World Affairs Council of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky

Identity, Belonging, and International Responses to Racism
2020-11-19 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | OH
About the Speaker: For more than 41 years Dr. Renee Campbell has practiced in the areas of education and social work. In the last 22 years of this experience she served as President/CEO of a human services organization that “helps people help themselves.” Outside of her full-time job she offers individual and group virtual anti-racism group education, coaching, mindfulness training, international program development and implementation, communication skills, and motivational speaking. She enjoys teaching at numerous Colleges and Universities, and she taught at one that is a leading University, according to US News and World Report.
Her work, interest and passion extend beyond our borders to Africa, where in 2005 she was appointed Sub-Chief by the Tolon Traditional Council in the village of Tolon, Ghana. In Tolon she created, directed and facilitated life changing programs for women and families. As one of the founding Mothers of the Louisville Clothesline Project, she brought attention to the widespread abuse of women. Dr. Campbell’s experience includes spearheading, developing and implementing a program that brings attention to sexual assaults of women in Okinawa, Japan
About the Program: Dr. Renee Campbell, Clinical Assistant Professor & Coordinator of Online Field Program at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work and Executive Director of Phoenix Global Humanitarian Foundation will speak about her work in the United States and in Ghana. Dr. Campbell will discuss her identity, belonging, and international responses to racism.

Your Mental Health Matters: In Conversation with Norman Sartorius
2020-11-19 18:00 - 19:30
About the Speaker: Professor Norman Sartorius was the first Director of the Division of Mental Health of WHO, a position which he held until mid-1993. In June 1993 Professor Sartorius was elected President of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and served as its President until August 1999.

Dr Sartorius obtained his M.D. in Zagreb (Croatia). He specialized in neurology and psychiatry and subsequently obtained a Masters Degree and a Doctorate in psychology (Ph.D.). He has also received honorary doctorates from universities in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Romania, Sweden and the UK and is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is an Honorary member of the Medical Academies in Mexico, Peru and Croatia and a corresponding member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Spanish Royal Medical Academy.
About the Program: The COVID-19 global health crisis illustrates many of the transnational governance challenges the United States faces today. In today’s interconnected world, health has moved beyond being “just” a humanitarian issue to being one with national economic and security interests. Recently, the White House announced that the United States is withdrawing its support for the WHO and will not take part in a global effort led by the WHO to develop and distribute a vaccine for the coronavirus.
In this timely session, Dr. Norman Sartorius will review the history and mandate of the organization and the roles that the USA has played since its inception. He will convey how it benefits the USA to be engaged in the work of the WHO and what is likely to result from its absence both in terms of who will fill those voids and the potential negative outcomes.
Dr. Sartorius will also describe the development of the mental health program of the WHO and the work that he and his successors have done to put mental health on the agenda and to improve the care and treatment of persons with mental illness around the world – a subject closely related to the wide-ranging impact of a global pandemic on all aspects of health.

EACC Celebration - Beaujolais Nouveau Nouveau (BN2)
2020-11-19 18:30 - 20:30
Join the EACC on Thursday, November 19 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. for our Beaujolais Nouveau Nouveau (BN2) celebration!

Individual registration is now open! With your individual ticket, you will have access to join the virtual BN2 program on Zoom to hear remarks from our incoming and outgoing Board Presidents; to learn more about Beaujolais wine; take part in virtual networking breakout rooms; and even to enjoy the music of the Faux Frenchmen. And we’ll also hear from and have an interactive Q&A session with the Ambassador of France to the United States, Philippe Etienne (invited).
If your company is interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact EACC Executive Director Todd Schwartz (todd.schwartz@europe-cincinnati.com).

Presenting Sponsor:

Gold Sponsors:

Silver Sponsors:

Deceuninck North America
MCM CPAs & Advisors
Thompson Hine LLP

Board Member Patrons:

Bobby Spann, CVG Airport
Cierra Clymer, REDI Cincinnati
Drew Collins, Bannockburn Global Forex
Sheila Spradlin Reich, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Speed Networking: Meet Global Professionals (College and High School Students ONLY)
2020-11-20 09:00 - 11:00
Students have the opportunity to meet with local professionals as they discuss their global career, pathway, and more!
This is the time for our local students to ask questions directly to individuals who have “been there”, providing students with the mentality to begin planning and preparing for their own future careers. Some professionals include lawyers, engineers, patient care coordinators and more. Let’s be pro-active, and get your students engaged! Click the link below to register.

Global Storytelling Interactive Discussion
2020-11-20 12:00 - 14:00
Join people from around the world as you reflect on the weeks’ events on Peace and Justice. Why was it important for you to participate in this weeks events? What issues matter most to you? How can you make an impact in your community?
This workshop will be presented by Joey Taylor of BeSpoken Live on Campus, a storytelling, story-listening, and mindfulness program designed to create a safe space for high school students to find their voice together. This interactive workshop will walk students through their own reflections as they digest a week full of Peace and Justice topics.
What’s next? Go establish justice so there can be peace! : )

Supporting the Environment - Rotary Club Series
2020-12-01 19:30 - 20:30
Cincinnati Rotary Club’s Sustainable City Seminar – Part One
Oliver Kroner, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Cincinnati, will illustrate why Cincinnati is winning national recognition for its bold goals and rapid progress in making our energy, transportation, solid waste, and food systems more sustainable, resilient, and equitable. The Rotary Club of Cincinnati’s Ariel Miller, environment reporter for Rotary’s Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group, will outline the kinds of initiatives that Rotary is now encouraging worldwide to mitigate climate change’s rising harm to health, food security, community economic development, and peace. These include the SUN solar schools initiative the Rotary Club of Cincinnati is supporting this year in Uganda.
Sign up at office@cincinnatirotary.org
Download flyer here.

