2019 Annual Atlanta Global Studies Symposium

Location: Press Room A

Through multi-sector collaboration and innovative problem-solving, United Nations University has invited regions around the world to form collaborations called Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development – “RCEs.” RCEs harness the power of education to advance the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Guest speaker Kim Smith, co-founder of RCE Greater Portland, will present foundations in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), illustrate priorities to achieve UNESCO’s Global Action Programme on ESD, and highlight ways that RCEs around the world are advancing ESD in their regions. This session will open with a brief introduction to RCE Greater Atlanta, one of seven RCEs in the U.S. and 171 in the world.

PANELISTS:

• Kim Smith, Ph.D., is an Instructor in Sociology at Portland Community College, co-founder and board member of RCE Greater Portland - the Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network, and an International Fellow with the U.S. Partnership for ESD. She led the U.S. delegation to the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in 2014.
• Jennifer Hirsch, Ph.D., is the inaugural Director of the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain at the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-founder of RCE Greater Atlanta. She is an applied cultural anthropologist recognized internationally for fostering university and community engagement in sustainability and climate action.

Track I. Transforming Education and Society through University-Community Partnerships

Location:  Student Success Center President’s Suite B

This panel of to-the-point six-minute presentations focuses on innovative approaches to foreign language learning, including content-based instruction and emphases on intercultural communication and global competence.

MODERATOR: Jan Uelzmann, Assistant Professor of German, School of Modern Languages, Georgia Institute of Technology.

PRESENTATIONS:

• Awad Awad, Lecturer of Arabic, University of North Georgia. "Developing Critical Intercultural Competence in Arabic Language Programs."
• Wei Wang, Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow of Chinese in the Global Languages, Cultures, and Technologies Program, Georgia Institute of Technology. “Teaching Mandarin Tones with Speech Visualization Technology.”
• Adèle Douglin, Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow of Spanish in the Global Languages, Cultures, and Technologies Program, Georgia Institute of Technology. “Public Health and STEM: Teaching Intercultural Health Humanities to the STEM Student in Spanish.”
• Viola Green, Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow of French in the Global Languages, Cultures, and Technologies Program, Georgia Institute of Technology. “Pedagogical Summer Workshop for K12 Educators.”
• Hakyoon Lee, Lecturer of Korean, Department of World Languages and Cultures, Georgia State University. "Geolocative Linguistic Landscape Project: Language learning in urban space"
• Hyoun-A Joo, Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow of German in the Global Languages, Cultures, and Technologies Program, Georgia Institute of Technology. “Learning about Intercultural Competence in the German Business Context”
• Matthew Mangold, Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow of Russian in the Global Languages, Cultures, and Technologies Program, Georgia Institute of Technology. “Developing Professional Intercultural Competence: Guest Speakers Discuss their Professions”

Track II. Teaching and Learning in Global Studies

Location: Student Success Center President’s Suite D

A virtual exchange involves connecting students from different parts of the world online over a shared project. Faculty from all disciplines use tools like Webex Teams, Google Hangouts and Zoom, and students collaborate and connect with students from other communities. Panelist will share their experiences with this exciting teaching approach.

MODERATOR:

• Jessie Hayden, Assistant Professor of English and English as a Second Language, Perimeter College, Georgia State University.

PANELISTS:

• Joseph R. Bankoff, Chair and Professor, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Keisha Brown, Assistant Professor, Mathematics, Perimeter College, Georgia State University
• Paula J. Mellom, Associate Director, Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education, College of Education, University of Georgia
• Mohamed Abdel-Kader, Executive Director, Stevens Initiative

Track III. Global Connections: Inequality and Interchange

Location: Student Success Center President’s Suite A

MODERATOR:

• Laura Bier, Professor of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology

PANELISTS:

• Sam Cherribi, Senior Lecturer at Emory University in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies and Director of the Emory Development Initiative.
• Norah Elmagraby, PhD candidate in Islamic Civilizations at Emory University and the 2019 HASTAC fellow at Emory’s Center for digital scholarship.
• Ayda Melika, filmmaker and Visiting Assistant Professor of Persian and Middle Eastern Studies at Georgia Tech in the School of Modern Languages and the School of History and Sociology.
• Pardis Mahdavi, Acting Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver.

Track IV. Translating Sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa

Location: President's Suite C

This session will address some of the major issues related to immigrants and racial/ethnic diversity in the United States, especially in the Atlanta metropolitan region. Presenters will discuss topics such as DACA and undocumented status immigrants, refugee resettlement, policies and practices that promote welcoming communities for immigrants and refugees, and how attitudes about immigrants and people of other races/ethnicities can affect the implementation of social policy like healthcare. Panelists include scholars, authors, and community directors from the Atlanta area.

