staff to advance research on particular intellectual themes of international relevance. Research Circles will be funded for three years, with starting dates staggered. Up to two proposals will be selected for the first year. The maximum total grant per proposal will be $64,000 with an approximate division of up to $16,000 in the first year, up to $32,000 in the second year and up to $16,000 in the third year.

II. Seminar Series, Strategic Speakers, and Development Funds

Family, memories at core of anthropologist’s new book

by Jenny Price, UW-Madison Communications

Kirin Narayan first decided to write a book about her family when she was 10 years old, a decision she made while growing up in Bombay, the child of an American mother and an Indian father.

It was 1970, the year after her 16-year-old brother announced he was quitting school and leaving home to go live with a guru. The family’s beachfront home had already become a well-known haven for hippies and visitors from the West looking for enlightenment, part of the wave of seekers obsessed with yoga, meditation and finding gurus that swept over India at that time.

Her parents represented conflicting ideologies, but not in the way readers would expect. Narayan’s mother, “Maw,” fully adopted Indian dress, customs and attitudes, while her father, “Paw,” was skeptical of anything to do with mysticism or religion.