CGA Public Event In Print: Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Tuesday, November 3
6.30 - 7.45pm
SUNY Optometry, Auditorium, 33 West 42nd St

This event is presented by Foreign Affairs and the Center for Global Affairs in partnership with the CGA Global Women’s Initiative. A large audience is anticipated, be sure to register in advance and arrive one half hour before the start of the program.

Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn are a team of Pulitzerprize winning journalists whose previous collaborations include China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power and Thunder From the East. Kristof has been an op-ed columnist for the New York Times since 2001. WuDunn, an investment advisor, has been a correspondent for the paper in Asia.

Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Kristof and WuDunn describe an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there. They show how a little help can transform the lives of these women. Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn show that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do, it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.

GAGS/PACT Film Screening Darfur's Skeleton with director Hisham Haj Omar
Thursday, November 5
6.30-7.30pm - Film screening
7.30-8.30pm - Q&A and reception. Pizza and wine!
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

The rarely discussed topic of the affects of the Darfur conflict (2003-present) on the environment is the axis around which the three main stories of this documentary revolve. Filmmaker Hisham Haj Omar’s unique approach brings a film about the people of Darfur, told by the people of Darfur. From the destruction of the Kondowa forest in Southern Darfur to the subdued and heartfelt stories of the displaced refugees in Otash Camp, to in depth explanations given by tribal leaders - this film is a realistic look at life in the midst of a war zone, but more importantly it’s a celebration of a people’s agency and the will to survive and move on.

Please RSVP to gags.nyu@gmail.com

POSTPONED MSGA First Friday Luncheon Series Trying Saddam Hussein: The work of the Iraqi High Tribunal
Professor Jennifer Trahan and Eric H. Blinderman, former head of the Regime Crimes Liaison Office, Baghdad
to be rescheduled
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

MSGA Professor Jennifer Trahan hosts Eric H. Blinderman, former head of the Regime Crimes Liaison Office, Baghdad. They will discuss the formation and first two trials of the Iraqi High Tribunal. The discussion will be followed by Q&A and an opportunity to continue the conversation over a buffet lunch.

ERIC BLINDERMAN
Eric Blinderman is International Litigation Counsel for Proskauer Rose LLP. In that capacity Eric handles a variety of matters including, but not limited to, Foreign Corrupt Practice Act matters and extradition disputes. He handles matters before the International Criminal Court and other ad-hoc tribunals, complex international commercial arbitrations subject to a variety of arbitral rules, and represents sovereign states before the International Court of Justice and other international bodies.
Eric served from March of 2004 until December of 2006 in Iraq, first as an Associate General Counsel of the Coalition Provisional Authority and later as Chief Legal Counsel and Associate Deputy to the Regime Crimes Liaison’s Office.
During his time in Iraq, Eric advised senior members of the United States, Coalition, and Iraqi governments on matters of public international law, commercial law reform, and international criminal law. He worked principally with the Iraqi High Tribunal as it tried members of the former regime (including Saddam Hussein) for atrocities committed against the Iraqi people. In May of 2007, the Department of Justice presented Eric a Special Commendation Award for his service in Iraq.
Eric has authored multiple articles on international law. He is frequently called upon to lecture about his experiences at law schools and to comment on international affairs in various media outlets including the N.Y. Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Newsweek, the NY Law Journal, the ABA Journal, PBS, C-SPAN, CNN, and Fox News.
In addition, he served as law clerk to a United States Federal Judge and worked at the United Nations Development Program, the Preparatory Commission for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, and the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy. He is also the founder and owner of the critically acclaimed restaurant Mas (farmhouse) which is located in New York City.
Eric received his J.D., cum laude from Cornell Law School and was awarded a M.St. in international law from the University of Oxford, with distinction.

JENNIFER TRAHAN, J.D., LL.M.
CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Jennifer Trahan has served as counsel and of counsel to Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program. She has extensive experience in international criminal justice and is the author of “Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Topical Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia” (Human Rights Watch, 2004) and “Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Topical Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia” (Human Rights Watch, 2006); her third book on the subject is currently being published. She also is the author of numerous other publications, including several recent law review articles on the Iraqi High Tribunal. She has also done consulting work for the UN’s Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the International Center for Transitional Justice. She is a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and of the ABA Task Force on the International Criminal Court. She has also served as an NGO representative to negotiations of the Special Working Group on the Crime of Aggression, and taught at Columbia University, Fordham Law School, Brooklyn Law School, the New School and Salzburg Law School. Prior to entering the fi eld of international criminal law, she was a litigator with the New York City law fi rm of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. She holds an A.B. degree from Amherst College, a J.D. from New York University Law School and an LL.M. from Columbia University Law School.

