Jennifer Hardy has been appointed to the position of Assistant Director for the Office of Student Financial Planning.  Jenn began working at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in April 2001 in the Business Office where she worked until November 2005.  She left the Monterey Institute for a year and a half, returning in May 2007 as a Financial Aid Counselor in the Office of Student Financial Planning.  Jenn also completed her BA in Business Management with a concentration in Public Administration at Golden Gate University in December 2010.

Congratulations, Jenn!

Professor Peter Grothe spoke to around 250 Peace Corps returnees at 50th anniversary of the  Peace Corps celebration at the University of California, Berkeley and to another  200 PC returnees for a similar celebration at his alma mater, Stanford University. Dr. Grothe, who drafted the original legislation  as Foreign Relations Advisor for Senator Hubert Humphrey and gave it the name, “Peace Corps” has been invited by the Deputy Director of the Peace Corps to give a talk on “how it all began” to the Peace Corps staff in Washington, DC.

Professor Michel Gueldry and Professor Harvey Arbelaez have been selected to participate in the Faculty Development Workshop to be held at Middlebury College this June.  This workshop will focus on “Infusing Sustainability in New and Existing Courses” and will allow Professors Gueldry and Arbelaez the opportunity to learn more about the issues related to sustainability and also to receive help in integrating these critical issues into their various courses.

Professor Grothe  gives guest lecture at Thammasat University in Thailand

Professor Peter Grothe recently  gave a guest lecture to political science students at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand. The topic was “Intercultural communication in a dangerous world.”

Also during the winter break, Dr. Grothe gave three talks at the Renaissance Weekend in Charleston, South Carolina, which is a three-day annual meeting of over 1,000 persons from academica, journalism, business, science and medicine. His talks were on: “The founding of the Peace Corps,” “Cross-cultural communication,” and “The changing American culture.”

GSIPM Prof. Wil Burnsdelivered the keynote address  (via Skype) for the annual International Environmental Law moot court competition, which took place at Stetson University’s College of Law in Gulfport, Florida. The title of the presentation was: The International Maritime Organization’s Ballast Water Convention: Have Invasive Species Met their Match?

On January 13, 2011 Prof. Baimyrzaeva (GSIPM) delivered a closing address titled “Bringing all Together: Institutional Development in Light of National Policy” at the Global Center Consortium Directors’ Conference that took place in Monterey. The conference was convened by the Global Center for Security Cooperation which manages a consortium of the Defense Department’s International Education providers to coordinate their efforts.

On November 2, 2010 she also delivered a talk and facilitated a session on nation building at the workshop called “Working in the Same Space.” The workshop was organized in Monterey by the Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies (CSRS). The latter is a practitioner-oriented teaching program located at the Naval Postgraduate School which provides educational opportunities for wide range of actors involved in peacebuilding, peace & stability operations, and relief & development activities.

Gordon Hahn announces that the latest issue of his Islam, Islamism and Politics in Eurasia Report is now available.

Islam, Islamism and Politics in Eurasia Report (No. 32, 13 January, 2011)

— Edited and Written by Gordon M. Hahn (unless otherwise indicated)

CONTENTS:

RUSSIA

TRENDS IN JIHADISM IN RUSSIA AND EURASIA, 2010

DAGESTAN VILAIYAT’S RESPONSE TO AMNESTY OFFER

CE’S OVKBK KILLS SEVEN FSB OPERATIVES

KABARDINO-BALKARIA’S CHIEF MUFTI AND DAGESTAN IMAM KILLED

RECENT FOREIGN GLOBAL JIHADI REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGICAL-THEOLOGICAL TRACTS IN CE MEDIA

AMIR AL-BARA OF DAGESTAN VILAIYAT’S MAKHACHKALA-KASPIISK SECTOR KILLED?

CENTRAL ASIA by Yelena Altman

VIOLENCE A NORMALITY IN KYRGYZSTAN

MORE CLASHES IN TAJIKISTAN, BEDAKI KILLED

SHAKHIBIDDIN SHOMIRZAYEV CONVICTED IN UZBEKISTAN

EFFORTS TO COMBAT EXTREMISMS IN KAZAKHSTAN

* IIPER is written and edited by Dr. Gordon M. Hahn unless otherwise noted. Research assistance is provided by Leonid Naboishchikov, Daniel Painter, Seth Gray, and Daria Ushakova.

IEP Professor Lyuba Zarsky recently posted her commentary on business and human rights on the blog Triple Crisis: Global Perspectives on Finance, Development and Environment.