World Minded Fall 2017

A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E R E V E S C E N T E R F O R I N T E R N AT I O N A L S T U D I E S AT W I L L I A M & M A R Y

VOL. 10, NO. 1, FALL 2017

W&M Sets Sail for ‘The Golden Shore of Far-Away’ THE MASON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS OFFERS A NEW GLOBAL BUSINESS MINOR PROGRAM IN DUBLIN

ALSO: SHARK TANK REWARDS ENTREPRENEURIAL SOLUTIONS TO REAL WORLD PROBLEMS AT THE CROSSROADS OF ART AND SCIENCE: ONE W&M STUDENT’S SUMMER WITH REMBRANDT

A PUBLICATION OF THE REVES CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AT WILLIAM & MARY VOL. 10, NO. 1, FALL 2017

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Alumna Profile: A Q&A with Kira Allmann ’10

FEATURES

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W&M Sails to Ireland with a New Global Business Minor

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Shark Tank Rewards Entrepreneurial Solutions to Real World Problems

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William & Mary Leads Internationally in Gifted Education

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Language Learning as a Gateway to Culture and Understanding

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Hosts’ warm embrace makes choirs’ trip to South Africa unique

STUDENT & FACULTY RESEARCH

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At the Crossroads of Art and Science: One W&M Student’s summer with Rembrandt VIMS grad students advise international fisheries

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP

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Danielle Makia J.D ’19, Reves Center Summer 2017 International Intern

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

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Nick Vasquez, International Travel and Security Manager

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Established in 1989, the Reves Center for International Studies is today one of the premier centers of its kind in U.S. higher education. Its mission is to support and promote the internationalization of learning, teaching, research and community involvement at William & Mary through programs for education abroad, international students and scholars, and global engagement across the university.

William & Mary is the number two public university for undergraduate study abroad participation, with over 50 percent of the university’s undergraduates studying outside the U.S. before graduation. This year, more than 1,000 international students, scholars and their families from nearly 70 countries have come to William & Mary. And the Reves Center encourages and assists numerous international strategic initiatives across the university, including the William & Mary Confucius Institute, which offers Chinese language and cultural activities to the campus and community, and the Institute for the Theory & Practice of International Relations, co-sponsored by the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, which supports faculty and student collaborations to find solutions to pressing global problems.

