GSIPM

Professor Akaha presented a paper, “Russia and East Asia: Informal and Gradual Integration,” at the Eighth International Conference of Asia Scholars in Macau, June 24-27.

ICAS was founded in 1997, and has attracted more than 1,500 academics from over 50 countries for this year’s conference. Participants were able to check out new publications during the book fair as part of the conference. For more information and upcoming calls for papers, you can follow ICAS on Facebook.

In the July 16, 2013 online edition of the Asahi Shimbun, Prof. Akaha discusses the changing discourse on Japan. Politically, culturally and economically, Japan has raised concerns or admiration in the past. In his article, Prof. Akaha focuses on human rights as much as Japan’s relations with its neighbors. To read the article, click here.

Dean Yuwei Shi will join a panel on the “Future of Social Innovation” on June 5, 2013 in San Francisco. He will be joined by two other experts on social enterprise and philantrophy at the 80th anniversary of World Learning.

World Learning is a nonprofit organization which focuses on human development through education. Created to support projects that address social needs and develop new spaces for civil society, World Learning awards fellowships to innovative thinkers and leaders.

The following article is the most recent publication by Professor Harvey Arbeláez:

Macroeconomic antecedents to U.S. investment in Latin America, Journal of Business Research

To read the article click here!

I am pleased to announce that the recipient of this year’s Leslie Eliason Excellence in Teaching Award is Professor Peter Shaw.  Professor Shaw has a record of excellence in teaching and an ongoing, inspiring commitment to providing our students the highest quality education possible.  He has worked with countless students to ensure their success in both their academic and career objectives, and dedicated himself to building a strong community of excellence at MIIS.

As a professor dedicated to his students and to delivering quality education, Professor Shaw reflect much of what Professor Eliason also dedicated her teaching efforts towards.  Leslie Eliason was a strong woman, dynamic and passionate about her chosen profession of teaching.  She pursued her responsibilities as a teacher and mentor with great warmth and care for her students and colleagues, reflecting her intelligence, integrity, good humor, and commitment to quality in all of her endeavors.

Similarly, Professor Shaw has had impressive intensity and thoroughness in his role as teacher, colleague, mentor and advisor.  As was true for Professor Eliason, Professor Shaw is interested in building the capacities of his students, in helping them and the Institute reach their greatest potential, and in working collaboratively with his colleagues across programs and graduate schools to achieve their goals.  There is no question that Professor Shaw has demonstrated consistently the qualities Professor Eliason valued the most — hard work, intense and at times passionate commitment to students and sound academic programming, and good collegial interactions and collaborations.

Congratulations to Professor Shaw who will also be the December Commencement speaker.  We will celebrate his selection in early September once our new academic year has gotten started. More details will follow about the award ceremony.

The Oxford Handbook of Latin American Political Economy, edited by GSIPM Professor Jeff Dayton-Johnson and Javier Santiso (director of the ESADE Centre for Global Economy and Geopolitics in Madrid) has just been published by Oxford University Press. The book brings together and extends recent work that looks at new trends — democratic consolidation, macroeconomic stability, Asian trading partners — that earlier political-economy authors have not. Political economy — “the politics of economics, and the economics of politics” — is all about “trespassing” between economics and political science. This book draws upon a new type of trespassing — the academic expert who has also been a top policy maker. Many of this new breed of trespasser — including former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, as well as present and former policy makers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru — contribute to the volume, reflecting on the rough and tumble world of policy reform. They are joined by top researchers from research institutions across Latin America, the US, Asia and Europe. The new book can be found in the Faculty Authors section of the MIIS William Tell Coleman Library.

Jan Black, MIIS professor and human rights activist has received official support to participate in The Global Summit in the Summer of 2012. The location will be in London, England.

Professor Black will be participating as an Honorary Chair and Special Advisor on Human Rights. 

The Global Summit is a social, economic and environmental forum uniting the solutions that benefit the greatest number of beings with those who have the power to help bring them into being.

