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Secretary of State Clinton Launches U.S.-Pakistan Women's Council
ALUMNI NEWS
Ronald Hawkins,
public affairs officer
for the U.S.
Department of State,
thought he was going
to a Sudanese elementary school to
talk about the late astronaut Neil
Armstrong. But the visit turned out to be
much more than a discussion of recent
American history. Read more.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
From left: Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer, local advocate Shaista Mahmood, Foreign Minister of
Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Pakistani Ambassador Sherry Rehman, Dean James Goldgeier and
President of the Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America - D.C. Imran Malik at the opening ceremony for the
U.S.-Pakistan Women's Council on Sept. 24.
American University and the U.S. Department of State are co-founding a U.S.-Pakistan Women's Council,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Sept. 24.
The Council will be housed at AU and co-chaired by AU President Cornelius Kerwin and Ambassadorat-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer. Read more.
Job Duties:
Teaching, serving as
the SIS faculty
president for 2012 2013 and chair of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Studies Center. I also run a
global network called TRANSCEND
(Transnational Challenges and
Emerging Nations Dialogue).Read
more.
GETTING INK
MORE HEADLINES - 10/09/2012
HonestTea Founder Speaks to Students
SIS Offers World's First Online Disability Policy Degree
U.S. News and World Report Raises AU Ranking
"To Thine Own Self Be True"
Professor Judith Shapiro Debuts China's Environmental Challenges
Deaf Student Breaks Barriers
Council on Foreign Relations Offers Nuclear Security Fellowships
HonestTea Founder Speaks to Students
Tara Sun Vanacore, SIS/MA '13, a
student in the Ethics, Peace and Global
Affairs program: Author, "Tainted: Why
Gay Men Still Can't Donate Blood" (with
Abigail Barnes), The Atlantic, Oct. 1.
Read more.
INTELLECTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Professor Tazreena
Sajjad published two
book chapters: "Rape
on Trial: The
Promises of
International Jurisprudence, Perils of
Retributive Justice and the Realities of
Impunity" in Rape: Weapon of War and
Genocide, edited by Carol Rittner and
John K. Roth (Paragon House, 2012),
and "Women and Peace Processes"
with SIS Professor Julie Mertus and
Malathi de Alwis in Women and Wars,
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edited by Carol Cohn (Polity Books,
2012). Read more.
EVENTS
Social Enterprise students invited President and TeaEO of Honest Tea Seth Goldman to address students,
faculty and staff at a reception last week. Goldman worked with Social Enterprise students who helped him
respond to a request from Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to identify ways to make the state a fertile
ground for new entrepreneurs. His talk focused on the evolution of his business, and how it mirrored today's
growing corporate emphasis on three factors - health and wellness, social responsibility and environmental
consciousness. Founded in 1998 in Goldman's kitchen, Honest Tea's annual sales grew from about
$250,000 that first year to over $70 million in recent years. The venture began as a partnership between
Goldman and his former Yale School of Management professor, Barry Nalebuff. Their first account was with
retailer Whole Foods; ten years later the Coca-Cola Company bought a 40 percent share of Honest Tea and
in 2011 purchased the company as an independent operating unit - something Goldman said he never would
have imagined 15 years ago.
SIS will host an
election night open
house Tuesday,
Nov. 6 at 7:30.
Read more.
CONNECT WITH SIS
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SIS Offers World's First Online Disability Policy Degree
The second Comparative and International Disability Policy degree cohort visited the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for the
Asia-Pacific in Bangkok in August.
In April 2011, SIS launched the Comparative and International Disability Policy (CIDP) degree program, the
world's first virtual master's degree in disability and public policy and one of American University's first
completely virtual degrees. While admission to the program is open to anyone with or without disabilities, the
majority of the 15 current students are blind, deaf or mobility-impaired.
"We're giving people access to higher education that in their home countries they may not have access to.
It's inclusive education," said Maya Aguilar, communications coordinator for the SIS-based Institute on
Disability and Public Policy (IDPP), which facilitates the CIDP degree. Read more.
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U.S. News and World Report Raises AU Ranking
In its "College Rankings 2013" segment in September, U.S. News and World Report ranked American
University 77 among 218 national universities, up from 82 in 2012.
Foreign Policy magazine ranked SIS's international relations master's program 8th in the world, and the
undergraduate international relations program 10th on the list of schools. Foreign Policy also named
American University 13th in its "Pipeline to the Beltway" ranking.
