Quarterly Newsletter | 2019 Summer Edition

Posted: July 11th, 2019 Current Issues, Get Involved, Global Education, Global Visitors, ONE World Gala

The World Affairs Council is the bridge that connects the world to one of America’s most vibrant regions. Through global education, international exchange, and cultural awareness initiatives, the council strengthens Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky’s international identity and engages individuals with foreign affairs.

At the Council, we strive to create cultural awareness and respectful citizenry engagement with the world. Our quarterly newsletter will provide our community with the latest news in the Council’s education programs, IVLP delegations, and speaking engagements.

Interested in getting involved? Learn more at globalcincinnati.org.

Global Education Programming

Global Dialogue

Thank you to our Academic Member, Hanover College for hosting two of our Global Chatter speakers this semester!

Charles Doarn, Research Professor in Family and Community Medicine at the University of Cincinnati discussed Global Health as a national security risk as we remain vulnerable to the emergence of new and deadly pandemics.

Catalin Macarie, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Co-instructor for the China Study Abroad Program at the University of Cincinnati Lindner College of Business discussed the current “earthquakes” taking shape in China.

International Trivia at NKU

We had the honor of partnering with Northern Kentucky University (NKU) as they hosted International Trivia for the American English Language Program (AELP) early in April.

The students were quizzed on international geography, language, Cincinnati international landmarks and more. Prateek Srivastava, our Communications and Programs Intern from Jaipur, India had the opportunity to join in on the fun and won some serious swag!

4th Annual World Maker and Inventor Expo

We had the opportunity to participate in the 4th Annual World Maker and Inventor Expo at Boone County High School.

Thank you to our Global Guides, Prerna and Prateek for volunteering their time and teaching the art of rangoli to the families of Boone County!

As international students living in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, Prateek and Prerna bring a dynamic intercultural learning experience to students in the classroom, after school, and at special events throughout the year. As they visit schools to empower young people of all ages to navigate the world and explore new perspectives.

Interested in becoming a Global Guide? This is a great opportunity to develop your public speaking and presentation skills, connect with young people, share your culture, and more.

Learn more here.

Art Meets World Showcase

The Global Classrooms program expanded to incorporate art education projects, transforming classroom presentations into experiential learning activities. To further develop intercultural understanding and awareness of being a good global citizen, students met with people from our community from Japan, China, Mexico, and India then together, they created an art project respective to each country. With an intentional focus to collaborate with Northern Kentucky schools, over 800 elementary students celebrated cultural diversity and inclusion in our community.

To conclude the academic year we hosted our first Art Meets World Showcase. Thank you to the Hellmann Creative Center and The Center for Great Neighborhoods of Covington for partnering with us as we celebrated a very successful year!

Thank you to our Global Guides from India, Japan, China, and Mexico for sharing their culture with our local students.

Due to the generosity of the community contributions to the ArtsWave campaign, the project is partially funded.

Academic WorldQuest

Congrats to our local Indian Hill High School Academic WorldQuest team for placing in 9th out of 45 teams from all over the United States!

Thanks to the World Affairs Councils of America for hosting yet another successful event as our local students competed NATIONALLY in Washington D.C. for the Academic WorldQuest competition this year.

Academic WorldQuest™ is a flagship youth education program of the national network of The World Affairs Councils of America. It is a team game testing high school students’ knowledge of international affairs. Four-person teams compete by answering multiple choice questions divided into ten unique and engaging thematic categories.

Approximately 4000 students across the country participate in competitions hosted by 50 local World Affairs Councils across the United States, including us! Winning teams are invited to represent their high school, city, and local council at the national competition held in the spring each year in Washington, DC.

Board Member of the Month – John Pinney

Here John is pictured at the Councils OneWorld Gala with ED, Michelle Harpenau and MC, Dean Regas

John Pinney is a senior trial lawyer in the Litigation Group and chairs the International Practice Group, focusing on international dispute resolution. He has served as lead trial lawyer in numerous complex commercial, international, banking, securities and trust litigation cases, including class actions. John has practiced in state and federal courts and before arbitration tribunals in approximately 35 states and foreign countries.

As the Co-Chair for the Ohio Legal Assistance Board, he supports and funds legal aid in our area. They are about to launch a new internet portal that will allow citizens to have access to JUSTICE. This new portal will have all legal information for domestic relationships, foreclosures, harassing predators, traffic tickets and more.

As the Vice Chair of our Board, John is the voice of our mission. He, along with the rest of the Board steer us towards a sustainable future by making sure our nonprofit has adequate resources to advance in our impact to promote global competence in the community.

Learn more about John Pinney and his international work at Graydon.

World Affairs Council is seeking a passionate, talented, global candidate to take on a full-time position as the Manager of Special Projects. This is an extraordinary opportunity for an individual with an interest in international affairs, event planning, and development.

The ideal candidate will have a passion for international knowledge and interest in generating new revenue sources, delivering innovative community events, a desire to be in a leadership role, and the capacity to work closely with a diverse group of community members to promote international understanding, education, engagement, and cooperation.

Read the complete World Affairs Council job description for Manager of Special Projects here.

Email a cover letter and resume to apply@cincyworldaffairs.org. Please do not call the office.

Help us get the word out! We know you have an awesome network…

Meet our Summer Interns

Our Summer Interns have begun their journey at the World Affairs Council and we couldn’t wait to feature them! Our interns are hard-working, detail-oriented, eager to make an impact, bursting with ideas, curious and best of all – they are determined to make a positive change in the world.