My IVLP Moment: Celebrating 80 Years
2020-12-09 14:30 - 15:30
The IVLP has 225,000 alumni cultivating relationships and addressing strategic U.S. policy issues. As we continue to build relationships and move forward together, we celebrate the power of exchanges through storytelling. Join us on December 9, 2020 at 2:30 PM Eastern Time (Washington, D.C.) to hear from key alumni and build your own IVLP Moment with a storytelling workshop.
You can also participate on social media by sharing your own self-recorded 2-4 minute video telling your own personal IVLP story with #MyIVLPMoment!
Register here!

Diplomacy After Hours: The 25th Anniversary of the Dayton Accords
2020-12-10 16:00 - 17:00
National Museum of American Diplomacy presents… Diplomacy After Hours!

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Dayton Accords, a historic diplomatic achievement negotiated in Dayton, Ohio that ended the war in Bosnia. Join us for a conversation between NMAD Director Mary Kane, NMAD Public Historian Dr. Alison Mann, Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph, and Ambassador Christopher Hill as they discuss their first-hand experiences around the negotiations.

The program will be hosted virtually. Visit the link below to register:
https://iipstate.secure.force.com/Events?objType=CRM&id=a0Ut000000EdJ4T

SUPPORTING THE ENVIRONMENT – ROTARY CLUB SERIES
2020-12-15 19:30 - 20:30
Thomas Schultz of Green Umbrella will report on this breakthrough collaboration whose 37 members – including major corporations like P&G and Kroger – have committed to reduce the energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions of their buildings by 50% by 2030. This portfolio represents over 300 properties and almost 26 million square feet. Members also commit to improvements in building occupants’ health outcomes. The talk will include information on the technical assistance available to members and how to join the project.
Sign up at office@cincinnatirotary.org
Download flyer here.

SUPPORTING THE ENVIRONMENT – ROTARY CLUB SERIES
2021-01-05 19:30 - 20:30
Rotarian Chip Carson, MD, PhD, a professor, toxicologist and environmental and occupational physician whose research and consultation is global, will explain why climate change is the greatest single future threat to the health of children worldwide, through impacts including extreme weather events, emerging disease, and famine. He will outline ways we can mitigate a catastrophic future. Care for vulnerable children is one of the Rotary Club of Cincinnati’s top philanthropic priority.
Sign up at office@cincinnatirotary.org
Download flyer here.

World Affairs Council of Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky 2021 Annual Meeting
2021-01-13 18:30
https://globalcincinnati.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/we-see-a-kindred-spirit-in-you-donate-today.mp4

During this challenging year, the Council has pivoted to virtual learning opportunities for students and teachers; innovated with virtual exchanges; and moved quickly to continue to have monthly webinars with foreign affairs speakers. Despite the uncertainty, we remain committed to serving our community and helping to diminish boundaries.
We look forward to reflecting on our 2020 community impact and we could not have done it without your support this year.
In 2021, we need YOU more than ever! In whatever way we can safely accomplish it, the Council is going to continue creating international connections, raising awareness on imperative global topics, and developing empathy within students.
We hope you’ll join us to discover how you can support this important global but local work. Visit our website below to register:
https://globalcincinnati.networkforgood.com/events/25665-2021-annual-meeting

Global Energy Forum – The Atlantic Council
2021-01-19 - 2021-01-22
The Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum annually convenes the world’s top energy and foreign policy decision-makers to set the global energy agenda for the year ahead and examine the longer-term geopolitical and geo-economic implications of the changing energy system. The 2021 Forum will have a special focus on the post-pandemic energy system, emerging net-zero carbon goals, the role of the Middle East in the energy transition, and the US’s energy and foreign policy priorities in the Biden administration. CCWA is an institutional partner with The Atlantic Council on this forum, and CCWA members benefit from complimentary basic access tickets.
Use registration code CLEVELAND2021GEF.
For details and registration: Global Energy Forum – Atlantic Council

SUPPORTING THE ENVIRONMENT – ROTARY CLUB SERIES
2021-01-19 19:30 - 20:30
Carla Walker, the Climate Advisor for Cincinnati through the American Cities Climate Challenge and Savannah Sullivan, Green Umbrella’s new Climate Policy Lead, will describe two breakthrough strategies to reduce utility costs for low income renters. As our city faces an epidemic of evictions and utility shut-offs, WarmUp Cincinnati helps tenants conserve energy and the City’s matching grant program to help landlords make capital investments to improve their building’s efficiency.
Sign up at office@cincinnatirotary.org
Download flyer here.

