3rd Annual Nelson Institute Undergraduate Conference on Global Affairs

Location: Olmsted Center, Drake University

Friday, April 8– Saturday, April 9

The Nelson Institute for Diplomacy and International Affairs is pleased to announce the 3rd Annual Nelson Undergraduate Conference on Global Affairs at Drake University on April 8 and 9. The purpose of the conference is to recognize and share high-quality undergraduate research related to international and global topics.

Activities will include:

• Global Diplomacy group exercise, 
• a dinner social featuring international appetizers, 
• a keynote address by noted scholar Valerie Hudson, University of Texas A&M,
• student panels,
• and a closing luncheon with visiting Global Practitioner Peiqin Zhou, Nanjing University.

The registration deadline is March 28. 

Please register through the Drake University Global Affairs.  

Students who attend the full conference (both days) will receive a certificate of participation.  

Contact Denise Ganpat (denise.ganpat@drake.edu) with questions. 

Upcoming visiting choreographer and dancer, and Co.

Daniel Phoenix Singh, choreographer and dancer, along with his Dance Company, Dakshina, will visit and perform at Grinnell College in April. 

Daniel Singh, dancer/choreographer Photo source

Dakshina is an emerging dance company based in Washington D.C. that performs and presents Indian dance forms, such as Bharata Natyam, and Modern dance, mirroring the multiple identities of second generation South Asians. Daniel will be visiting many classes and connecting with several student groups while he is here, including the Asian American Association and the South Asian Student Organization.

Daniel/Dakshina will be in and out of Grinnell between April 3 and May 2. 

Dakshina will have a performance in Roberts Theater at 7:30pm on April 9. 

Daniel will choreograph a piece specifically for an auditioned group of Grinnellians. 

This piece by Daniel will be performed along with Celeste’s Dance Ensemble piece at the end of April (4/28-5/1).

There will also be events with student groups, a lunch talk and a faculty/staff dinner. For more information about Daniel and Dakshina, refer to their website: www.dakshina.org. Or contact Eden Marek, Artist@Grinnell Fellow, in Bucksbaum 141 (residency@grinnell.edu).

From the Fields to a Plate

2015 Grinnell-in-Washington Internship Seminar Course Final Project

Final project for the 2015 Grinnell-in-Washington Internship Seminar course.

Alumni in the Classroom brings Chuck Adkins-Blanch

Thanks to a new program at Grinnell College, Alumni in the Classroom, offered to connect students with alumni, David Cook-Martín department of sociology chair and director of the Center for International Studies, brought Chuck Adkins-Blanch '84 to campus for a lunch and lecture with students. 

 

Adkins-Blanch received a degree in history in 1984 and a juris doctorate in 1990 from the National Law Center, George Washington University. Straight away he began his career with the federal government and has spent his career specializing in immigration and nationality law. From 1990 to 1995 he worked for the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) as an attorney advisor, which he entered through the Attorney General's Honors Program. He served in various capacities the Office of the General Council from 1999 to 2004. Then he served as an immigration judge from 2004-2008 at the Headquarters Immigration Court. He served as BIA member from 2008 until 2013, when he was appointed as vice chairman of the Board. 

To augment a course on the sociology of law and migration, Adkins-Blanch was invited to discuss the application of asylum law in the United States as well as his own trajectory into law. Adkins-Blanch shared of his two study abroad experiences, one to Taiwan and the other to Spain, and how his time at Grinnell prepared him for his career. A dozen students came to the lunch prior to class, where students were able to listen, share their career interests and ask questions.  

One student asked, "How, as a judge, do you separate your emotions from a case?" Adkins-Blanch's response was simply, "you don't." He explained that if one doesn't have a heart for humankind then he or she should not be in the field. A second student inquired about how the appeals process takes place, and his lucid response outlined the process which was unfamiliar to most students. 

Adkins-Blanch's expertise and time on campus certainly opened students' eyes and enhanced the curriculum of this course.  

Chuck Adkins-Blanch '84, Board of Immigration Appeals, Vice Chairman will visit Grinnell College today, Feb. 9, 2016. Adkins-Blanch will discuss in a course on the sociology of law and migration, the application of asylum law in the United States as well as his own trajectory into law. 

If you are interested in attending, please contact David Cook-Martin (cookd@grinnell.edu).

For more information on Chuck Adkins-Blanch, go to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Carnival and Creativity, Paying Tribute with the Arts

10 years Post-Hurricane New Orleans & 5 years Post-Earthquake Haiti 

Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, and then in 2010 a massive earthquake shook the Caribbean island nation of Haiti. These two African Diaspora regions share similar French and African roots, a colonial legacy and a long, past struggle with slavery. However, the two also share common cultural ties to remember and annually celebrate the first Pre-Lenten festivals - Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnival in Haiti. Year after year, these festivals exhibit the capacity that music, dance, and art have to heal and empower.

To commemorate these cataclysmic events that devastated New Orleans and Haiti, the Grinnell College Music Department, in collaboration with the Center for Humanities, the Center for International Studies, and the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights, will sponsor a series of events on February 11 and 12, 2016.

These events are free and open to the public:

• Thursday, Feb. 11, 4:30-6:30pm, Bucksbaum 102 - New Orleans Brass Band Workshop with Bennie Pete, tuba and co-founder, Hot 8 Brass Band

• Thursday, Feb. 11, 7:30-9pm, Bucksbaum 152 - "If You Don't Like What the Big Queen Says, Just...": An Evening With Queen Reesie (Cherice Harrison-Nelson, curator of the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame and Big Queen of the Guardians of the Flame Mardi Gras Indians)

• Friday, Feb. 12, 4:15-6pm, Bucksbaum 152 - Carnival and Creativity Roundtable Discussion
• Discussants: Gage Averill, University of British Columbia; Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame; Tess Kulstad, Grinnell College; Bennie Pete, Hot 8 Brass Band; moderated by Mark Laver, Grinnell College

• Friday, Feb. 12, 8-9:30pm, Sebring Lewis Hall - Grinnell Jazz Ensemble Plays the Music of New Orleans, featuring Bennie Pete and Cherice Harrison-Nelson. Directed by Mark Laver.