Recommended Reading:

Trahan, Jennifer, “Remarks Regarding The Iraqi High Tribunal’s ‘Anfal’ Trial:  Speech Delivered at International Law Weekend,” ILSA J of Int’l & Comp. L (2009)

Trahan, Jennifer, “A Critical Guide To The Iraqi High Tribunal’s Anfal Judgment:  Genocide Against The Kurds,”  30 Mich. J. Int’l L. 305 (2009)

Trahan, Jennifer, “Enemy of the State:  The Trial & Execution of Saddam Hussein,” book review, Cornell J. of L & Pub. Policy (2009)

Eric H. Blinderman, The Conviction of Saddam Hussein for the Crime Against Humanity of “Other Inhumane Acts”, 30 U. Pa. J. Int’l L. 1239 (2009)

Eric Pelofsky & Eric H. Blinderman, Book Review, Enemy of the State, 103 Am. J. Int’l L. 396 (2009)

Eric H. Blinderman, The Execution of Saddam Hussein: A Legal Analysis, 9 Y.B. of Int’l Humanitarian L. 153 (2008)

Eric H. Blinderman, Judging Human Rights Watch: An Appraisal of Human Rights Watch's Analysis of the Ad-Dujayl Trial, 39 Case W. Res. J. Int’l L. 99 (2007)

Going Global: An Overview of 2010 Study Abroad Opportunities
China, South Africa, Jordan/Israel, Geneva, Canada, and case studies from the Ghana Field Intensive will be discussed

Friday, November 6
5.30 - 7.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Featuring:

Shaya Lerner - Social Development in Ghana's Political Process: 2000-2008
Terri Garneau - Are Ghana's Recent Efforts to Combat Deforestation Working or, Similar to Historical Efforts, Failing to Address the Inherent Issues?
Ghana: The Informal Economy, Women, and Social Development
Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus - Ghana: The Informal Economy, Women, and Social Development

CGA Public Event Politics and Art in Cinema: Difficult Challenges, Determined Women
Tuesday, November 10
6.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Join CGA Advisory Board member Doris Weisberg for a film series exploring how women’s lives are shaped by longtime cultural mores and perceived religious edicts. This is the first in a series of three narrative films portraying women who have a shared sense of the constraints of their society and a need to define and express themselves—or simply survive—within religious and cultural boundaries.

BABETTE’S FEAST (Denmark, 1987) Based on a story by Isak Dinesen, the film tells the story of Babette, a famous French chef who flees revolutionary bloodshed and finds refuge in an isolated and austere Danish village with two aging sisters who are devoted to the memory of their strict father, the town’s pastor. When she wins the lottery, Babette spends the entire sum on preparing a feast for the town that has sheltered her, a grand gesture that transforms the entire community. Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film (1987). Directed by Gabriel Axel. Color. 102 minutes. Danish with English subtitles.

MSGA Career Workshop in partnership with SCPS Office of Career Management Focus on: Transferable Skills for Global Affairs Students
Wednesday, November 11
5 - 6.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 217

CGA Public Event Global Leaders: Conversations With Alon Ben-Meir
Thursday, November 12
6.30pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Alon Ben-Meir, professor of international relations, journalist, and author, hosts leaders from around the world in conversations that probe critical global issues and the policies designed to address them.

H.E. Nabi Sensoy Ambassador of Turkey to the United States H.E. Nabi Sensoy became Ambassador of Turkey to the United States on January 1, 2006. Ambassador Sensoy previously served as Deputy Undersecretary of Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Russia, Deputy Undersecretary of Political Affairs, Director-General of the Department of Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador to Spain. He was also Chief of Staff to the president, Consul General in London, advisor to the Prime Minister, as well as Counselor at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Charge d’Affaires in Cuba. Previously, he served as Head of Section at the Department of Bilateral Political Affairs for Western Europe, First Secretary at the Turkish Embassy in Venezuela, Vice Consul at the Turkish Consulate General in New York, and Third Secretary and Second Secretary at the Department of Research at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Sensoy is a graduate of the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Ankara, Turkey.

SPECIAL CGA EVENT The U.S./UN Relationship: A Realistic Appraisal
Friday, November 13
Morning Session 10.30-12.45
Afternoon Session 2.30-5.15
Woolworth 430

Join the Center for Global Affairs for a special event exploring current challenges and new possibilities for U.S. engagement with the United Nations. This all-day event will feature a morning session addressing U.S. perceptions of the organization and the Obama Administration's rollout of new shared priorities. Our afternoon panel will examine one of the most urgent of these goals: the promotion of peace and security. These candid conversations, off the record and closed to the press, will offer new insights on how U.S./UN relations currently stand, and in what directions future collaborations may lead.