Reves Center Advisory Board - Fall 2017 Kira C. Allmann ’10

John F. Greenwood ’98

Judy P. Nance ’69

Dana B. Bennett

James D. Hunter ’85

Luis H. Navas ’82

R. Marc Johnson ’04

John E. Osborn ’79

Richard C. Kraemer, Jr. ’94

Sharon K. Philpott ’85, Vice Chair

United Kingdom Bethesda, MD

Michael R. Blakey ’98 Singapore

Guillermo S. Christensen Arlington, VA

Lee Welton Croll, Ph.D. ’95 United Kingdom

Scott R. Ebner ’96 Boston, MA

Barbara Pate Glacel ’70, Chair Oak Hill, VA

Gregory J. Golden Falls Church, VA

NEW IN PRINT NEWS BRIEFS WORLD MINDED

New York, NY Hong Kong

Charlottesville, VA Washington, DC

David C. Larson ’75 Fort Myers, FL

Donald F. Larson ’76 McLean, VA Leslie McCormack Gathy ’88 United Kingdom

Katherine W. Meighan ’92 Arlington, VA

Stephanie A. Morse ’92 Tallahassee, FL

Jupiter, FL Miami, FL

Seattle, WA

White Salmon, WA

Young Ju Rhee Boston, MA

Janet A. Sanderson ’77 Arlington, VA

Corey D. Shull ’06 Baltimore, MD

Patricia Trinler Spalding ’83 San Jose, Costa Rica

FROM THE DIRECTOR

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he list of world-renowned figures national level, we provided expertise on to grace the William & Mary immigration, and we worked to ensure campus, inspire our students, the well-being of William & Mary’s engage our faculty, and open DACA students. Through the Office of our minds, is nothing short of marvelGlobal Education, our undergraduate ous. Beginning in 1989, when the Reves students continue to open themselves Center for International Studies opened to the unfamiliar. Fifty-three percent its doors, our eminent guests have inof them devoted their time, energy, cluded Harriet Fulbright, Bill Moyers, and intellect to study abroad while and our current Chancellor and former they’re at William & Mary. With the Secretary of State Robert Gates ’65, support of the Reves Center, nearly L.H.D. ’98, to name only a few. In 2017 80 faculty presented their research in we welcomed such inspiring individuals cities across the globe. On campus, our as Soh Yeong Roh ’84, founder of Art Global Engagement Team facilitated Center Nabi, Gerald F. Seib, Executive an agreement between Fulbright-Spain Teresa Longo Washington Editor of the Wall Street and the MBA Program; and we opened Acting Vice Provost for International Affairs Journal, Ambassador Shari Villarosa the Reves Room for informed commuActing Director, Reves Center for International Studies J.D. ’78, and in collaboration with the nity-wide discussions on the pressing Presidential Precinct, twenty-five young issues of our time. leaders from eighteen African nations.

In this edition of World Minded, you will find special The Reves Center is key to William & Mary’s longstandemphasis on the connections that make international ing commitment to intellectual and international openness. work both crucial and rewarding. From the report on In both large and small ways, we enact and expand on this student-faculty research at AidData to the story of the commitment every day. This fall, through the Office of Inscience behind Rembrandt’s art, this edition sheds light on ternational Students, Scholars and Programs, we welcomed the ways international engagement opens minds, strength359 new international students, scholars, faculty, and their ens relationships, and informs policy. Even in challenging families to campus; and in light of policy changes at the times, this is the work that shapes a more peaceful world.

World Minded Staff

On the Cover

Editor: Kate Hoving, Public Relations Manager, Reves Center for International Studies

“The Golden Shore of Far-Away” is the title of a poem written

by Dr. George Sigerson (1836-1925), a neurologist in Dublin, and professor of zoology and botany at the University College Dublin. Sigerson and his wife Hester were dominant figures of the Gaelic Revival. They held Sunday evening salons at their Dublin home attended by leading artists, intellectuals and rebels. Sigerson’s poem was adapted in 1901 as the lyrics for the Irish tune, A Londonderry Air. Photo by Sarah Van Kirk

Contributing Writers: Anne Grasselli, Reves Center; David Malmquist, VIMS; David F. Morrill, W&M Law School; Rachel Sims, Reves Center; Jennifer L. Williams, University News & Media Graphic Designer: Rachel Follis, University Web & Design

FALL 2017

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Alumna Abroad

A Q&A WITH KIRA ALLMANN ’10

Where were you born?

New York, New York (yes, right in Manhattan, the city that never sleeps!)

and I told him about W&M and my intention to go somewhere out of state.

When our shift was over, he said he thought I should go to W&M. “I’m not Where do you live now? just saying this,” I remember him sayOxford, United Kingdom (this is a city ing. I asked why. He said that I could that does sleep) go anywhere and probably have a great time and learn a lot, but at W&M, I Why did you choose to attend could do impactful, original research William & Mary? alongside professors who didn’t have My family had moved to Williamsburg graduate students to do that kind of while I was in middle school, so I actu- work. He said he hired students like ally had very little interest in attending me all the time. I wouldn’t find a comWilliam & Mary – solely because it was parable opportunity anywhere else, so close to ‘home.’ I think my parents he told me, and he said he thought I would say that basically from the time would love it.

I could read, I was always dreaming He must have made a pretty of far-flung places and adventures. I compelling case because it really wanted to go somewhere farther afield changed my view of W&M. Perhaps it – I wanted to write a totally new story was hearing these things directly from for myself. a professor at the university, perhaps But it was a chance encounter with it was because I felt like he had really Mike Tierney, a government professor listened to me and my interests (and at W&M, which suddenly changed my aversion to staying near home) and entire outlook on the university. I had made this recommendation based on been volunteering as a high school what he heard, but after that constudent for John McGlennon’s re-elec- versation, I truly believed W&M did tion campaign for the James City have something unique to offer. And County Board of Supervisors (John Mike was totally right. I’m so glad McGlennon, of course, is also a W&M he listened to me, and that I, in turn, government professor), and on Eleclistened to him. I wouldn’t trade my tion Day, I was stationed at Clara Byrd W&M experience for anything.

