IGL Newsletter: April 2019

In March, the Institute held the 34th Annual Norris and Margery Bendetson EPIIC International Symposium on “Migration in a Turbulent World”. 

Migration has become a worldwide phenomenon and its importance today is clear. Concerns with the demographic, economic, social, security, legal and political consequences of international migration informed the EPIIC students’ decisions in choosing their panel themes and their speakers. Read more...

The test of an interesting course may be to offer it at 8:30am on a Friday morning for a two and a half hour block and see what the enrollment is.  If that is a marker, then the first semester of “21st Century Negotiating Skills for Global Leadership”, taught by practitioner Elizabeth McClintock, has been a success, with a full enrollment plus two audits.

Taking the course are five seniors, four juniors, six sophomores, three first years, plus a Fletcher student and a staff member auditing the course.  The majors include International Relations, Quantitative Economics, English Psychology, History, and Russian and European Studies. Read more...

The Latin American Committee (LAC) is a new, student-led organization at the Institute for Global Leadership that is dedicated to promoting discourse on cultural, social, political, historical and economic issues in Latin America.

According to Sara Torres (A’20), one of the co-founders of LAC, “Latin American issues and current events have grown in relevance given their increased coverage in American media; this has helped spur interest from students who previously had no ties to the region. As a space that caters to all students regardless of whether they have a background in Latin America, LAC is a unique academic student organization that empowers interested and curious students to learn about Latin American issues through discussions informed by the curated material provided and panels with experts.” Read more...

Arjun Padalkar is a sophomore from Mumbai, India double majoring in quantitative economics and international relations, specializing in security. He is a member of this year's EPIIC colloquium and is the Treasurer for the New Initiative for Middle East Peace, with which he conducted research on migration in Morocco over spring break.

His interest in economics, politics, development theories and diplomacy began when he attended an economic globalization course at Columbia University in the summer of 2015. He then interned at a microfinance company based in the Mumbai slums and conducted research correlating microfinance to targeted economic development. Simultaneously, he worked on a global politics project for his diploma where he conducted research on the Rohingya refugee crisis as part of his broader project on border security. In the final year of his high school diploma, he co-chaired a committee on economic diversification of single industry cities. Watch the video...

The Institute has continued to engage alumni throughout the year, from bringing them to campus for presentations to participating in the EPIIC symposium to speaking to Inquiry to advising IGL student groups. The IGL alumni are integral to the IGL community and their willingness to come back and work with the next generation is greatly appreciated.

Alumni Presentations

Tufts Alumni Michael Niconchuk (BUILD, A’11) and Elizabeth (Biz) Herman (EPIIC’08, Exposure, A’10) came to campus in late fall to discuss their work at the intersection of cognitive science and social conflict with Beyond Conflict (formerly Peace and Justice in Times of Transition).

They spoke about how conflict affects your brain and body, your sense of self, and your community. They went on to explain how conflict often molds the cultural narratives of communities touched by violence around the world. Read more...

At the end of the first semester, the New Initiative for Middle East Peace (NIMEP) program hosted its first symposium on “Yemen: Civil Conflict and Intervention” to help the campus understand the history and geopolitics of the current war, its complexities and its humanitarian consequences.

The keynote was delivered by Asher Orkaby, one of the foremost experts in the United States on Yemen and its history. Two panels followed the keynote, the first on the geopolitics of the crisis, featuring former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Charles Dunbar and Award-winning Journalist Stephen Kinzer and joined by Dr. Orkaby. The second panel focused on the humanitarian crisis, featuring U.S. Army Captain James Micciche and International Policy Adviser for Physicians for Human Rights Susannah Sirkin. Read more...

We spent our last day in Morocco in Casablanca. Needless to say, this day too saw a perfect symbiosis of work and fun. Our accommodation for this last part of our journey was in a hostel in the center of the Medina. This hostel provided a space where we have been able to interact with other travelers from across the world and share their experiences of Morocco with our understanding of the country. Living in the Medina has given us the ability to be in the center of life in Casablanca and enjoy the most of our little time in this city. Read more...

Read the NIMEP Morocco posts

Join us for a lecture and discussion with Photojournalists Nicki Sobecki (EPIIC'06, Exposure, A'08), Sara Terry, and Linda Bournane Engelberth of VII Photo. Each photographer is undertaking a visual reflection on masculinity — re-framing it, challenging it, referencing it historically, exploring it, considering it in specific cultural contexts and changing social conventions, or coming out from the shadow of it. Learn more...
April 23, 2019

IGL Funded Research Projects from Summer 2018 through Spring 2019 will be presented
May 2, 2019

Tufts Alumni Event in New York City; mingle with other alumni and join current IGL students and IGL Director Abi Williams to learn about the IGL's activities -- May 6, 5:30-7:30pm at FTV Capital's beautiful terrace at 535 Madison Ave, 32nd Floor, generously hosted by Brad Bernstein (EPIIC'89) (rain date: May 8)

All graduating students and their families are welcome!
May 18, 2019, 11:00am-1:00pm, IGL, 96 Packard Ave