International Day of Education Symposium
2021-01-25 10:30 - 17:30
Education: A Human Right, a Public Good, and a Public Responsibility
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, a majority of countries announced the temporary closure of schools, impacting more than 91% of students worldwide. As International Day of Education focuses global attention on this issue, what actions can we take to improve outcomes for all?
Even before the pandemic struck, 258 million children and youth did not attend school; 617 million children and adolescents could not read or do basic math; less than 40% of girls in sub-Saharan Africa completed lower secondary school; and some four million children and youth refugees were out of school.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenge all nations to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by the year 2030. Join us as we mark International Day of Education 2021 with local and international experts who will discuss how inclusive, quality education will be critical in supporting our most vulnerable populations post-COVID, in achieving gender equality, in breaking the cycle of poverty, and in securing a peaceful and prosperous future for everyone.
Learners of all ages are invited to join and hear from the leaders who are shaping the future of education.
ASL interpreters and closed-captioning will be available. Thanks to St. Cloud State University Confucius Institute for providing this service.
Featured Speakers

Audrey Azoulay, Director General, UNESCO
David Edwards, General Secretary, Education International
Neel Kashkari, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Justice Alan Page (retired), Founder/Chair, Page Educational Foundation
Atul Tandon, CEO, Opportunity International
Sondra Samuels, President/CEO, Northside Achievement Zone
Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, President of the California State Board of Education, Head of Education Transition Team for President-elect Joe Biden
Jack Dangermond, Founder and CEO, Esri

Thank You to Sponsors

Gold Sponsors – Communicating for Agriculture Exchange Programs, Hormel Foods Corporation
Silver Sponsor – Atomic Data

Thank You to Program Partners

World Affairs Councils of America

Thank you to promotional partners Citizens for Global Solutions; Education International; French American Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota Chapter; Fulbright Association – Minnesota Chapter; High Tech Kids; Northside Achievement Zone; Opportunity International; Page Education Foundation; South Dakota World Affairs Council; TeamWomen; and UNESCO.

The Future of US Policy in Afghanistan: Human Rights, US Military Presence & Confronting the Taliban
2021-01-25 13:00 - 14:15
A panel of experts to address advances in human rights, the status of US military presence in the region, and efforts to confront the Taliban

Join us on Monday, January 25th for a discussion on the future of U.S. policy in Afghanistan, featuring a diverse panel of experts: Associate Asia Director of Human Rights Watch (BRUSSELS) Patricia Gossman; The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs Hosna Jalil; Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation Dr. Asfandyir Mir; Co-Director of Brookings’ Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology Michael O’Hanlon; and Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili (moderator).

As of November 2020, U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan appears closer to an end, with U.S. troop levels decreasing in line with the February 29, 2020, U.S.-Taliban agreement on the issues of counterterrorism and the withdrawal of U.S. and international troops. This conversation will address U.S. efforts to withdrawal troops, build counterterrorism agreements, while also working to help maintain Afghanistan’s political and major human rights achievements secured over the past decade. The discussion will consider how these efforts can be achieved despite the outsized role U.S. assistance plays in supporting the Afghan government and amidst the backdrop of a strengthened Taliban military position within the region.

#FacesOfExchange Connection of 2021 with Mona Taha
2021-01-27 11:00
Our first #FacesOfExchange of 2021 will feature Mona Taha on January 27, 2021 at 11:00 AM EST (Washington, DC Time).
Mona first came to the United States in 2010 on a “Changing Demographics and Multi-Culturalism in the U.S.” MRP. Her original project was organized by Janice Brummond in our office and Michele Titi and Elizabeth Barry at Meridian International Center and went to Houston, Minneapolis/Phoenix, and ended in New York City.

Our office will implement this as a virtual activity and that provides us a small budget, so we will have three interpreters on the project to help facilitate communication. The conversation will be in Arabic and we would love it if you could join us and invite resources from the previous International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) project and invite your membership, leadership, and potential new resources. Mona will share how IVLP changed her impressions of the United States. Her bio from our Faces Campaign:

Mona Taha Abdel Alim Attia is a prominent Egyptian women’s rights activist who first visited the United States through the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and defines it as a life-changing experience that helped her eliminate many stereotypes about the United States. Ms. Attia wrote a story inspired by her IVLP and the diversity of her fellow participants called, “A Singing Bird in Washington, D.C.” In her writing, she explores stereotypes based on religion and culture and shows that our basic humanity has the potential to bring us together. Ms. Attia’s work to empower women in Egypt includes creation of a leadership program that has trained more than 700 women. Her work on the gender imbalance in business in Egypt has shown women business owners new income generating activities. Since her IVLP, Attia has shared with Egyptians her firsthand experiences of life in the United States. She is proud to have stayed in touch with fellow IVLP participants and continues to draw support and inspiration from the group. Mona Taha Attia is an influencer seeking to build a better life for Egyptians by empowering women.

One of the key aspects that we’ve refined is a way to share potential new connections in the United States and that has worked out well, and we look forward to sharing additional resources with Mona from your community.