The symposium will end with a keynote address by Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, U.S. Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs.

Registration: Please send an email to scps.global.affairs@nyu.edu and indicate whether you wish to attend the morning session, the afternoon session, or the full day's events.

MORNING SESSION 10.30am-12.45pm

10am Check-in for Morning Session

10.30am Introduction/Welcome
Gillian Sorensen, senior advisor, United Nations Foundation

11.00am-12.45pm
Panel I: The U.S. and a UN assessment: how have U.S. perceptions of the UN altered since President Obama took office?

Gillian Sorensen, moderator; senior advisor, United Nations Foundation

Panelists:
Mark Kornblau, spokesman, United States Mission to the United Nations
Stephen Schlesinger, Century Foundation; former director, World Policy Institute; author, Act of Creation: the Founding of the United Nations
James Traub, New York Times, author The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power

12.45-2.30pm Break

AFTERNOON SESSION 2.30-5.15pm

2pm Check-in for Afternoon Session

2.30-4.15pm
Panel II: Collaboration and U.S. Leadership within UN: focus on Peacekeeping

Ian Johnstone, moderator; Professor of International Law, The Fletcher School

Panelists:
Salman Ahmed, Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Mission to the UN
David Haeri, DPKO, Lessons Learned Unit
Elisabeth Lindenmayer, Director of UN Studies Program, SIPA; former executive assistant, Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Anupam Ray, Counsellor, Indian Mission to the UN

4.30-5.15pm Keynote Address
Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, U.S. Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs

5.30-7pm Closing Reception

GAGS Networking Event
Friday, November 13
6.00pm
Woolworth Kitchen

The Global Affairs Graduate Society's second Networking Event, co-sponsored with the Fundraising Student's Association - join GAGS and guests at the Woolworth Kitchen at 9 Barclay St., NYC. This event is an opportunity for students to meet a group of individuals working in a variety of organizations, enhancing our connections with the greater global affairs community. The Global Affairs Gradate Society and the Fundraising Student's Association will be providing food for the evening.

Guests include:

Timothy Higdon, the Deputy Director of Amnesty International
Melissa Kushner,the Director of Development of HealthRight
John Linder, the Executive Director of Goods for Good
Renzo Pomi - Amnesty International Representative at the United Nations
William Vocke Senior Fellow and Senior Program Director Carnegie Council
and more to be announced!

Please RSVP to gags.nyu@gmail.com

CGA Brown Bag Conflict, Security, and Development Series Democratic Elections: A Tool for Peace or Catalyst of Conflict?
Thursday, October 1
12.30 - 1.30pm
NYU Wagner at the Puck Building—295 Lafayette St., 2nd Fl

With Robin Ludwig, senior political affairs officer, UN Department of Political Affairs

Recent research suggests that democracies tend to be more peaceful and engage in less interstate conflict than other forms of government. Recent so-called democratic elections in countries such as Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, and Moldova have sparked protests, demonstrations, and/or countrywide violence. What are the sources of such internal conflict? How might they be recognized and addressed before election day?

CGA Public Event In Print: Rich Cohen, author of Israel is Real: An Obsesive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and its History
Thursday, October 1
6.30 - 7.45pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

A contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone, Rich Cohen’s work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including the New Yorker, Harper’s, and the New York Times. His books include Tough Jews, The Avengers, Lake Effect, Machers & Rockers, and Sweet and Low.

“It’s a great irony that Israel was more secure as an idea than it’s ever been as a nation with an army.” In a.d. 70, when the Second Temple was destroyed, a handful of visionaries saved Judaism by reinventing it—by taking what had been a national religion identified with a particular place and turning it into an idea. In Israel is Real, Cohen suggests that the creation of Israel as a Jewish state has made Jews vulnerable in a way they have not been for 2,000 years. Cohen examines the myth of the wandering Jew, the paradox of Jewish power (how can you be both holy and nuclear?), and how the creation of modern Israel has changed what it means to be a Jew anywhere in the world.

Special Invitation CGA Professor Barbara Borst hosts a talk by David Case, editor of Passport at GlobalPost
Thursday, October 1
6 - 8.00pm
NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, 20 Cooper Square, 7th Floor (No rsvp required)

David Case of GlobalPost, the new online news service focused on international affairs, will be a guest speaker at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. GlobalPost, an ambitious effort to counter the contraction in American journalism, launched its online international reporting service in Jan. 2009. David Case is editor of Passport, the subscription service at GlobalPost and the engine for its financial growth.

