INTS is pleased to welcome Shane Barter as new Director. He carries on the work of Ian Read before him (and Lisa MacLeod before him!), so that he may focus his attention on the SUA Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Human Rights. Thank you, Ian, for your service as Director!
Year: 2020
INTS Professor Ian Read publishes new co-edited book, The Shapes of Epidemics and Global Disease
Dr. Ian Read has published a new co-edited book, The Shapes of Epidemics and Global Disease. Published by Cambridge Scholars publishing and co-edited with Andrea Patterson (Cal State Fullerton), the book features chapters by several SUA faculty members (including Lisa Crummet, Xiaoxing Liu, Ted Lower, and Michael Weiner) along with other leasing scholars.
Congratulations to Ian and his collaborators for this timely new book!
Four INTS Alumni Publish with INTS Professor
Four INTS / SUA alumni and INTS faculty member Shane Barter have published a new book chapter, “State Religious Violence”, as part of Religious Violence Today: Faith and Conflict in the Modern World, a two-volume set edited by Michael Jerryson. The 80 page chapter features entries on dozens of religious conflicts, with entries authored with Jaroslav Zapletal (2018), Amanda Boralessa (2018), Vasko Yorgov (2019), and Mahesh Kushwaha (2019).
SUA students participated in the Yale International Policy Competition (YIPC) at Yale University
On February 7th – 9th 2020, Moses Addai (Class of 2022), Mary Amde (2020), Bikash Gupta (2020), and Thuy Le (2022) participated in a student-led policy competition to write and present a one-page policy brief on “Natural Disasters Response and Management in the Caribbean”. The competition encouraged students to be in the position of policymakers who had limited resources and time to create solutions for complex issues.
After the topic was announced, students had 12 hours to develop an innovative and feasible policy memo to present to a group of policy experts. “Even though the topic was not what we expected, it allowed us an opportunity to learn about the Caribbean and the challenge the region faces” (Moses Addai). “We decided to take an interdisciplinary approach and incorporate each of our unique ideas. Although this decision would later become the main criticism we received from judges, I believe it was what made our policy memo stand out.” (Mary Amde). “I learned that strong leadership was essential for the success of teamwork. A great leader should have the ability to coordinate different ideas and maintain a calm disposition even in the most stressful situations.” (Thuy Le). “By participating in the competition, I was able to learn more about myself, my strengths and my weaknesses, and envision actionable ways by which I could evolve into a better researcher and policymaker.” (Bikash Gupta).
To read the full report, please read Yale International Policy Report.
INTS Hosts Dr. Andrea Bartoli, the president of the Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue
On February 10th, Dr. Andrea Bartoli lectured on “The Community of Sant’Egidio and the Insight of Approach: The Challenge of Understanding Peace-Work”. Dr. Bartoli introduced the main pillars of the Sant’Edigio Foundation; prayer, service to the poor, and peace. Based on the Christian community values, the Foundation is committed to protect and serve whoever is in the moment of need and to establish peace and reconciliation to tackle the roots of suffering caused by war and conflicts.
Dr. Bartoli argues that war and conflict are powerful through their normalization. “War is using people. It’s only peace that has the capacity to release peace”. Dr. Bartoli stated that “peace as yearning”, advocating that when “people stop listening to the voice of those living in poverty, peace is silenced”. Based on the principle that “seek what unites not what divides”, the Foundation has strengthened its commitment to promote interreligious dialogues for peace. Three SUA’s students Leonardo Salvatore (Class of 2022), Rebecca Bennett (Class of 2021), and Ashley Bustamante (Class of 2022), conducted the Q&A session on the practices of the Community approach in peacebuilding in conflict resolutions. Dr. Bartoli concluded by stating the importance of dialogue not as a reactive form, but as a form of listening to the sufferings of others as the first step to conflict resolution.