Let’s Talk: Human Trafficking Awareness
2021-01-30 10:00 - 10:30
On January 4, 2010, President Barack Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. This proclamation included a call to action, with President Obama encouraging “the people of the United States to recognize the vital role we play in ending modern slavery.”
Christopher Miller, a Senior Director at the National Underground Railroad Freedom sat down with Philip Langford, President of the International Justice Mission, United States for a virtual gallery talk. Langford leads cohorts responsible for IJM’s constituent, government and institutional partnerships. He drives the core US strategies and engagements that fuel IJM’s growth around the globe. With the backdrop of National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Miller and Langford discussed various topics related to modern day enslavement including the impact of the global pandemic on IJM’s efforts in combating modern-day slavery.

This program will be released on their Youtube Channel and shared via social media on January 30, 2021.

SUPPORTING THE ENVIRONMENT – ROTARY CLUB SERIES
2021-02-02 19:30 - 20:30
Rotary Club of Cincinnati Rotarian, Sam Schutte, will tell the story of the Anerobic Digestion facilities that his company, Synthica Energy, is developing to create renewable natural gas from diverted organic wastes. Synthica’s plants will have the capability to divert 190,000 tons/year of organic wastes from local landfills and wastewater treatment plants, enabling business customers to reduce their disposal costs as well as pollution.
Sign up at office@cincinnatirotary.org
Download flyer here.

February Member Salon: Securing the Capitol
2021-02-04 17:30 - 18:30
February Member Salon: Securing the Capitol
With Special Guest Kathy Stearman, Ret. FBI in Counterintelligence and Int’l Terrorism

Thursday, February 4, 2021
5:30 PM 6:30 PM

Google Calendar ICS

The January 6th breach of the US Capitol was a shock to all of us here in the U.S. and around the world. The scenes were reminiscent of instability and regime riots in countries with fragile democracies or other authoritarian governments. In the aftermath of the January 6 riots, many of us are asking, how could this have happened in the world’s most stable and secure democracy? What lead to the security breakdown at the Capitol?
Special guest and WAC Member, Kathy Stearman will share her insights and lead a discussion with WAC members on what happened on January 6th.
Ms. Stearman retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation after a 26-year career working counterintelligence and international terrorism. During her career, Ms. Stearman was assigned as the FBI Legal Attaché to Beijing, China where she was responsible for oversight of all FBI interests and concerns in the People’s Republic of China and Mongolia.
Prior to her posting as Legat Beijing, Ms. Stearman was the FBI Legal Attaché in New Delhi, India, responsible for all FBI operations in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Ms. Stearman is currently writing a book about her experiences heading FBI offices overseas, one of an extremely small group of female Special Agents to have done so. Ms. Stearman currently lives in Louisville with her husband, Keith.

MEMBERS ONLY – REGISTER

Not a Member? Join as a Member for this series!
ABOUT MEMBER SALONS
Grab a drink and unwind with WAC members in this exclusive monthly Member-only Salon! Engage in conversations and discussions that range from the serious to the light but are always intellectually stimulating. Discussions are led by WAC members and individuals across a variety of specialties. Don’t miss out on this exclusive series!

The Conversation America Needs: Civility, Bipartisanship, and America's Standing in the World
2021-02-09 18:00 - 19:00
Location
Your Home! (GoToWebinar)
Virtual Meeting URL: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1939475151830286347

Description

Join General Wesley Clark and Governor Larry Hogan for a townhall discussion moderated by Rob Quirk on the need for more unity and bipartisanship in our national politics and foreign policy. General Clark and Governor Hogan will discuss the renewed commitment to civics, civility and citizenship that is needed to resolve political differences and address the major issues that face America, especially in foreign policy, national security, and world affairs.
Presented By

About Our Speakers

General Wesley Clark
Retired General of the United States Army
General Wesley K. Clark (ret.) is a businessman, educator, writer and commentator.
General Clark serves as Chairman and CEO of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a strategic consulting firm; Chairman and Founder of Enverra, Inc. a licensed investment bank; Chairman of Energy Security Partners, LLC; as well as numerous corporate boards including BNK Petroleum and Leagold Mining. He is active in energy, including oil and gas, biofuels, electric power and batteries, finance, and security. During his business career he has served as an advisory, consultant or board member of over ninety private and publicly traded companies. In the not-for-profit space, he is a Senior Fellow at UCLA’s Burkle Center for International Relations, Director of the Atlantic Council; Founding Chair of City Year Little Rock/North Little Rock; and founder of Renew America Together. A best-selling author, General Clark has written four books and is a frequent contributor on TV and to newspapers.
Clark retired as a four star general after 38 years in the United States Army, having served in his last assignments as Commander of US Southern Command and then as Commander of US European Command/ Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. He graduated first in his class at West Point and completed degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University (B.A. and M.A.) as a Rhodes scholar. While serving in Vietnam, he commanded an infantry company in combat, where he was severely wounded and evacuated home on a stretcher. He later commanded at the battalion, brigade and division level, and served in a number of significant staff positions, including service as the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy (J-5). He was the principal author of both the US National Military Strategy and Joint Vision 2010, prescribing US warfighting for full-spectrum dominance. He also worked with Ambassador Richard Holbrooke in the Dayton Peace Process, where he helped write and negotiate significant portions of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. In his final assignment as Supreme Allied Commander Europe he led NATO forces to victory in Operation Allied Force, a 78-day air campaign, backed by ground invasion planning and a diplomatic process, saving 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing.
His awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Defense Distinguished Service Medal (five awards), Silver star, bronze star, purple heart, honorary knighthoods from the British and Dutch governments, and numerous other awards from other governments, including award of Commander of the Legion of Honor (France). He has also been awarded the Department of State Distinguished Service Award and numerous honorary doctorates and civilian honors.