David Case is editor of Passport, GlobalPost's membership service, which provides executives, professors, aid workers and other international knowledge professionals with an innovative resource for information on global events. Prior to joining GlobalPost, he covered business, science and international affairs as a freelance feature writer for Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Mother Jones and Fast Company, filing stories from the Middle East, Asia and East Africa. Formerly the executive editor of TomPaine.com, he has appeared on PBS's "Foreign Exchange" and NPR's "Talk of the Nation" and "To the Best of Our Knowledge." He has been awarded Ford, Knight and Pew/International Reporting Project Fellowships, and was the first runner up for the 2008 Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism. He holds an executive MBA from the Sasin Institute in Bangkok, Thailand, and a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College, and worked in Asia for seven years, including lengthy stays in Tokyo, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Banda Aceh.

Barbara Borst worked for The Associated Press where she was an editor on the international desk, frequently reported from the United Nations and wrote on U.S. and international issues. Previously, she had been a free-lance U.N. correspondent for The Boston Globe. While based abroad for a dozen years, in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Paris and Toronto, she was a Paris correspondent for Inter Press Service news agency and reported frequently for Newsday, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, The Los Angeles Times, The Independent, The Times (London), The Associated Press and others. She has taught at the NYU Center for Global Affairs since 2000 and has taught international reporting courses at the Arthur L. Carter Institute since 2007. She received an NYU award for teaching excellence in February 2007. She earned a B.A. at Yale University, cum laude, and an M.A. in international relations, with distinction, from Boston University’s overseas program in Paris.

MSGA First Friday Luncheon Series Conflict, Refugees, and Humanitarian Response:  A Review of Current Issues and Challenges
Friday, October 2
12.30-2.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

In this special First Friday Luncheon - the first of the 2009-10 series - Divisional Dean Vera Jelinek hosts John Keys, Senior Vice President of International Programs at the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The discussion will be followed by Q&A and an opportunity to continue the conversation over a buffet lunch. Please read about the history of the IRC at www.theirc.org/history

John Keys, Vice President, International Programs International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee is a private, non-sectarian humanitarian relief and post-conflict development agency that provides assistance to refugees, internally displaced persons, and communities affected by conflict and war in 25 countries around the world. Each year the IRC also assists thousands of refugees who are legally allowed to resettle in the United States. Internationally, the IRC implements a broad range of emergency, reconstruction, and post-conflict programs in child protection, health, shelter, water and sanitation, protection of human rights, community development, rule of law, and good governance. John Keys leads the International Programs Department (IPD), overseeing programs in 25 countries. He has over twenty years of international development and relief experience. Prior to becoming Vice President, International Programs, Keys served as Regional Director, Africa; Regional Director, Great Lakes; and Country Director in Rwanda and Burundi. Before joining the IRC, John spent four years as a country director for the American Refugee Committee. He lived and worked in Africa for 14 years, with extended assignments in Rwanda, Malawi and Togo. Keys earned his Bachelor’s degree from New York University and served four years in the Peace Corps.

Vera Jelinek, Ph.D., Center for Global Affairs Divisional Dean
Dr. Vera Jelinek's mission to create a community of global citizens has spanned over two decades at New York University. After an initial career in international educational exchange, she joined NYU as the director of International Programs, Social and Natural Sciences. While overseeing the growth of programs in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Jelinek envisioned and established a new department of international affairs. In 1999, the prestige and overall excellence of the international affairs program allowed Jelinek to found The Lillian Vernon Center for International Affairs at NYU. The Vernon Center provided Jelinek with the opportunity to develop innovative and compelling public programs that attracted world leaders, the U.N. community, authors, journalists and scholars in international affairs. Under Dr. Jelinek’s direction, 2004 brought the birth of the Masters of Science in Global Affairs program and the emergence of the Center for Global Affairs (CGA) in lower Manhattan’s historic Woolworth Building. Currently, the CGA has 300 graduate students and presents public programs during the academic year which bring together NYU students and the greater New York community for conversations on critical global issues with experts in the field. Dr. Jelinek maintains close ties with international and nongovernmental organizations, the UN community, international media, and the US Department of State. She has a Ph.D. in modern European history from NYU, a Masters in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in history from Queens College. She is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Women and Who’s Who in the East. She is conversant in French, Italian and Hungarian.

GAGS Global Perspectives Film Series A screening and discussion of Rethink Afghanistan
Monday, October 5
6.00-8.30pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

For information about this unique documentary project, see http://rethinkafghanistan.com/

Please RSVP to gags.nyu@gmail.com

CGA Public Event International Carers in the Private Sector
Tuesday, October 6
6.30pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

This popular series provides an opportunity to meet international insiders who offer practical advice and share their real-life experiences.