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"To Thine Own Self Be True"
Why would a defense budget expert venture from
Washington's political theater to appear on its theatrical
arts stage? For SIS professor Gordon Adams, who
served as the senior White House budget official for
national security in the Clinton administration, it's an
outlet for creative, right-brain work. "It brings balance to
my life," he said.
Adams straddled both theater worlds for several weeks
this summer, watching the Budget Control Act drama
unfold on Capitol Hill and also taking to the theatrical
Gordon Adams as Polonius and Chris Genebach as
stage - literally - as an actor in We Happy Few's
Hamlet. Photo courtesy: Laura Rehbehn
production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. He played
Polonius, Bernardo, Player King and Priest during the Capital Fringe Festival. Read more.
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Professor Judith Shapiro Debuts China's Environmental Challenges
Professor Judith Shapiro of the Global Environmental Politics and Natural
Resources and Sustainable Development programs unveiled her newest book,
China's Environmental Challenges (Polity Books 2012) on Oct. 2 at SIS.
As an environmentalist and China specialist, Shapiro focused her book on the
implications of globalization, the challenges of governance, contested national
identity, the evolution of civil society and problems of environmental justice and
equity. Read more.
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Deaf Student Breaks Barriers
By Mary Dempsey
Serge Okogo has a very specific-and personal-reason
for pursuing a master's degree in the Ethics, Peace and
Global Affairs program at the School for International
Service. He believes it will help him further the rights of
disabled people in developing countries.
It's an area in which he is knowledgeable. Okogo himself
is deaf. Read more.
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Serge Okogo signs "AU" in the SIS Atrium.
Council on Foreign Relations Offers Nuclear Security Fellowships
The Council on Foreign Relations is offering a 2013 - 2014 International Affairs Fellowship in Nuclear
Security (IAF-NS) course, sponsored by the Stanton Foundation, which is open to tenured or tenure-track
faculty at accredited universities who propose policy-relevant research on nuclear security issues.
The IAF-NS places its fellows in U.S. government positions or international organizations for a period of
twelve months to work with practitioners. Fellows are awarded a stipend of $125,000.
Interested candidates must submit a cover letter, CV and a proposal of up to 1,000 words. Each applicant
should arrange to have two letters of recommendation sent assessing the policy relevance of the applicant's
proposed project as well as the applicant's qualifications for carrying it out. All application materials must be
submitted to fellowships@cfr.org by Nov. 1, 2012. For more information, visit the Council on Foreign
Relations website.
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ALUMNI NEWS
Alumnus Welcomed In Sudan
Ronald Hawkins, public affairs officer for the U.S. Department of State, thought he was going to a Sudanese
elementary school to talk about the late astronaut Neil Armstrong. But the visit turned out to be much more
than a discussion of recent American history.
"I spoke about what this man meant to Americans and how he exemplified pushing boundaries and accepting
no limits," Hawkins said. "I was touched to see how many Sudanese students were so welcoming, and how
many wanted to talk about Mr. Armstrong. They read a passage from the Koran and we had a moment of
silence. In many ways, this became a simple memorial service, and I wish the Armstrong family could know
how he had touched so many lives so far away from the United States." Read more.
SIS Welcomes Associate Director of Alumni Relations
Stephanie Block joined SIS as the new Associate
Director of Alumni Relations. She came to us from the
University of Maryland, where she was also in alumni
affairs. She also worked at Georgetown University's
School of Continuing Studies as manager of
communications. Please join us in welcoming Stephanie
to the SIS community.
Class Notes
We welcome all submissions of class notes to SISComm@american.edu. Please include your year of
graduation and degree.
Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, SIS/MA '05, was profiled by NASA for the online "Ask
the Academy" segment on Sept. 27. Lukaszczyk serves as the director of the
Brussels office of the Secure World Foundation, which promotes cooperative
solutions for space sustainability.
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Pickering Scholar Garrett Harkins, SIS/KSB/BA/BS '11, passed his
Foreign Service Oral Assessment for the U.S. Department of State.
Recipients of the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship receive
up to $40,000 annually to defray costs of their senior year of college and
first year of graduate school. Harkins will graduate from Harvard
University's Kennedy School of Government in 2013.
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Getting to Know You: Amitav Acharya
Job Title: Professor, U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance.
Job Duties: Teaching, serving as the SIS faculty president for 2012 –
2013 and chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Studies Center. I also run a global network called TRANSCEND
(Transnational Challenges and Emerging Nations Dialogue).