Governor Larry Hogan
Governor of the State of Maryland
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is not a career politician. He spent nearly his entire career as a small businessman. Fed up with high taxes, politics as usual, and decades of a one-party monopoly, he started Change Maryland, the largest non-partisan grassroots citizen organization in state history. In 2014, out-numbered in party registration by more than 2-1, and outspent by more than 5-1, Governor Hogan pulled off the biggest upset in America to become only the second Republican Governor elected in Maryland in 50 years.
Governor Hogan quickly got to work and set an example for the nation, accomplishing what many believed was no longer possible: reaching across the aisle, and working together to achieve real bipartisan, common sense solutions. He eliminated the $5.1 billion deficit and cut taxes four years in a row. Under his leadership, Maryland produced one of the greatest economic turnarounds of any state in the nation. Governor Hogan also accomplished innovative health care solutions and made historic investments in education, transportation infrastructure, and in protecting the environment.
After four years of economic success and bipartisan progress – in one of the bluest states in America – Governor Hogan was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2018 to a second term, making him only the second Republican to do so in the entire 243 year history of the state. His cross-party appeal is evident in polls, which consistently shows an overwhelming majority of all Republicans, Democrats and Independents – nearly 80% of all Marylanders – approve of the job he is doing, which is the highest of any governor in Maryland history. He recently served as Chairman of the National Governors Association, leading the nation’s governors during the COVID-19 pandemic. National rankings consistently show Governor Hogan as one of the most popular governors in America.

About Our Moderator

Rob Quirk
Anchor/Moderator
Rob Quirk is an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist. He has been the primary weeknight news anchor at News5 for nearly 30 years. Rob says that he is honored and humbled to have been able to bring the most important stories of the day to our News5 viewers, to act as an advocate for them, and work with them, in developing a partnership and relationship that has kept News5 the number one source of news for all of Southern Colorado.
He has been involved with the production and reporting of many important and historic stories and events across Southern Colorado since 1989. His anchoring, reporting and producing have won numerous awards with the Colorado Broadcasters Association and the Associated Press. Including a one-on-one interview with President Obama at the White House, the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest wildfires, summer of 2013 flash flooding, the Aurora theater massacre, Columbine, and the federal trial of Oklahoma City bombing suspect, Timothy McVeigh.
Rob is also very involved in numerous causes across Southern Colorado that are very close to his heart, most notably, the Multiple Sclerosis Society Walks in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, which have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for those families struggling with M-S.
Rob was awarded Broadcast Citizen of the Year, in 2000, by the Colorado Broadcasters Association, for all of his volunteer and community service work.
Rob is a graduate of Arizona State University. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife of nearly 35 years, Jackie. They have two daughters, Molly and Alison. Rob is originally from Lockport, New York, and is the 4th of 9 children.
Rob is very active outside the newsroom. Enjoying the beautiful trails and mountain vistas of Colorado. Hiking, skiing and golf are some of his recreational passions. Also a big sports fan, Rob follows our Colorado College Tiger hockey, and all Air Force Falcon sports.

Global Dialogue | A Conversation With Hon. Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the United States of America
2021-02-09 20:00 - 21:00
Global Dialogue Webinar Series
A Conversation With
Hon. Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman
Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the United States of America

and host
Patrick Ryan
Founding President, TNWAC

Join us for this conversation with the Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the U.S., Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, a great friend of the Tennessee World Affairs Council and homeland connection to the thousands of Iraqi Kurds who call Nashville home as new Americans. TNWAC thanks her for her previous programs with the Council including hosting our visiting student groups in Washington, D.C.
***
There is a Kurdish proverb, “No friends but the mountains,” that captures the sense of what the Kurds face as an ethnic group living across several international borders in the Middle East. The Kurds living in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq have suffered at the hands of the Saddam Hussein government — enduring genocidal campaigns — and attacks from the Islamic State Caliphate.
At the end of the Operation Desert Storm, when a U.S.-led military coalition reversed Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, he turned his army on the Kurds in the north and the Shia minority in the south. The Kurds were being driven into the mountains. Here is how Madam Abdul Rahman described it during a 2016 program with TNWAC and Lipscomb University:
Saddam turned his weapons on us because he had by then been thrown out of Kuwait, and he committed terrible crimes during that period of the uprising. And this was just a couple of years after the chemical bombardment of Halabja, where five thousand people were killed, and the Anfal genocide campaign, where two hundred fifty thousand people were killed.
So when Saddam turned against the Kurdish people everybody thought he would use chemicals again. Everyone fled. They fled to the borders of Iran and Turkey. This was in the spring of 1991, an incredibly cold spring, severe weather conditions. People died on the mountaintops. People starved. They died of exhaustion and exposure.
The United States, Britain, France launched Operation Provide Comfort. It was the biggest military and humanitarian operation, and probably the most successful in history. I’ve met some of the military leaders, American military leaders who were involved in that operation, General Jim Jones, General Bob Barrow, General Jay Garner, and others who were involved in that operation, and they all speak of that operation with great pride because they saved lives. They saved hundreds of thousands if not one and a half million lives.
[Complete remarks here]
The United States went on to enforce a UN “No Fly Zone” that prevented Saddam from persecuting the Iraqi Kurds and allowing the Kurdistan Region to develop as an autonomous area. The 2003 invasion of Iraq permanently eliminated the threat from Saddam. In recent years the Kurds were again beset by the ominous threat posed by the Islamic State. The remarkably brave Peshmerga fighters of Kurdistan stood against ISIS with American and other coalition troops and support joining in the campaign. We commend to your reading the remarks of Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman during her April 2016 program in Nashville.
The KRG enjoys a special relationship with the United States. The Kurdish people have been reliable partners, seeking democracy and independence and looking to the West for partners.
We invite you to talk with Madam Abdul Rahman in this special program.
***