Everett Myers, moderator; international banker/investment
banker and clinical assistant professor, CGA
Nancy Abraham, vice president of documentary
programming, HBO
Marcela Manubens, senior vice president, Global Human
Rights and Social Responsibility, Phillips Van Heusen
John Nelson, emerging markets banker and consultant

MSGA/GAGS Graduate Dialogue Series: Perspectives from the Field Africa during the Global Downturn: An Opportunity for Alternative Approaches to Development?
Wednesday, October 7
6.00 - 8.30
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Throughout the semester, MSGA students and faculty plan and participate in discussions and panels examining relevant topics in global affairs. The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A session and a wine and cheese reception..

Aid and funds from developed countries have dwindled significantly since the onset of the global economic crisis, and governments in sub-Saharan Africa can no longer rely on remittances and other external resources for development support. This panel explores the issues facing African nations in a time of economic uncertainty and emphasizes creative problem solving and more contextualized approaches to development.

Moderator: Professor Barbara Borst

Panelists:

H.E. Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania to the United Nations
Dr. Roselyn Akombe, Political Affairs Officer, Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, United Nations
Yaw Nyarko, Director and Professor of Economics, Africa House, New York University
Rahamatu Wright, Founder, Shea Yeleen International

Barbara Borst worked for The Associated Press where she was an editor on the international desk, frequently reported from the United Nations and wrote on U.S. and international issues. Previously, she had been a free-lance U.N. correspondent for The Boston Globe. While based abroad for a dozen years, in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Paris and Toronto, she was a Paris correspondent for Inter Press Service news agency and reported frequently for Newsday, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, The Los Angeles Times, The Independent, The Times (London), The Associated Press and others. She has taught at the NYU Center for Global Affairs since 2000 and has taught international reporting courses at the Arthur L. Carter Institute since 2007. She received an NYU award for teaching excellence in February 2007. She earned a B.A. at Yale University, cum laude, and an M.A. in international relations, with distinction, from Boston University’s overseas program in Paris.

Ambassador, Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga is the Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania to the United Nations. Led Tanzania team as Non-permanent Member of the Security Council 2005-2006. President of the Council January 2006. Prior to his appointment in May 2003, he worked for 10 years with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva as Deputy Director for Africa and Representative in Liberia, India and Italy. Previous positions included teaching at the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, Director in the President’s Office, Diplomat in Ottawa and Geneva. A graduate of the Universities of East Africa (Dar-es-Salaam) and Toronto (Canada) in International Relations, Dr. Mahiga has researched and written on regional cooperation, conflict resolution, peace building and related humanitarian and development issues in Africa. He has also served as co-chair to operationalize Peacebuilding Commission (2005) and General Assembly negotiations on implementation of United Nations System-Wide Coherence. Chairman of the DPKO/OCHA Independent study on the Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping missions (2009).

Yaw Nyarko is a Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Science. He is a co-Director of the Development Research Institute and is the founding Director of NYU’s Africa House, a multi-disciplinary institute devoted to the study of contemporary Africa. His current research work in economics human capital models of economic growth and development. He also works on theoretical models of economic decision making where the economic actors engage in active learning about their economic environments. He is the author of many published research papers and is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including many from the National Science Foundation. He has served as Editor/Associate Editor on a number of academic economics journals and has been a consultant to many organizations including the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Social Science Research Council. He has recently served as NYU’s Vice Provost for Globalization and Multicultural Affairs with responsibility for the university’s international campuses and programs. Yaw Nyarko received a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Ghana, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University.

Roselyn Akombe serves as a political adviser on Africa to the head of the Department of Political Affairs. In this capacity, she works closely with other departments in defining United Nations policy and approaches in some of Africa’s political crises. Serving in the department that is the United Nations’ flag bearer for electoral support and mediation, she is often involved in most of these activities. Before joining the United Nations in 2006, she worked as an economic adviser with the African Union. Dr. Akombe earned her Master of Science and doctorate in Global Affairs with a concentration in political economy from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Rahama Wright, founder of Shea Yeleen International, Inc. has developed an innovative social enterprise that provides women in rural communities of West Africa a chance to participate in the global economy. The concept of Shea Yeleen International is “Transform your skin, Transform a community”, and the organization markets high quality shea butter body care products that generate income for women struggling with poverty. Ms. Wright first became involved in the social and economic justice issues surrounding shea butter production as an economic affairs intern at the American Embassy in Burkina Faso and later as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali. She transitioned these experiences into an enterprise that is creating a bridge between shea butter producers and consumers. By linking producers directly to consumers her organization is playing a vital role in international trade. Her social enterprise hopes to generate sustainable income for over 5,000 producers through the sale of its exclusive body care line which includes body butters, body balms, and lip balms. Ms. Wright has been featured in several articles including NY 1, The Washington Informer, and Rolling Out. She has also spoken at various events including the Goldman Sachs Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, Essence Magazine’s Young Woman Leadership Conference, and the Fair Trade DC Workshop. In the fall of 2007, Ms. Wright was nominated by IMPACT as an emerging leader during the Congressional Black Caucus Conference, and most recently she was selected as a national leader by the White House Project and O, Oprah Magazine. Her work has taken her to various countries in Africa and the Middle East and her trips include Afghanistan, Morocco, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Namibia, Zambia, Kenya, Southern Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Jamaica. Ms. Wright has a degree in International Relations from the State University of New York at Geneseo, is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Sigma Iota Rho Honor Society, and Management Leadership for Tomorrow.