How long have you worked at SIS: Four years.
What would your colleagues be surprised to learn about you: I am
writing a novel set in 361 B.C. about a war (called the Kalinga War) that was fought in India between the
people of Kalinga and the Maurya Emperor Ashoka, which transformed the emperor from a warmonger to the
greatest champion of Buddhism and peace in the known world.
What's the best part of working at SIS: My colleagues and the new SIS building.
What was your first job: In 1982, I worked as a field researcher to a remote coal and iron ore mining belt in
eastern India to survey and study the impact of mining on the quality of life of the miners.
Where did you grow up: In a village called Kaduapada (muddy village), in the state of Orissa (now Odisha),
India.
Family & where do you live: I live with my wife, who is Chinese, named Ying Dai, and my son, Arun Aparajit
Acharya (age 6). We live in Bethesda, Md.
Hobbies: Travel, camping, tennis and swimming.
What do you enjoy doing on the weekend: Laze around with my family, if I'm not traveling.
What are you reading these days: The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (it's free on Kindle).
Favorite Book or Movie: "Sholay" ("Flames"), a 1975 Bollywood classic about two outlaws fighting a major
gangster who terrorizes rural folks and robs speeding trains in the Chambal Valley of central India. It stars
Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmendra, Amjad Khan and Jaya Bhaduri. I am a great fan of James
Bond films.
Favorite D.C. hangout: My home (it's inside the Beltway).
Favorite Food: Thai.
What was your last vacation: Last summer - Goa, India with family. Next, Florida.
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Getting Ink
Tara Sun Vanacore, SIS/MA '13, a student in the Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs program: Author,
"Tainted: Why Gay Men Still Can't Donate Blood" (with Abigail Barnes), The Atlantic, Oct. 1.
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Ambassador Akbar Ahmed: Author, "The Plight of the Rif: Morocco's Restive Northern Periphery" (with Ibn
Khaldun Chair Research Fellow Harrison Akins), Al-Jazeera, Sept. 28.
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Patrick Thaddeus Jackson and Professor Sarah
Cleeland Knight: Authors, "A 3-Year B.A. Program Sees High Demand," The Chronicle of Higher
Education, Sept. 28.
Professor Asiya Daud: Interviewed in "News Analysis: Experts Say Blasphemy Laws are Undercurrent of
Unrest in Middle East," The Deseret News, Sept. 27.
Professor Robert Pastor: Interviewed in "Fraud Concerns Swirl Around Florida's Unregulated Absentee
Ballot Brokers Ahead of Election," FoxNews.com, Sept. 26.
Professor Gordon Adams: Author, "Budgeteers to the Rescue," Foreign Policy, Sept. 26.
Professor Matthew Taylor: Interviewed in "Cientista PolÃtico Diz Que Julgamento Pode Criar 'cÃrculo
virtuoso,' " Folha de S. Paulo, Sept. 25.
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed: Interviewed in "Is Islam's Prophet Muhammad to Have More Screen Time?,"
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 25.
Professor David Bosco: Interviewed in "Obama Skips Potentially Awkward U.N. Meetings," The
Washington Examiner, Sept. 24.
Professor David Bosco: Interviewed in "Gillard Bids for Australian Seat on U.N. Security Council," the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sept. 24.
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed: Interviewed in "Dangerous and Deepening Divide Between Islamic World,
West," Reuters, Sept. 23.
Professor Derrick L. Cogburn: Interviewed on Thailand's 3 Dimension News regarding the Comparative
and International Disability Policy degree program, Aug. 23.
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Intellectual Contributions
Professor Tazreena Sajjad published two book chapters: "Rape on Trial:
The Promises of International Jurisprudence, Perils of Retributive Justice
and the Realities of Impunity" in Rape: Weapon of War and Genocide,
edited by Carol Rittner and John K. Roth (Paragon House, 2012), and
"Women and Peace Processes" with SIS Professor Julie Mertus and
Malathi de Alwis in Women and Wars, edited by Carol Cohn (Polity Books,
2012).
Professor Craig Hayden was named one of three research fellows for 2012 – 2014 by the University of
Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School. Hayden's research project,
"Communication Power and 21st Century Statecraft," will examine contemporary efforts of digital
engagement conducted by the United States Department of State through two primary case studies: the
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e-diplomacy of the Tech Camp Initiative and the coordinated new media consultancy efforts of the Office of
International Information Programs. The project will provide a research-based contribution to the growing
public attention to e-diplomacy, strategic engagement and power.