CHAIR:

• Allen Hyde, Assistant Professor of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology

WELCOME:

• Eric Schatzberg, Professor and Chair at the School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology

SPEAKERS:

• Daniel Lanford, Postdoctoral Fellow, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University
• Paul McDaniel, Assistant Professor of Geography, Kennesaw State University
• Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Associate Professor of Spanish, Georgia Institute of Technology, presenting his documentary short DACAmented
• Juan Terrazas, Community Director, Pathway Project

Track V. Challenges in Development: A Global-Local Perspective

Location: Press Room A

This session brings perspectives on sustainable development from RCE colleagues across the globe. From the U.S. Atlantic Coastline to Mexico to Hamburg, the participants will share their experiences promoting sustainable development through university-community partnerships focused on education, research, community development, economic revitalization and environmental restoration.

FACILITATOR:

• Brittany Foutz is a Ph.D. student in International Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution at Kennesaw State University and a member of RCE Greater Atlanta. She currently serves as a Graduate Research Assistant for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

PANELISTS:

• Carolina Lopez, Ph.D., is the founder of and the project coordinator at RCE Borderlands México-USA. She co-founded five sustainable development research centers, two recognized by the U.N. Dr. Lopez works on projects that promote common welfare and environmental and economic sustainability.
• Pamela Martin, Ph.D., is a Professor of Politics and International Relations at Coastal Carolina University and the Executive Director of RISE (RCE) Georgetown in South Carolina. Her work focuses on global and domestic environmental policy, energy and sustainable development and the effects of globalization on the indigenous people of South America. (participating via Skype)
• Jennifer Pohlmann is the Deputy Head of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences’ Research and Transfer Centre, "Sustainability and Climate Change Management" which chairs and coordinates RCE Hamburg, Germany. She coordinates projects on sustainable mobility and smart specialization in the Baltic Sea Region and is currently developing online courses on sustainable development goals (SDGs). (participating via Skype)

Track I: Transforming Education and Society through University-Community Partnerships

Location: Student Success Center President’s Suite B

MODERATOR:

• Alexandru Balas, Director, Clark Center for Global Engagement, Associate Professor, International Studies, SUNY Cortland

PANELISTS:

• Gundolf Graml, Assistant Dean for Global Learning, Associate Professor of German, Agnes Scott College
• Anna Westerstahl Stenport, Chair and Professor, School of Modern Languages, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Dimeji Togunde, Associate Provost, Global Education, Professor, International Studies, Spelman College.
• Tony Lemieux, Director, Global Studies Institute, Professor, Department of Communication, Georgia State University

Track II: Teaching and Learning in Global Studies

Location: Student Success Center President’s Suite D

This panel examines causes, consequences, and solutions to address global human trafficking, including labor and sex trafficking. The presentations will trace the global human trafficking networks that connect Metro Atlanta to the rest of the world. The panelists include scholars, lawyers, and activists engaged in understanding or combatting human trafficking in the United States, West Africa, and Asia.

MODERATOR:

• Jennie Burnet, Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Global Studies Institute, Georgia State University

PRESENTATIONS:

• David Okech, Associate Professor, University of Georgia School of Social Work, “Human Trafficking and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Opportunities and Challenges”
• Monica Modi Khant, Executive Director, Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network, and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgia State University School of Law, “Immigration & Human Trafficking in the US”
• Bob Spires, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, School of Professional and Continuing Studies, University of Richmond, “Preventing Human Trafficking: Lessons from Thailand”
• Deborah J. Richardson, Executive Director, International Human Trafficking Institute, and Alonzo F. and Norris B. Herndon Human Rights Expert in Residence, Georgia State University Honor's School, “Metro Atlanta's Coalition to End Human Trafficking”

Track III. Global Connections: Inequality and Interchange

Location: Student Success Center President’s Suite A

Ziad Kalthoum’s Taste of Cement (Germany, 2017). This essay film documents Syrian construction workers building new skyscrapers in Beirut on the ruins caused by the Lebanese civil war. At the same time, their own houses are being bombed in Syria. A curfew prohibits them from leaving the construction site after work. Every night in their pit below the skyscraper, the news from their homeland and the memories of the war chase them. Mute and imprisoned in the cement underground, they must endure until the new day arrives where the hammering and welding drown out their nightmares.

Taste of Cement

Track IV: Translating Sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa

Location: Student Success Center President's Suite C

This interdisciplinary session will bring together scholars in economics, international affairs and political science who will discuss development challenges in a global perspective. Presenters will discuss topics such as the role of state, type of government, and the impact of conflict in the development process. Provision of public good and importance of survey methods and qualitative data, investment in human capital and labor market outcomes will be discussed using case studies from countries in Asia, Africa, Central Europe and Latin America.