Remarks from 2016 Visit

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman
Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the United States
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman is the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representative to the United States of America.
Key to her role are strengthening ties between Kurdistan and the United States, advocating her government’s position on a wide array of political, security, humanitarian, economic, and cultural matters and promoting coordination and partnership. Prior to her US appointment in 2015, Ms. Abdul Rahman was the High Representative to the United Kingdom. She was elected to the Leadership Council of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in 2010.
Before her career in public service, Ms. Abdul Rahman worked as a journalist for 17 years. She began her career on local newspapers in London and won the Observer Newspaper’s Farzad Bazoft Memorial Prize in 1993, which led her to work at The Observer and later at the Financial Times. She worked for the FT in Britain and in Japan, where she was Tokyo Correspondent.
Her late father, Sami Abdul Rahman, was a veteran of the Kurdish freedom movement, joining the Kurdistan Democratic Party in 1963 and playing a critical leadership role in the Kurdish and Iraqi opposition to Saddam Hussein’s regime. He held the post of Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government and General Secretary of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Sami Abdul Rahman was killed alongside his elder son Salah and 96 others in a twin suicide bombing in 2004.
Ms. Abdul Rahman was born in Baghdad. Her family briefly lived in Iran in the mid-1970s before moving to Britain in 1976. She is a history graduate from London University.
SPONSOR THIS PROGRAM!
We invite businesses, organizations and individuals to sponsor this event. It is through your support that we are able to bring quality global affairs programs to the community.
You can enroll for sponsorship through the Eventbrite ticketing below. For information about sponsoring other programs and series of events contact Patrick Ryan, TNWAC President @ 931-261-2353, pat@tnwac.org
Sponsorship at the $250.00 level accords you with recognition in program materials — web site, newsletters and social media — and with acknowledgement at the program start, as well as admission to the program. Thank you for your support.
THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS AWARENESS AND EDUCATION OUTREACH

Small World Cafe: Managing Change in the International Realm
2021-02-11 13:00
Our Small World Café is partnering with Global Ties Detroit to bring the world to your home through informal conversations with professionals from around the globe. Sessions are free. We encourage participants who are able to donate to our GoFundMe Charity page dedicated to our Youth Diplomats program or to Global Ties Detroit. Preregistration to each café is required.

On Thursday, February 11, 2021, from 12:00 – 1:00 PM Central Time (UTC -6), you are invited to meet Fred KETCHEM who will speak on “Managing Change in the International Realm.” Fred successfully completed a rewarding career with the U.S. Department of State. He retired as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Assistant Director of the Diplomatic Security Service. As a senior executive of the Diplomatic Security Service, Fred managed overall operations and set strategic goals to ensure the safety and security of U.S. diplomatic facilities worldwide.
During his long career, Fred also served as the Counselor for Regional Security to the U.S. Mission in Afghanistan, the first DSS Special Agent-in-Charge for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Senior Deputy Regional Security Officer to the U.S. Mission in Iraq, the Deputy Regional Director of Near Eastern Affairs and South Central Asia, the Senior Regional Security Officer to the U.S. Mission in Brazil and over 100 additional international postings.
He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and the recipient of numerous Department of State awards – including the Distinguished Honor Award, the Secretary’s Career Achievement Award, the State Department’s Award for Heroism and was the 2008 Diplomatic Security Employee of the Year. He was profiled in the book “The Secretary”, the National Geographic special “Inside the State Department” and the Discovery Channel’s “Secrets of Diplomatic Security.” Fred served honorably in the U.S. Navy.
Please join us for this informal coffee by registering through this link.

2021 Hybrid Learning Summit
2021-02-17 09:00 - 13:00
The Ohio Valley ESC is excited to be presenting the 2021 Hybrid Learning Summit on Wednesday, 2/17/21 from 9 am – 1 pm. PK-12 Teachers from across our region will be sharing their best practices in the areas of

Student Motivation
🤸,
Literacy ,
STEAM,
Career Tech ‍♀️,
Citizenship ️

Please encourage your teachers to register to attend this great opportunity by clicking on the link here, or below by the Summit poster.