CGA Brown Bag Conflict, Security, and Development Series Building Refugee Livelihoods: Food Security, the Economic Crisis, and Long Term Development
Thursday, October 8
12.30 - 1.30pm
NYU Wagner at the Puck Building—295 Lafayette St., 2nd Fl

With Dale Buscher, director of protection, Women’s Refugee Commission

The worldwide financial crisis, occurring on the heels of a global food crisis, demonstrates that the world has changed in dramatic ways, and it is the most vulnerable people who suffer disproportionately. These crises, however, also offer occasion to rethink our business model and the structure and practice of humanitarian aid. Many argue that it is time to end dependency-inducing programs and focus as early and as soon as possible on helping affected populations resume their lives and livelihoods.

MSGA Career Workshop Focus on International Security: NYC Waterfront Commission
Thursday, October 8
5 - 6.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 217

GAGS Networking Workshop with MSGA Alumnus Wayne Burke '07
Friday, October 9
4 - 5.45pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 237

GAGS Networking Workshop
Friday, October 9
5.45 - 9.00pm
Woolworth Kitchen

Guests:

Alexey Lynov, First Secretary, Mission of Russian Federation to the U.N.
Wayne Moses Burke '07, Founder and Executive Director, Open Forum Foundation
Karen Duncan, U.N. Safety and Security
Ken Dibella, Joint Terrorism Task Force
Steve Weeden, Daylight Forensics
Holly Trask, Special Agent, FBI in NYC, MSGA Candidate

MSGA Career Workshop Focus on NGOs: Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict & Women's Refugee Commission
Tuesday, October 13
5 - 6.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 217

CGA Public Event Worldly Perspectives with Clyde Haberman of the New York Times
Wednesday, October 14
6.30 - 7.45pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Guest: Jackson Diehl deputy editorial page editor, Washington Post

Jackson Diehl joined the Post in June 1978 as a reporter on the metropolitan staff. He joined the foreign desk in 1981, working as a correspondent in three of the Post’s bureaus: Buenos Aires, Warsaw, and Jerusalem. From October 1992 until November 2000, Diehl worked in several newsroom management positions, including assistant managing editor/foreign and assistant managing editor/national. Diehl was awarded the Inter-American Press Association Award for Interpretive Journalism in 1984 for his coverage of South America, and the Bob Considine Award of the Overseas Press Association in 1990 for his coverage of the 1989 revolution in Eastern Europe.

CGA Brown Bag Conflict, Security, and Development Series Climate Change, Financial Crisis, and Fragile States: The Imperative of Rethinking New Dimensions in International Security and Development
Thursday, October 15
12.30 - 1.30pm
NYU Wagner at the Puck Building—295 Lafayette St., 2nd Fl

With Yuvan A. Beejadhur, counsellor, The World Bank Group

Without proper action and coordinated national and worldwide efforts, the consequences of climate change can be catastrophic and irreversible. The financial crisis, which threatens the lives of 400,000 children each year, is not over, and millions of jobs are at risk. Both issues present formidable obstacles to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. At this critical juncture, the international community needs to reassess the strategies for international security and development. What future role will international organizations play?

CGA Public Event Politics and Art in Cinema: Difficult Challenges, Determined Women
Tuesday, October 20
6.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Join CGA Advisory Board member Doris Weisberg for a film series exploring how women’s lives are shaped by longtime cultural mores and perceived religious edicts. This is the first in a series of three narrative films portraying women who have a shared sense of the constraints of their society and a need to define and express themselves—or simply survive—within religious and cultural boundaries.

WATER (Canada and India, 2005) This film, set in 1938 India, explores the plight of widows who are forced into isolation and poverty, through the eyes of one of their group, an eight-year-old girl. The women are given hope when one of them aspires to escape her restrictive life and meets a sympathetic man who follows the emerging Gandhi. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film (2006). Directed by Deepa Mehta. Color. 103 minutes. Hindi with English subtitles.