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Events
AU's School of International Service invites you to
Election Night 2012 on Thursday, November 6, from
7:30 until the election is decided. View the returns. Food
and drink throughout the evening. Expert commentary by
SIS faculty. Games, prizes and surprises. The event is
free and open to the public. RSVP here by October 26,
2012. SIS is located at the intersection of Nebraska and
New Mexico Avenues NW in Washington, DC. Parking is
free in the SIS building after 5:00 p.m.
Former CIA agent William D. Murray will give talk on "The Role of Intelligence in Crafting U.S. Foreign
Policy" on Tuesday, Oct. 9, from 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. in SIS room 300. The event is free and open to the
public.
As part of the SIS Colloquium Series, Joshua Mitchell, professor of political theory at Georgetown
University, will present "Tocqueville in Arabia" on Wednesday, Oct. 10, from 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. in SIS 300.
Lunch will be provided; please RSVP to the luncheon at this link. This event is for faculty and doctoral
students.
Professor Carl LeVan will host a roundtable discussion on African diaspora democracy at the Institute for
Policy Studies (1112 16th Street, NW) on Thursday, Oct. 11, from 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. SIS alumni Kizito
Byenkya, SIS/MA '10, an Associate Fellow at the Open Society Institute and Jumoke Balogun, SIS/MA '11, a
Nigerian-American blogger and public relations expert with the Service Employees International Union, will
participate. This event is free and open to the public.
Monday, Oct. 15
Geetha Rao Gupta, deputy executive director for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), will deliver
the keynote address at the 10th Annual Irene Tinker Lecture on Women and Development from 5:30 p.m. - 7
p.m. in the Mary Graydon Center, room 200. The event is free and open to the public.
Senior Gender Advisor in the U.S. Agency for International Development's Bureau of Policy, Planning and
Learning Caren Grown will deliver the 10th Annual Irene Tinker Lecture on Women and Development,
"Transformation is Possible: Moving Feminist Economics into Institutions and Policies," from 5:30 p.m. - 7
p.m. in the Mary Graydon Center, room 200. The event is free and open to the public.
Mai'a K. Davis Cross, assistant professor of International Relations and Public Diplomacy at the University
of Southern California, will speak on "Public Diplomacy & Smart Power: The Case of Europe" from 3 p.m. - 4
p.m. in SIS room 300. The event is free and open to the public.
Chaiwat Satha Anand, professor of political science at Thammasat University, Thailand, will speak on Islam
and nonviolence from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. in AU's Butler Boardroom. Light refreshments will be provided, and the
event is free and open to the public.
Wednesday, Oct. 17
The Comparative and Regional Studies program is hosting the panel discussion "America and Global
Capitalism" in the Mary Graydon Center, room 4, from 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin will
discuss their book, The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire. SIS
Professors Randolph Persaud, James Mittelman, Stephen Silvia and Carl LeVan will also participate.
The event is free and open to the public.
Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara D. Sonenshine will speak in the Abramson
Family Founders Room from 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
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Cuban Missile Crisis Events
Tuesday, Oct. 16: The Armageddon Letters: Kennedy, Khrushchev,
Castro in the Cuban Missile Crisis with James G. Blight and Janet M.
Lang. Abramson Family Founders Room, 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Pizza will be
served.
The Armageddon Letters is the culmination of more than 25 years of
research and writing about the Cuban Missile Crisis. In a half-dozen books
and in dozens of articles, Blight and Lang have told and re-told the story of
humanity's closest brush with nuclear catastrophe. This time, however,
rather than telling the story yet again, they intend to show it. Readers will
feel the tension and danger of late October 1962 as they become flies on
the wall in Washington, Moscow and Havana. The Armageddon Letters is
a time machine for a journey back to the most dangerous moment in
human history.
James G. Blight is the Centre for International Governance Innovation
chair in foreign policy development at the Balsillie School of International
Affairs at the University of Waterloo, and a professor in the Department of History, University of Waterloo,
Canada. Janet M. Lang is a research professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and the
Department of History, University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Blight and Lang are the authors of the book The Armageddon Letters, which now serves as inspiration for
their current transmedia project by the same title. View the website at http://www.armageddonletters.com/
Moderator: Dean James Goldgeier, School of International Service, American University and author of
Leadership Style and Soviet Foreign Policy: Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev. (The Johns
Hopkins University, 1994).