Additionally, keynote speaker and Fulbright teacher Joshua Amstutz will be kicking-off the Summit with an inspiring address on Student Motivation in the Hybrid Learning World. You may preview his keynote address by clicking on this link to my brief interview with Mr. Amstutz.

They are also still accepting session proposals through January 26th. More information about submitting a proposal can be found by clicking the link here.

The Summit is the apex event of the OVESC’s 2020-21 Teaching & Learning professional development series. We look forward to you joining us!

The 2021 Europe Webinar Series: Doing Business in Spain
2021-02-23 11:00
Overview
Learn how Spain’s diversified economy and its growing green and digital industries offer unique opportunities for furthering U.S. exports. Don’t miss out on this rare chance to expand your market!

Objectives
Learn about the business opportunities in Spain.

Event Information

Learn about doing Business in Spain.
Understand how to access this important market.
Hear how the U.S. Commercial Service can assist your company with entering or expanding in the Spanish market
Join trade experts from the U.S. Commercial Service at U.S. Embassy Madrid and the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade

Please read the following information carefully:

The U.S. Commercial Service requires event registrants to accept specific Terms and Conditions and review Product Standards before payment can be collected.
Please read the Privacy Act Notice.
Date: February 23, 2021 Time: 11:00am ET (8:00am PT) Cost: $25 per participant.
You will receive 3 emails. First email is your registration receipt. Second eMail contains participation information. Reminder eMail 24-hrs in advance.
Participation is via your computer and telephone. You must dial into the telephone and log into the webinar to experience the webinar.
Please use Google Chrome when logging into the webinar.
Paid Participants will receive a copy of the power point presentation slides as well as a recording of the webinar.

Town Hall Discussion - International Education and COVID-19
2021-02-26 09:30
To reduce the spread of COVID-19, most countries around the world have decided to temporarily close educational institutions. However, learning has not stopped, but is now fully taking place online as schools and universities provide remote schooling. As these challenging times have made seeking a stable education harder, several organizations have adopted various unique methods to continue their work in educating and shaping young minds.
We are pleased to announce that we’re teaming up with CRRSS to host a Town Hall Discussion to discuss how we re-shaped our programs during the COVID-19 times. Our team will be discussing these changes and how we have navigated through them on Friday, 26 February 2021 at 09:30 am EST (20:00 IST, 15:30 CET).

TOWN HALL: EDUCATION & COVID-19.
Friday, 26 February 2021 at 09:30 am EST (20:00 IST, 15:30 CET).

Register here: https://www.thinkcrrss.com/panel-disscusions

The Impact on Japan and Geo-strategic Challenges in Asia: Two Perspectives
2021-03-02 18:00 - 19:00
Tune in to hear two different perspectives on the challenges of Japan and how they will set out to solve them. Join us in this special event! It will be a GREAT one!!
Visit the Japan America Society of Greater Cincinnati website to register:
https://jasgc.org/en/events/#!event/register/2021/3/2/the-impact-on-japan-of-geostrategic-challenges-in-asia-two-perspectives

Teacher Training - Using Sustainable Development Goals in the Virtual Classroom
2021-03-08 08:00 - 09:30
Join us for the first 2021 teacher training. We will have special guests joining us from Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, and Sri Lanka! You will have the chance to meet and interact with peers from around the world in education. Don’t miss out!!
Plus it is free to sign up & you will get CEU credit!

Too Much and Never Enough: Climate Change and Water Insecurity - Our discussion with Ambassador Kenneth Brill
2021-03-11 19:00
National and international security, stability and prosperity will face novel challenges in the coming decades. Rivalry between the “great powers” (U.S., China, and Russia), as well as between regional states, will remain a feature of 21st Century international relations. But novel transnational issues, such as climate change, cyber space, and pandemic diseases, will establish the context in which rivalries between states play out; at the same time, these transnational challenges will require global cooperation to prevent them from becoming potentially existential threats to human well being.

Climate change is the most all encompassing of transnational threats. The natural world, which is the basis for all human societies, had adapted to one set of climatic conditions, but is now adapting to new and still changing climatic conditions. That adaptation, the historical data show, will change the nature and location of the global water supply, whether frozen or liquid, as well as sea levels. This will lead to various kinds of water insecurity, which, in turn, will increase state fragility and failure, increasing the potential for instability and potentially domestic and cross-border conflict. To give an example of the scale of the issue, a 2015 National Academy of Sciences study suggested that an increase in global temperatures of 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit — a business-as-usual scenario — could lock in enough eventual sea-level rise to submerge land currently home to 470 to 760 million people globally by the end of the century. Asia would be the hardest hit region, but more than 20 million people would be affected in U.S. coastal areas.

Ambassador (ret.) Ken Brill will discuss how climate change is producing water insecurity, the various forms that insecurity can take, what regions globally are most prone to experiencing water insecurity, what the long term implications of growing water insecurity are, how these issues are being addressed currently and, and what more can be done manage water-related challenges to stability and prosperity.

About Ambassador Kenneth Brill

Ambassador (ret.) Kenneth C. Brill was a career Foreign Service Officer whose overseas posts were in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe. His domestic assignments included African and Middle Eastern issues, acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), and staff jobs for senior State Department policy officials.