It was co-founded in 2008 and further developed in 2010 in San Francisco, USA by hundreds of social innovators, sustainable business leaders and visionary organizations. Together they laid the bedrock for a new system of collaboration with the potential to change history.

In preparing for its third biennial meeting, The Global Summit has embraced humanity’s greatest living example of a peaceful convergence and is now set to coincide with the Summer and Winter Olympic Games through 2020.

The Global Summit 2012 will be held August 15 – 17 in Olympic East London, England at the London Pleasure Gardens.

More than an event, The Global Summit advances a whole system approach to sustainable social, economic and environmental change.

Uniting people hands-on, and online in shaping solutions to the issues that most affect them, The Global Summit is a catalyst for community-led action throughout the year.

Through The Global Summit, each participant meets their specific, individual goals within the broader context of creating a more sustainable future for Humanity.

MIIS professor, Glynn Wood is traveling to Washington D.C. in order to serve on the National Nominating Panel for the Boren Scholarship Program for undergraduates.

The Borne website states:

The panels consist of faculty members and administrators representing diverse fields of study from colleges and universities from across the United States. The regional panels will make initial recommendations, and the national nominating panel will designate scholarship finalists to the National Security Education Program Office.

The Boren Newsletter further states:

The Institute of International Education (IIE) is pleased to announce the tremendous response to the recent competition for the National Security Education Program David L. Boren Fellowships and Scholarships. 

This year, there were 499 applications for the Boren Fellowships and 896 applications for the Boren Scholarships. Both programs saw applications increase nearly 30 percent compared to last year’s figures. 

All Boren applications are reviewed in a two-tiered process. This month, the applications are reviewed preliminarily based on world region. Each regional merit panel recommends a set number of applications to be reviewed by the national nominating panel. In mid-late April, the national nominating panels for the Boren Fellowships and the Boren Scholarships will meet to review the results of the regional panels and make final recommendations.

“Nuclear Politics and the Non-Aligned Movement: Principles vs Pragmatism” is the title of a new book by Dr. William Potter, director of the Monterey Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), and CNS Senior Research Associate Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova (MAIPS ’07).  The book is being published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies as part of the respected Adelphi book series.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is the largest grouping of states engaged on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues, comprising more than two-thirds of the membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Yet NAM is often misunderstood by Western scholars and policy-makers, who typically fail to appreciate the diversity of views among its 120 members and 17 observer states. Potter and Mukhatzhanova’s work “explores the structures and politics within NAM, and stresses the potential for greater engagement between NAM members and the West in mitigating many of the most pressing nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation and terrorism challenges.”

More information about the book can be found here.

Miles Pomper, senior research associate at the Monterey Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), was quoted by several major national and international news outlets while offering his analysis of events at the Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea:

• On March 27, he downplayed the Obama-Medvedev open-mike incident in the Los Angeles Times, criticized the limited scope of the overall summit agenda in an interview with Reuters that was republished widely, and analyzed President Obama’s speech in USA Today.
• On March 23, he assessed South Korea’s goals for the summit in the Wall Street Journal.

In addition, on March 25 CNS Visiting Fellow Bilal Saab spoke to the Associated Press about the situation in Syria, where he believes Islamists are maneuvering to take advantage of the unrest. This report was also republished by numerous media outlets around the world.

GSIPM Prof. Moyara Ruehsen spoke to approximately 70 guests at the Carmel Manor in Carmel Valley about the Future of the Eurozone, and the prospects of Greece staying in the Eurozone.   She discussed the roots of the crisis, and then compared the debt sustainability profile of several Eurozone countries, concluding that there are no easy solutions.  The Eurozone (and in particular Germany and Greece) have some options, but they are all unpleasant.

Congratulations to Pam Ventura, Angie Quesenberry, and Miryoung Sohn, who have competed ten years of service to MIIS this quarter.  Recognition for five years of service goes to: Amy Smithson, Cheryl Rowe, Jui-Ching Chen, Lyuba Zarsky and Amy McGill.