Baker Elementary School to hand out electoral information. Mike Tierney What was/were your major(s)? was assigned to be my co-volunteer.

Government and Linguistics We talked for the entire morning, with Did you have a favorite course and/or Mike asking loads of probing questions professor while you were at W&M? about my interests and goals. He asked It’s very difficult to narrow down to a me where I was applying to college, single favorite anything from W&M, 2

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but I’d have to say that the professor who probably had the greatest positive influence on my time at W&M (and beyond) was Ron Rapoport, who brought me on as a research assistant as a wide-eyed freshman and gave me the opportunity to do original research in politics. I worked with Ron and Dan Maliniak (who also deserves a massive shout-out here for being an incredibly inspiring research collaborator and mentor) for several years, and it introduced me to academic work in a hands-on way. But I also want to mention my Linguistics advisor, Ann Reed, Anne Charity, another Linguistics professor of mine, and Mike Tierney– all of whom really energized and inspired me.

My favorite course was probably Meaning & Understanding, a linguistics class on the history of linguistic thought, taught by Tolly Taylor. I absolutely loved that class. I actually looked forward to writing every essay, and while I don’t remember all of the content (I regret to say) all these years later, I do remember that feeling of wanting to learn more, read the next week’s readings, write the next paper.

I also want to mention my Geology 101 class – I can’t remember what it was actually called now – but it was taught by Chuck Bailey. This was one of my GERs, and let’s be real, I was never going to be a geologist, but that class was surprisingly exciting and interesting. Chuck did a brilliant job of making it interesting to even

the most die-hard social scientist (like me). Chuck did an impressive job of managing a 200+ person class, and I still remember that. He always had time for my questions (and there were many – again, I’m not a geologist), and he actually learned most of our names.

That class has remained the gold standard in lecturing for me.

Do you have a favorite memory of your time at W&M? I’d have to say one definite favorite is Milkshake Mondays: in my freshman year, some friends (who Allmann with her fellow interns with the U.S. Mission to NATO. Photo courtesy Kira Allmann were upperclassmen) hosted an evening event in their flat every Monday night, where even become closer with some W&M as an undergraduate. I’m not sure I they made homemade milkshakes, students who were not close friends would have been able to study Arabic and we listened to music and chatted while we were on campus but became in Morocco if not for the generosity about life. It was a very low-key kind very good friends later on. Friendships of the Critchfield scholarship. There’s of event, but it was something that ebb and flow (it’s the nature of these an entire community of people who really lifted the mood of your typical things), especially when you don’t have helped me get where I am today, Monday. It also introduced me to a have the physical space of campus whether actively or by example, sense of community at W&M that I bringing you together, but my W&M and I try to pay that forward in my would come to recognize more widely community – new and old - continues own academic and professional life. (and contribute to myself ). It was a to play a central part in my life.

Sometimes my W&M experience come-as-you-are kind of affair, and I reminds me to look for advice and also love ice cream and milkshakes, so How do you think your experience insight when I need it. Sometimes it that didn’t hurt either. at W&M has affected your life and reminds me to lend a hand to someone decisions you’ve made? else who needs some encouragement When were you last on campus?

Undergrad is such a critical juncture or support. No matter what I do, I try One advantage of having a family that in the transition from adolescence to to hold the door open for someone else lives in Williamsburg is that I get to adulthood – I’m not sure we know who might follow behind me because visit campus often! And now, I serve as what we’re in for when we set foot on so many doors were held open for me. a member of the Reves Center Adviso- campus on Move-In Day. I think W&M ry Board, so I come back to campus for has probably affected my entire life Did you study abroad as an a meeting once a year. I’ll be there in and almost every decision I’ve made undergraduate?