We are excited to have these individuals here for the summer to enhance our organization. As we pursue our mission to promote international understanding, education, engagement, and cooperation in our 21st-century global environment, we know they will be vital to our success.

Jill Krieger, Global Exchange Intern is pictured at Fountain Square with a visiting delegation from Ukraine. Read her blog post – Opening our home to Ukraine.

Please join us in welcoming our new interns! Read more about them here.

World Leaders Visit Cincinnati And Northern Kentucky

The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. Through short-term visits to the United States, current and emerging foreign leaders in a variety of fields experience this country firsthand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts. Professional meetings reflect the participants’ professional interests and support the foreign policy goals of the United States.

These past three months, the Council hosted 96 International Delegates from 43 countries discussing a variety of perspectives, swim coaches and administrators, police officers, journalists, and professors.

Thank you to all the professionals who met with our delegates and the hospitality hosts who welcomed them into an American home.

Click here to learn more about the visiting delegations.

Council Events and Programming

Happy Hour with Anne Grimes

The Council had the honor of hosting Anne Grimes, Office Director, International Visitors, U.S. Department of State here in the Cincinnati region along with an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) delegation from Moldova for a private happy hour with the World Affairs Council.

The evening was filled with gifts, delicious midwestern themed bites from La Soupe and wine from The Party Source! Special thank you to The Mercantile Library for a great space to host!

Global Gaggle

The Council hosted our first Global Gaggle of the year on Tuesday, April 16 at KY Innovation. The evening began with networking and happy hour with our visiting delegations discussing Social Entrepreneurship worldwide.

Anne Grimes, Head of the Office of International Visitors, U.S. Department of State gave an IVLP 101 briefing. Following a panel discussion from three of our delegates who represented Israel, Mexico, and Hong Kong as they spoke on their experiences and truths within their careers.

The evening was filled with great conversation, delicious bites and local beer from Rhinegeist and MadTree Brewing!

Spring Speaker Series | International Institutions Under Strain

Our Spring Speaker Series – International Institutions Under Strain was a great success! Thank you to all who hosted our guest speakers and made them feel welcomed in our city.

With the objective for our local community to gain deeper insights into foreign policy and affairs being discussed today this series highlighted the particular threats and future direction of three powerful international institutions: United Nations World Trade Organization – WTO & NATO. Read more here!

Missed the event? Check out our exclusive video interviews with Shelley Inglis of the University of Dayton Human Rights & Daniel Ikenson of The Cato Institute.

Listen to 91.7 WVXU as they featured our guest speaker Constanze Stelzenmueller of The Brookings Institution.

Travel the World Program

The World Affairs Council of Philadelphia organizes all the Travel the World trips for the national association of Councils and has been doing so for over 35 years. The program allows individuals to travel on unique tours to fascinating destinations, and have access to political experts and local guides who give behind the scenes views and briefings.

Michelle Harpenau, Executive Director for our local council was selected as the liaison for a nine-day French sojourn in world-famous Provence and in the Burgundy and Beaujolais wine regions. The group had the opportunity to cruise from Provençal Arles to historic Lyon along the fabled Rhône and Saône Rivers aboard the deluxe Amadeus Provence riverboat, launched in 2017.

Michelle has a BA in French Language and Literature from Fordham University. Prior to joining the Council, she was the Assistant Director of International Clients at Flat Hunter located in Paris, France.

Future of Korea

We had the honor of hosting three panelists from Washington D.C. to speak on the Future of Korea. Thank you to Yong Kwon, Communications Director of the Korean Economic Institute of America, Tristan Allen, North Korean Desk Officer of the U.S. Department of State, and Seungnam Lee, 2nd Secretary for the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the USA – for their expertise and a wonderful panel discussion at the The Phoenix.

Missed the event? Check out their feature with Michael A. Monks on 91.7 WVXU Cincinnati Edition.

The panelists reviewed the current and potential future relationships between the United States, current sanctions and security, and the financial issues pertaining to the Korea Peninsula.

Thank you to our sponsors – The World Affairs Councils of America and the Korea Economic Institute.

Global Eats

Food is celebrated all over the world – highlighting cultures, styles, and history!

At our 2019 One World Gala, supporting our global education programming, we offered auction items focused around international meals – Global Eats, a world of dinners.

Thank you to Dale and Cheryl Dean for hosting the first Global Eats, with dishes and wine pairings from France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. This special, private dinner event shared recipes by European chefs with our guests. What an impressive and elegant summer evening!

If you are interested in getting access to this opportunity next year, make sure to keep your eye out for the One World Gala details as well as online auction items.

Blog All About It

My 17 Week Internship at the Council

Taylor Budde joined our team as the Global Exchange Intern in the Spring of 2019. During her internship, she helped coordinate the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP), sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Taylor’s passion for international understanding was proven through her work every day. She graduated from Thomas More University this spring with a double major in International Studies and Economics. Read more about Taylor’s experience as an intern at the Council.

Meet our Global Guides

The Global Classrooms program has expanded to incorporate art education projects, transforming classroom presentations into experiential learning activities. To further develop intercultural understanding and awareness of being a good global citizen, students met with people from our community from Japan, China, Mexico, and India then together, they created an art project respective to each country. With an intentional focus to collaborate with Northern Kentucky schools, over 800 elementary students celebrated cultural diversity and inclusion in our community. Read more out our Global Guides.

Be an Ambassador for World Travelers

Cincinnati Refined is a digital guide to the Cincinnati society from downtown to the suburbs and beyond. Journalists, Di Minardi, a past intern of the Council featured us as a resource. Do you have what it takes to rep your city to visitors from around the world? Read more.