CGA Public Event Peace Corps Information Session
Wednesday, October 21
1.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room tba

CGA Brown Bag Conflict, Security, and Development Series Preventing Mass Killing - Moving Educational Theory to Policy Practice
Thursday, October 22
12.30 - 1.30pm
NYU Wagner at the Puck Building—295 Lafayette St., 2nd Fl

With Tucker Harding, educational technologist, Columbia University Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), and Mark Whitlock, program coordinator, Columbia Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR)

The 20th century marked a period of extreme, state-orchestrated, political violence perpetrated against civilians and noncombatants. What are possible strategies for mitigating the underlying causes of mass killings and genocide, and what prospects do they hold in the international arena? This discussion explores challenges for the prevention of identitybased violence in the 21st century, while examining the role of technology in the training of students and current policymakers. This includes results from a Web-based simulation developed by the presenters.

NEW* MSGA Skills Workshop Research and Writing for Global Affairs with Professor Galeotti
Friday, October 23
6 - 7.45pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Your research and writing skills are not only essential to getting a good grade in the Global Affairs program, they are fundamental skills in the world of work beyond the CGA. Whether it's the tricks of the trade to polish a draft, the best ways to target your reading or just how to make sure you avoid plagiarism, you are bound to learn something to help your academic and professional future at this workshop. Professor Mark Galeotti is running this special workshop exclusively for Global Affairs students, and will cover all stages of researching and writing papers and theses.

*The PowerPoint workshop originally scheduled for this date will be presented in a different format in the spring semester.

NEW CGA Public Event with the Consulate General of Canada (New York) and the Quebec Government Office in New York Emerging Energy Landscapes: Sustainable Development & Climate Change in Canada & the U.S.
Tuesday, October 26
6.30 - 7.45pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Join the Canadian Consulate General of New York, the Global Affairs Center of New York University, and the Quebec Government Office in New York for an in-depth panel discussion examining the geo-political implications of new and emerging renewable energy sources, from wind, solar, and hydro, to biomass and geothermal power. Given global concerns about the environment and climate change, how will these non-traditional sources impact the vital Canada-U.S. energy relationship? What challenges and opportunities lie ahead of our two nations in terms of expanding and strengthening an already robust partnership?

Carolyn Kissane, moderator; clinical associate professor, Center for Global Affairs

Jean-Thomas Bernard, professor, Departement de'Economique, Universite Laval, Quebec
Michael Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment; director, Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations
Mara Lemos Stein, writer, Dow Jones Clean Technology Insight
Adarsh Mehta, board of directors, Canadian Wind Energy Association

CANCELED CGA Public Event In Print: Vali Nasr, author of Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean for Our World
Tuesday, October 27

CGA Brown Bag Conflict, Security, and Development Series Women and Girls at War: ‘Wives,’ Mothers, and Fighters
Thursday, October 29
12.30 - 1.30pm
NYU Wagner at the Puck Building—295 Lafayette St., 2nd Fl

With Jeannie Annan, director of Research and Evaluation, International Rescue Committee

Data from northern Uganda’s war challenge conventional notions about women in conflict: women and girls recruited by the Lord’s Resistance Army are not passive victims, but play active roles, and only a minority of those who return exhibit serious reintegration difficulties. For those who do have problems with reintegration, abduction into the armed group exacerbates already existing problems, including gender inequalities, corruption in the police system, and devastating poverty. Join us as Dr. Annan discusses her research and addresses the importance of strong interventions at the individual, family, and community levels.

MSGA Welcome Back Fall Reception
Friday, September 11
6.30-8.30pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

For all students, faculty, alumni and administration of the MSGA program.

MSGA Welcome Back Fall Reception
Friday, September 11
6.30-8.30pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

For all students, faculty, alumni and administration of the MSGA program.

MSGA Skills Workshop Thesis/Capstone Boot Camp
Saturday and Sunday, September 12 and 13
9.00am-2.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 237

Designed for those writing thesis or capstone projects in the fall semester.

MSGA Career Workshop Focus on careers in the foreign service: U.S. Department of State
Tuesday, September 15
5.00-6.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 217

Learn about the Foreign Service Exam and Internship Opportunities with the U.S. Department of State. Guest is Robert Dry, U.S. Department of State, Diplomat-in-Residence, CCNY.

MSGA Skills Workshop Economics for Global Affairs Part 1 of 2*
Friday, September 18
NEW TIME 12.00 - 1.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room tba

A toolbox/review of the principles of economics for all global affairs students; essential for those who have limited background in the study economics. This is part one of a two part workshop. Led by Professor Christine Shaw.