November this year. in the sense that I left W&M a slightly Yes! I had a number of experiences different person than I was when I abroad. W&M offered me my very Have you stayed in touch with started there. We grow up a little bit at first opportunity to go abroad – I had classmates or other alumni? university, and we invariably take that never left the U.S. before. I participatYes – I’ve stayed in touch with many transformation with us. ed in the inaugural W&M Freshman classmates, who remain my close One way, broadly speaking, in Summer in Scotland program the friends, and also with professors which W&M has affected my life is summer before my freshman year, who really shaped my undergraduate that it made me very aware of just where we studied at the University of experience. I think it’s perhaps when how many people help us get where St Andrews. you leave that you recognize what we’re going. I’m not sure, for instance, I studied Arabic for a summer at Al ‘community’ means at W&M. It’s not I would have entertained the possibil- Akhawayn University in Morocco (on a just a catchy word for admissions bro- ity of pursuing a PhD if I hadn’t had Critchfield scholarship). chures (though it’s that, too). It’s truly professors (like Ron Rapoport and I interned at the U.S. Mission part of the culture of the place. I’ve others) encourage me to do research to NATO in the Public Affairs FALL 2017

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saw some potential in me (I suppose!), and it gave me the essential push to give it a go.

Having studied Arabic language at W&M during all four years there, I wanted to study the Middle East more comprehensively, and I was particularly interested in a non-American perspective on the region. When I applied, the scholarship seemed like a means to an end for me – it was funding, which I needed if I were to pursue graduate education. Of course, the Rhodes is so much more than a means to an end, and at some point in the application process, this really dawned on me. It is life-changing and life-shaping in ways that you can’t possibly expect. For one thing, I intended to come to Oxford for a Master’s and return to the U.S. after two years, and I stayed for a PhD! Ultimately, I completed an MPhil (Master’s) in Modern Middle Eastern Studies and a DPhil (PhD) in Oriental Studies (Islamic World).

For me, the value of the Rhodes Scholarship and my Oxford education is that they taught me how to think, and – perhaps most importantly – gave me the space and time to think.

That’s a luxury. If you asked me when I expected to get out of this when I boarded the plane to London in 2010, I probably would have said, ‘a degree.’

I knew I would learn things, but I assumed that graduate school wouldn’t be much different from undergrad. I was mistaken there! Undergrad is the Do you think international You were only the 6th W&M student carnival of ideas – constant stimulation, occasional confusion, frequent experience as a student is helpful in to be selected as a Rhodes Scholar. future life and career?

What motivated you to apply? Did it revelation, energy, noise, knowledge.

It starts too soon and goes by too Absolutely. Yes. Yes. Yes. It is an turn out the way you expected? fast. Graduate school (especially the important catalyst in developing a kind Well, no one expects to get a Rhodes doctorate) is a slow Sunday afternoon, of universal empathy toward others Scholarship. (At least, I would hope light streaming through the window and an essential humility in reference not! I certainly didn’t.) I applied to our position within the wider world. because I wanted to do some graduate and a warm cup of tea. It brings its We live in an increasingly intercon- education abroad, and I was interested own kind of intellectual chaos, too.

But it’s only when you’re sitting there, nected world. Advances in technology, in a number of the courses available the tea getting cold, that you realize transport, medicine, finance, and other at Oxford. Then, I was encouraged you needed that time, away from the realms of life will make our internaby my academic advisors and the carnival, to really understand what it tional interdependencies only more Charles Center (Joel Schwartz and taught you. complex and nuanced as time goes on. Lisa Grimes) to apply. That really There are other ways in which This reality opens up incredible possi- made the difference – it wasn’t really bilities and it also inspires great fears. on my radar; I had never met a Rhodes my time as a Rhodes Scholar were unexpected. I came to Oxford wanting We see this playing out in politics Scholar before becoming one myself, to study mobile phone use among at home and abroad; we see leaders so it wasn’t something I had ever political activists in the Middle East, turning inward and attempting to shut considered aspiring to. Other people

the world out in response to real, perceived, and – as often happens in the clutches of fear – fabricated insecurities and threats. Insularity is simply not a viable option as a nation or as individuals, so how do we cope with this inevitable global interconnectivity?

The answer is: learn about the world. Be part of it.

Global experience can result in real, quantifiable skills, like knowledge of a foreign language. But it is perhaps in its less quantifiable benefits that it holds the greatKira produces and hosts two podcast series at the University of Oxford: “RightsUp” for the Oxford Human Rights Hub and “The Conversationalist” for est power and the Constructing Scientific Communities Project. Photo courtesy Kira Allmann influence over our lives and careers. department, where I unexpectedly It introduces us to something differwound up taking on the responsibilient, perhaps something challenging or ties of a full-time employee who had uncomfortable, and in so doing, it tests recently left the State Department. the limits of what we know and shows That was a fast-paced and exciting us the real effect of our inherent biases experience. (we all have them).

