Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) 2023

EPIIC is a carefully integrated, multidisciplinary program. Through its innovative and rigorous curricula and projects, EPIIC prepares young people for informed activity in their communities, whether locally, nationally or globally.

The Course
At EPIIC's core is the year-long, multidisciplinary course -- The Sherman Teichman Education for Public Inquiry (EPIIC) Endowed Colloquium -- on a global theme. Undergraduate and graduate students of diverse nationalities, viewpoints, experiences, and interests participate in this rigorous colloquium that stresses critical, analytical, and normative thinking. Students are encouraged to confront the ambiguity and complexity of EPIIC's annual, global theme through a multi-disciplinary examination of the issues and controversies that the topic reflects. They are taught the subject under investigation by a broad range of distinguished academics and practitioners and as active participants in defining the issues through classroom discussions, extensive readings, and independent research. There is an emphasis both on individual progress and on the collaborative effort -- in essence, on growing as an intellectual team. Students produce tangible outcomes of their studies through their individual research papers or projects, the international symposium in late February, and the Inquiry simulation for high-school students in early April, as well as other activities.

In 2011, on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of EPIIC - Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship, the core program of the Institute for Global Leadership, the alumni of EPIIC endowed the colloquium in honor of their teacher and mentor, the Institute's Founding Director, Sherman Teichman. Their funds contribute to covering the expenses for the colloquium's guest lecturers, teaching assistants, seminar mentors, an annual Outward Bound weekend, syllabus materials, subsidies for text books and other EPIIC expenses. The endowment helps ensure the high standard and quality of this preparatory course of the annual EPIIC symposium and enables all Tufts students to partake fully in its activities.

Symposium
The Norris and Margery Bendetson International EPIIC Symposium is an annual multi-day public forum featuring scores of international practitioners, activists, academics, public intellectuals, and journalists. EPIIC's symposia -- consisting of presentations, panel discussions, topical forums, informal gatherings, multimedia and dramatic presentations, and workshops -- are intellectually wide-ranging and accessible. The perspectives of the participants are intentionally diverse, often competing, anda at times adversarial, providing a continuum of viewpoints on the issues being discussed.

EPIIC Colloquium

At EPIIC's core is the year-long, multidisciplinary course on a global political theme. Undergraduate and graduate students of diverse nationalities, viewpoints, experiences, and interests, participate in this rigorous colloquium that stresses critical, analytical and normative thinking. Students are encouraged to confront the ambiguity and complexity of EPIIC's annual global theme through a multi-disciplinary examination of the issues and controversies that the topic reflects. They are taught the subject under investigation not only by a broad range of distinguished academics and practitioners, but also as active participants in defining the issues through classroom presentations and discussions, extensive readings, and independent research. There is an emphasis both on individual progress and on the collaborative effort -- in essence, an intellectual team. Students produce tangible outcomes to their studies through their individual research papers or projects, the international symposium, and the Inquiry simulation.

Lecturers and | Advisers

Ezra Barzilay

Ezra Barzilay is the Lead Epidemiologist in the Health Systems Reconstruction Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Previously, he was the Team Lead of the National Surveillance Team and the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) in the Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He also served as the Deputy Incident Manager for Haiti Cholera Response for the CDC. Dr. Barzilay received his Bachelor’s and Medical degrees from Tufts University, in Boston, MA. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and then joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service corps at CDC to train in infectious disease epidemiology. He is board-certified in pediatrics and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine. Fluent in seven languages, Dr. Barzilay’s field experience includes international public health interventions, foodborne outbreak investigations, and serving as a trainer and expert consultant for the World Health Organization.

Alex De Waal

Alex de Waal is executive director of the World Peace Foundation and a research professor at Tufts University. From 2009 to 2011 he served as senior advisor to the African Union High Level Implementation Panel for Sudan. He was also program director at the Social Science Research Council, with responsibilities for research programs on humanitarian issues and HIV/AIDS and social transformation. His academic research has focused on issues of famine, conflict and human rights in Africa. He was awarded an OBE in the UK New Year’s Honors List of 2009, was on the Prospect/Foreign Policy list of 100 public intellectuals in 2008 and the Atlantic Monthly list of 27 ‘brave thinkers’ in 2009.

Juan Enriquez

Part 1: Resilience (discussion of Resilience book), Part 2: The New Species: Health Implications

Juan Enriquez is a Managing Director of Excel Venture Management and a leading authority on the economic impact of life sciences on business and society and a respected business leader and entrepreneur. He represents Excel on the boards of Shape Up the Nation, Activate Networks, Fina Technologies, Catch.com, and Synthetic Genomics. Prior to Excel, Juan was the founding Director of the Harvard Business School's Life Sciences Project, with many of his innovative thoughts captured in his bestselling book, As The Future Catches You, which provided an accurate blueprint of how a bio-based economy changes industries and corporations. His most recent publication is an eBook, Homo Evolutis: A Short Tour of our New Species, which describes a world where humans increasingly shape their environment, themselves, and other species. Following HBS, Juan became an active angel investor and founder of Biotechonomy Ventures which invested in BioTrove, Xcellerex, and Synthetic Genomics, a company he co founded with Drs. J. Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith to apply life sciences to energy markets. As a business leader, advisor, and renowned speaker, Juan works directly with the CEOs of a number of Fortune Fifty companies, as well as various heads of state, on how to adapt to a world where the dominant language is shifting from the digital towards the language of life.

Callouts

ALLIES

The Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES) is an undergraduate organization dedicated to improving civilian-military relations.

TILIP

The Tufts Initiative for International Leadership and Perspective (TILIP) is a program that seeks to foster cross-cultural team building through intensive, intellectual inquiry and practical study.

[EXPOSURE]

[EXPOSURE] is the Institute for Global Leadership's undergraduate-led program for photojournalism, documentary studies and human rights.

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