Brill served as Ambassador to Cyprus for President Clinton and Ambassador to the IAEA and the UN Office in Vienna for President George W. Bush. In his final Foreign Service assignment, he was asked by the first Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, to establish and lead the U.S. National Counterproliferation Center, an organization providing strategic leadership to the U.S. Intelligence Community in countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and preventing WMD terrorism. After retiring from the Foreign Service he has worked with non-partisan NGOs in various capacities on issues ranging from nuclear security and strengthening America’s diplomacy to fragile states and climate change.

Brill is a graduate of Ohio University and received his MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He and his wife, Mary, have two children and one granddaughter. His op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, Politico, and The Hill.

An Evening with Samantha Power: Discussing “The Education of an Idealist”
2021-03-18 19:00 - 20:00
Samantha Power will discuss her New York Times-bestselling memoir and offer insight on a range of pressing global issues.

About this Event

Join the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center for a virtual conversation with Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. In this intimate and thought-provoking dialogue, Samantha Power will discuss her New York Times-bestselling memoir, The Education of an Idealist, and offer insight on a range of pressing global issues.
This memoir asks the question: What can one person do? At a time of upheaval and division, Samantha Power offers an urgent response to this question —and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives.
Themes discussed in the memoir are aligned with social issues explored in the Humanity Gallery within the Holocaust & Humanity Center’s museum at historic Union Terminal. In The Education of an Idealist, Power explains how she coined the term “upstander,” and how we all have the opportunity to be upstanders in unique ways. Upstanders are individuals who stand up for others and their rights. They fight against injustice and unfairness, and they use their character strengths to inspire action and become the best of humanity today.
“Every day, almost all of us find ourselves weighing whether we can or should do something to help others,” Power writes in the book. “We decide, on issues large and small, whether we will be bystanders or upstanders.”
Humorous and deeply honest, The Education of an Idealist lays bare the searing battles and defining moments of her life and shows how she juggled the demands of a 24/7 national security job with the challenge of raising two young children. Along the way, she illuminates the intricacies of politics and geopolitics, reminding us how the United States can lead in the world, and why we each have the opportunity to advance the cause of human dignity. Power’s memoir is an unforgettable account of the power of idealism—and of one person’s fierce determination to make a difference.
The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center is proud to host this event in conjunction with its Cincy Upstander Project. Through generous funding from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, the Cincy Upstander Project aims to inspire our community to become upstanders through a city-wide art campaign, monthly programs, museum tours, giveaways, and training opportunities.
When you purchase the Special Admission Package ($30), you receive:
• Admission to “An Evening with Samantha Power: Discussing ‘The Education of an Idealist’ and What It Means to Be an Upstander”
• Your own copy of “The Education of an Idealist,” provided by Joseph-Beth Booksellers and the Holocaust & Humanity Center
• Exclusive access to HHC’s Book Club. Hosted by our museum staff in early March, you can discuss the book in a casual format with other community members in preparation for Samantha Power’s lecture.
• A chance to win Cincy Upstander shirts, posters, masks, and museum tickets during HHC’s March giveaway event
General Admission, without a copy of the book, is $10.
About Samantha Power
Samantha Power is a Professor of Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School. From 2013-2017, Power served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a member of President Obama’s cabinet. From 2009-2013, Power served on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. Power began her career as a journalist, reporting from places such as Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, and she was the founding executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School. Power’s book, “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. She is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Chasing the Flame: One Man’s Fight to Save the World (2008) and The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir (2019), which was named one of the best books of 2019 by the New York Times, Washington Post, Economist, NPR, and TIME. Power earned a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Why Is It So Hard To Talk About Climate Change?
2021-03-23 18:00 - 19:00
The 2020-2021 Foreign Policy Forum Series is presented by Hitachi Healthcare Americas.
Climate change is one area where politics, economics, and science come together to create an all-encompassing challenge that must be met by leaders worldwide. Unfortunately, it is clear that the causes, effects, and policies needed to counter climate change are a point of contention, as everything regarding climate change has become politically divisive. Global issues require global responses and there is no agreement on whether or how the international community can coordinate approaches to the many challenges involving energy, environment, and fiscal responsibilities. Molly Williamson, a retired Foreign Service Officer and current scholar with the Middle East Institute, will explore key factors confounding policy makers and political leaders, both foreign and domestic.
Molly Williamson is a retired Foreign Service Officer, who served six different presidents, and achieved the rank of Career Minister. Williamson speaks extensively on energy, economic and demographic factors affecting foreign policy formulation, US-Middle East relations, especially regional unrest, the Israel-Palestine conflict, Iran and nuclear challenges, and the interagency process.
She is a scholar with the Middle East Institute and the National Council on US-Arab Relations, a consultant, and frequent guest lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, the Defense Institute of Security Cooperation, and the National Joint Staff College. Williamson has had a unique combination of policy positions in four Cabinet departments in the U.S. government as well as numerous diplomatic assignments in and about the Middle East. Williamson was the Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Energy with global responsibilities at the nexus of foreign policy and energy policy.
This webinar is free, but advanced registration is required.
Register HERE.