MonTREP Director Jeffrey M. Bale was interviewed on March 21 2012 by host Andrew Patterson for the “Radio Live” talk show in Auckland, New Zealand. The subject was jihadist Muhammad Mirah’s terrorist attacks in Toulouse, France, and the goal was to clarify the distinction between so-called “lone wolf” attacks by unaffiliated individuals and attacks carried out by members of small organized groups. Mirah was a member of a French pro-jihadist Islamist group known as the Proud Knights (Fursan al-Izza’), claimed to be affiliated with al-Qa’ida, and apparently received training in jihadist camps on the Afghan-Pakistan border, but his attacks may not have been authorized by leaders of the Fursan organization.

2Green Energy publishes a thank you for Jason Scorse, for his contribution to is Renewable Really Doable. Stating: “2Green Energy was lucky to happen across Dr. Jason Scorse in the quest to interview an economist who could shed light on the migration to renewables”.

To read more, please visit the host website at: http://2greenenergy.com/jason-scorse-contribution/20592/#more-20592

Lewis Hower of University Impact Fund, Ted Levinson of RSF Social Finance and Dean Yuwei Shi  conducted a workshop at the Ashoka U Exchange in February titled “Experiential Learning in Impact Investing.” It is one the of 35 workshops at the Exchange. The workshop conducted by Dean Shi and his colleagues was ranked as one of the top three by the participants for the organization, concrete learning outcomes, fun, new content and ideas and strong presenters. A total of about 500 people participated the Exchange.

More about Ashoka U: Ashoka U’s  vision is for colleges and universities everywhere to become more innovative and entrepreneurial through the institutional change efforts of a campus change team. Ashoka U wants every university to be a Changemaker Campus.

To learn more about Ashoka U please visit: http://ashokau.org/ .

Professor Wei Liang has been recently interviewed and quoted by Credit Suisse (Feb.29, 2012).

In the Global Trends section of the magazine, Wei Liang, associate professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, was quoted on the fact that China-watchers are quick to note that since 9/11, the US has largely tuned its back on the region to focus on the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Obama has only recently changed this position, affirming traditional military alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan. Professor Liang commented that “The Australia announcement sent out a clear message about the US’s strategic role in the region” and that “The US is an Asia Pacific nation and it will get involved in the region.”

On Monday, February 27, Professor Jeff Dayton-Johnson presented his lecture at the USC School of International Relations entitled “The Latin American Decade”.

The complete video of this lecture can be found on this link.

GSIPM Dean Dr. Yuwei Shi, Lewis Hower of University Impact Fund and  Ted Levinson of RSF Social Finance presented a workshop at the Ashoka U Exchange two weeks ago titled “Experiential Learning in Impact Investing.” It’s one the of 35 workshops at the Exchange. Their Workshop was ranked as one of the top 3 by the participants for the organization, concrete learning outcomes, fun, new content and ideas and strong presenters. A total of about 500 people participated in the Exchange.

Monterey Institute executive education instructor, Reza Aslan, was featured on NPR’s Marketplace on January 27 in a segment on Egypt entitled, “As Egypt goes, so goes the Middle East”.

Aslan will co-facilitate a February 17-18 executive education training on social media and activism with wife, Jessica Jackley, the co-founder of the micro-philanthropy site, Kiva.

Listen to the NPR Marketplace segment.

Learn more about the “Harnessing the Power of Social Media, Youth Movements, and Dynamic Markets” executive education course.

Professor Moyara Ruehsen recently returned from a five week tour in Iraq, where she consulted on a USAID-funded Financial Sector Development Project.  In addition to delivering a workshop to Iraqi business school professors from around the country on current trends in Business and Finance Education, she also consulted with the Federation of Iraqi Private Banks on anti-money laundering compliance, gave two public lectures, and appeared on Iraqi television discussing money laundering and terrorism financing.

She will be discussing her trip at a Dean’s Seminar right after Spring Break.

Look for details in the March newsletters.