Thursday, Oct. 18: Blind Over Cuba: The Photo Gap and the Missile Crisis (Foreign Relations and the
Presidency): Book talk with authors Max Holland and David Barrett. Abramson Family Founders Room, 1
p.m. - 2 p.m.
In the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis, questions persisted about how the potential cataclysm had
been allowed to develop. A subsequent congressional investigation focused on what came to be known as
the "photo gap:" five weeks during which intelligence-gathering flights over Cuba had been attenuated.
In Blind over Cuba, Barrett and Holland challenge the popular perception of the Kennedy administration's
handling of the Soviet Union's surreptitious deployment of missiles in the Western Hemisphere. Rather than
epitomizing it as a masterpiece of crisis management by policy makers and the administration, Barrett and
Holland make the case that the affair was, in fact, a close call stemming directly from decisions made in a
climate of deep distrust between key administration officials and the intelligence community.
Holland is a prize-winning author and editor of Washington Decoded, an online publication. Barrett is a
professor of political science at Villanova University and a specialist on the history of the CIA, especially in
the 1960s.
Moderator: SIS Professor Michael Dobbs, author of One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Krushchev, and
Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War (Vintage, 2009).
Monday, Oct. 22: The Soviet Cuban Missile Crisis: Discussion with SIS Professor Svetlana Savranskaya.
Mary Graydon Center 203/205, 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m.
It wasn't just 13 days and it wasn't only October 1962: Some of the most dangerous moments of the Cuban
Missile Crisis came in November 1962. With U.S. strategic forces still poised at DefCon-2, Deputy Soviet
Premier Anastas Mikoyan traveled to Cuba to force Cuban leaders to return bombers and cruise missiles so
that the crisis could end peacefully on Nov. 20.
Savranskaya is a senior scholar at the National Security Archive and a professor in the School of
International Service. She is the editor of the just published book by Sergo Mikoyan, The Soviet Cuban
Missile Crisis: Castro, Mikoyan, Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Missiles of November. (Stanford University
Press, 2012).
Moderator: Philip Brenner, Professor and co-author of Sad and Luminous Days: Cuba's Struggle with the
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Superpower after the Missile Crisis (with James G. Blight, Rowman and Littlefield, 2007).
Wednesday, Oct. 24: Fifty Years of Revolution: Perspectives on Cuba, the United States, and the World.
Book Talk with Philip Brenner, Robert Pastor and Ronald Pruessen. SIS 300, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Refreshments will be served.
In the years since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, 11 men have served as president of the United States,
arguably the most powerful nation on earth. Yet none of them has been able to effect any significant change
in the stalemate between the United States and Cuba.
Fifty Years of Revolution features contributions from an international Who's Who gallery of leading scholars.
The volume adopts a uniquely nonpartisan attitude, a departure from this topic's generally divisive nature.
Emerging from a series of meetings, conference panels and lectures, the book is more coherent than the
typical essay collection. Organized to analyze - not describe - Cuba's foreign relations, the work examines
sanctions, the embargo, regime change, Guantánamo, the exile community and more.
Drawing from personal experiences as well as recently declassified documents, these essays update,
summarize and explain one of the prickliest political issues in the Western Hemisphere today.
Pruessen is a professor of history at the University of Toronto and co-editor of Fifty Years of Revolution:
Perspectives on Cuba, the United States, and the World (with Soraya M. Castro Mariño, University Press
of Florida, 2012).
Brenner and Pastor each contributed a chapter to Fifty Years of Revolution; Brenner co-authored his
chapter with Mariño, the book's editor.
All Cuban Missile Crisis events are free and open to the public.
American University offers free parking in the SIS garage after 5 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends. The
SIS building is located at the intersection of Nebraska and New Mexico Avenues, NW.
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Located in Washington, DC, American University's School of International Service is ranked consistently among the top ten schools of international relations. More than 3,000
students, from undergraduates to PhD candidates, representing 150 countries, are taught by over 100 full-time faculty. SIS's policy-practitioner relationships and global university
partnerships help to place 80 percent of its students in internships, and enable 40 percent of graduate students, and 80 percent of undergraduates, to study abroad. The School's
faculty, practicing adjuncts and interdisciplinary curriculum prepare graduates for global service in government, non-profits and business.
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