MODERATOR:

• Olga Shemyakina, Associate Professor of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology

WELCOME:

• Joe Bankoff, Chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology

SPEAKERS:

• Anjali Bohlken, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Natalia Bueno, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Emory University
• Alberto Fuentes, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Charles Hankla, Associate Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University
• Ruth Uwaifo-Oyelere, Associate Professor of Economics, Agnes Scott College

Track V: Challenges in Development: A Global-Local Perspective

Location: Student Success Center Press Room A

This facilitated, interactive session will analyze and synthesize best practices in promoting RCE Greater Atlanta’s priority SDGs, gleaned from earlier sessions. Priority SDGs include: SDG1-No Poverty, SDG2-Zero Hunger, SDG3-Good Health and Well-Being, SDG4-Quality Education, SDG9-Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG11-Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG13-Climate Action. The goal here is to exchange ideas and facilitate collaborations among RCE Greater Atlanta members inside and outside higher education, as well as with our colleagues from regional and global RCEs. The session will conclude by outlining concrete next steps for advancing the SDGs through education, research and action partnerships.

KEYNOTE LISTENER:

• Cicely Garrett is former Deputy Chief Resilience Officer at the City of Atlanta Mayor's Office and a member of RCE Greater Atlanta. For the past two years, she has spearheaded the transition of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability to Office of Resilience under the 100 Resilient Cities program, which addresses the challenges and opportunities arising in Metro cities as a result of urbanization, globalization, and climate change. Prior to joining the Office of Resilience, she served as a community builder, facilitator and program manager for 8.5 years at the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

FACILITATOR:

• Suzanne Burnes is CEO and founder of Collective Wisdom Group and a co-founder and Steering Committee member of RCE Greater Atlanta. She has over 25 years’ experience in conservation, system analysis and community development.

PANELISTS:

• Michael Black, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience, Urban Study Institute; Faculty Associate, Office of Sustainability, Georgia State University
• Anne Heard, Executive in Residence, Atlanta Metropolitan State College
• Britta Kallin, Associate Professor of German, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Yomi Noibi, Executive Director, Eco-Action

DISCUSSION GROUP LEADERS:

• Garry Harris, President, Center for Sustainable Communities
• Mine Hashas-Degertekin, Associate Professor of Architecture, Kennesaw State University
• Fatemeh Shafiei, Professor of Political Science and Chair; Director, Environmental Studies, Spelman College
• Pegah Zamani, Associate Professor of Architecture; Chair, KSU Presidential Commission on Sustainability, Kennesaw State University

Track I: Transforming Education and Society through University-Community Partnerships.

Location: Student Success Center President’s Suite B

Global and international studies programs are increasingly popular at colleges and universities. What are the logistical challenges and intellectual opportunities of building these interdisciplinary programs? Scholars from a range of different models will discuss these issues.

MODERATOR:

• Laura A. Hastings, Undergraduate Director, Global Studies Institute, Georgia State University

PANELISTS:

• Esther Jordan, Associate Director for Faculty Support, Center for Excellence in Teaching Learning (CETL), Associate Professor of Political Science, School of Government and International Affairs, Kennesaw State University
• Amanda Murdie, Department Head, Department of International Affairs, Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia
• Alexandru Balas, Director, Clark Center for Global Engagement, Associate Professor, International Studies, SUNY Cortland

Track II: Teaching and Learning in Global Studies

Location: Student Success Center President’s Suite D

This panel explores the relationship between violence and the media, addressing issues of news coverage of violence, violence as entertainment, and the influence of the Internet and social media on this relationship.  

PANELISTS:

• Weeda Mehran, Post-doctorate Fellow of the Global Studies Institute, Georgia State University
• Yannick Veilleux-LePage, Senior Research Associate, Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative, Georgia State University
• Jeremiah Favara, Visiting Fellow, The James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference, Emory University
• Ben Miller, Senior Lecturer of Technical Writing and Digital Humanities with the Writing Program and the Department of Quantitative Theory and Methods, Emory University

Track III. Global Connections: Inequality and Interchange

Location: Student Success Center President’s Suite A

SPEAKER:

• Karim Elgendy, Lead sustainability consultant at Dar, based in London. Elgendy is also the founder of Carboun, an initiative advocating for sustainability in cities of Middle East and North Africa.

Track IV: Translating Sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa

Location: Student Success Center President's Suite C

This session will highlight frontiers of research in the area of development economics. The session will include research presentations on a wide range of topics, covering both micro and macro perspectives of development. This is the first time scholars who are actively conducting research in development economics, will come together in the hope of forming a professional network to enhance collaboration among higher educational institutes in Atlanta and nearby areas.

CHAIR:

• Shatakshee Dhongde, Associate Professor of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology

WELCOME:

• Laura Taylor, Chair at the School of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology

PANELISTS:

• Peter Brummund, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Alabama
• Alejandro Del Valle, Assistant Professor of Risk Management and Insurance, Georgia State University
• Mateusz Filipski, Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Georgia
• Xuepeng Liu, Professor of Economics, Kennesaw State University
• Nicholas Magnan, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Georgia
• Paloma Moyano, Visiting Faculty, Emory University
• Stephen O'Connell, Assistant Professor of Economics, Emory University
• Abhra Roy, Associate Professor of Economics, Finance, & Quantitative Analysis, Kennesaw State University
• Angelino Viceisza, Associate Professor of Economics, Spelman College
• Laura Zimmermann, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, University of Georgia

Track V. Challenges in Development: A Global-Local Perspective