*Part 2 of this workshop will be held on Friday, September 25 from noon-1pm, room tba.

CHRISTINE SHAW, Ph.D., M.A.
Christine Shaw worked for the United Nations from 1969 until recently. There she was engaged in analytical work geared toward both the diplomatic and academic communities.  She served as Senior Economic Affairs Officer in the Development Policy and Planning Office of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs.  She was the Department’s trade specialist, writing regularly for the UN’s World Economic and Social Survey, as well preparing policy-oriented papers and background material for the Committee for Development Policy and serving as a Report Writer for a number of United Nations World Conferences and Summits. For several years, she has been teaching courses in micro- and macro-economics and international economics at FIT/SUNY.  A specialist in trade, development and globalization, she holds a B.A in Economics and Sociology from Harvard, an M.A. in Economics, Statistics and Demography from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University. She is a member of the American Economic Association.

GAGS Town Hall Meeting
Monday, September 21
5.00 - 6.20pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Please RSVP to gags.nyu@gmail.com

MSGA Career Workshop focus on Think Tanks: Council on Foreign Relations
Tuesday, September 22
11.15am - 12.15pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 217

CGA Public Event In Print: Peter Maass, author of Crude World
Wednesday, September 23
6.30 - 8.30pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Peter Maass, a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, is the author of Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil and Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War. His first book, about the war in Bosnia, won literary prizes from the Overseas Press Club and the Los Angeles Times. Maass has also written for the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, and the Washington Post.

Every unhappy oil-producing nation is unhappy in its own way, but all are touched by the “resource curse”—the power of oil to exacerbate existing problems and create new ones. In Saudi Arabia, officials deflect inquiries about the amount of petroleum remaining in the country’s largest reservoir; in Equatorial Guinea, two tennis courts grace an oil-rich dictator’s estate, but bandages and aspirin are a hospital’s only supplies; and in Venezuela, Hugo Chávez’s campaign to redistribute oil wealth creates new economic and political crises. Rebels, royalty, middlemen, environmentalists, indigenous activists, CEOs—their stories tell the larger narrative of oil in our time. In Crude World, Maass presents a portrait of the troubled world oil has created.

CGA Brown Bag Conflict, Security, and Development Series What can the UN do in response to extrajudicial killings around the world?
Thursday, September 24
12.30 - 1.30pm
NYU Wagner at the Puck Building—295 Lafayette St., 2nd Fl

With Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor at NYU Law School and UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions

The international community classifies “extrajudicial executions” as unjustified killings by the police and military, death squad and paramilitary killings, as well as targeted assassinations and honor killings. The presentation focuses on the UN Human Rights Council’s efforts to expose and help eliminate such practices, including visits by the speaker to the United States, Kenya, and Colombia.

CGA Public Event Special Event: Marc Chandler on his book Making Sense of the Dollar
Thursday, September 24
6.30 - 8.30pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., has analyzed the global capital markets for 20 years. A prolific writer, Chandler contributes to TheStreet.com, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Financial Times, Active Trader, and Currency Trader. He appears regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg Television, Nightly Business Report, and ABC and NBC national news reports. Chandler has taught continuing education courses at NYU-SCPS for 15 years and has served as a member of the CGA advisory board since its inception.

MSGA Skills Workshop Economics for Global Affairs Part 2 of 2*
Friday, September 25
12.00 - 1.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room tba

*Part 1 of this workshop will be held on Friday, September 18 from noon-1pm.

MSGA Skills Workshop Public Speaking for Global Affairs
Friday, September 25
6.00 - 8.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Presented by MSGA Alumni Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus '08 and Mindy Myers '08.

GAGS says: "MSGA students learn the ancient secrets to obtaining a persuasive yet calm oratory style. This event is a must for all those who shudder at the thought of public speaking but who wish to learn in a comfortable environment."

MSGA Career Workshop focus on the Environment/Energy Sector: Energy Intelligence Group
Tuesday, September 29
5.00 - 6.00pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 217

CGA Public Event Worldly Perspectives with Clyde Haberman of the New York Times
Wednesday, September 30
6.30 - 8.30pm
Woolworth Campus, Room 430

Guest: Neil MacFarquhar UN bureau chief and former Cairo bureau chief, New York Times

Neil MacFarquhar has spent over 25 years in the Middle East, including five years based in Cairo as the bureau chief for the New York Times, and seven years as a correspondent for the Associated Press, during which time he lived in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Cyprus. After leaving Cairo in June 2008, he took up his current post as the Times bureau chief at the United Nations. MacFarquhar is the author of The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East, which captures the underexposed side of the Middle East; and a novel, The Sand Cafe.