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and halfway through my first year here, the Arab Spring erupted. It completely changed the shape and trajectory of my research and was one of the leading factors compelling me to stay for the PhD. I wound up looking at all kinds of technologically mediated activism and the complexities of online-offline politics and social movements. Much of the research I did then (and the findings I was able to compile) would not be possible now, due to the changing security situation in the region and Egypt, where I did my research. I’m still in awe of how dramatically Egypt changed over the course of my study. Studying the Arab Spring taught me a lot about how the world works, going far beyond regional politics.

What career path(s) have you pursued?

I just completed my doctorate in Middle Eastern studies last year, so I’ve been resident in the ivory tower, peering out, for a while. If all these years of thinking have taught me anything, it’s that you can only really see the path you’ve traveled – not so much the one that lies ahead. I can tell you how I got here, but where I’m going is (I’m delighted to say) uncharted territory. Right now, I work broadly in the field of academic public engagement. I translate academic work into something comprehensible and relevant to a broader audience, and I love it. As I came to the end of my doctorate, I knew I wanted to do something that pulled the different threads of my experiences together – something creative, something outward-looking.

So, now I produce original podcasts, films, events, and other content on behalf of research groups and teams for an audience of non-specialists. I’m the Communications Director at the Oxford Human Rights Hub, and I also work freelance for the University of Oxford on other projects.

In thinking about a career, I want to be able to think independently and outside of the box and I want to be engaged in problem-solving. I believe in the importance of human rights, perhaps more now than I ever did before working on the Arab Spring,

and I believe in the importance of connecting the work of academics to the work of practitioners, policy-makers, and all people. At the Oxford Human Rights Hub, we often say that human rights are for everyone, not just a few elite academics or barristers. Living and working abroad has made me increasingly aware of the universality of human experience and also the striking disparity in rights, protections, and quality of life for people in different contexts. If I’m working to address or communicate or understand that disparity on any level, I feel like that’s worthwhile.

Do you have any current projects/ passions you’d like to share?

In 2015, I co-created a magazine-style podcast series for the Oxford Human Rights Hub on contemporary human rights issues, which I still produce now. It was my first experience producing audio programs from start to finish (from scripting to interviewing to post-production), and since then, I’ve become a huge advocate of academic podcasting that goes beyond the traditional lecture or seminar recording. I now produce and host two podcast series at the University of Oxford: “RightsUp” for the Oxford Human Rights Hub and “The Conversationalist” for the Constructing Scientific Communities Project, and I regularly consult and handle post-production for other university podcasts.

I’m building up my audio production skills and learning a lot. The main appeal of podcasting to me is that it makes information accessible for free, on the go. Anyone, anywhere can take a podcast with them, and it taps into a different part of the brain. Listening is such a valuable skill to cultivate and nurture, but we don’t get to do it as often as we did… perhaps during university lectures (who would have thought we’d miss those!).

Do you have any advice for current students?

Go abroad if you can!

Don’t just answer questions (on exams, in essays, etc.); ask them. Ask hard ones.

Talk to your professors, even the FALL 2017

ones who intimidate you – especially the ones who intimidate you.

Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Never, ever be the smartest person in the room. (Also: if you think you are, you probably aren’t.)

Is there any valuable advice you’ve received or wished you’d received?

Someone once told me that to do a PhD, you have to have a question you really want to answer. On days when everything just seems tedious, pointless, methodical… that question will drive you onward. That question will get you through the inevitable moments of frustration, boredom, and self-doubt. I think this is definitely true for the PhD. But I think that it can also motivate your entire education, and I wish I had thought more about mine in this way.

Every class you enroll in – ask yourself: what is the question you hope this class will answer? What do you hope this class will help you understand?

It’s a tall order to expect all of your education to be revelatory or exciting.

But if you have something you want to know, that can be your compass when you lose your way. It’s true in professional life as well. In every job, ask what do you hope it will teach you? What do you want to know when you finish it? I try to ask myself these questions all the time to stay focused and motivated.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I feel like I’ve taken W&M with me wherever I’ve gone since I’ve left. Or, has it just followed me? I graduate (with my doctorate) at the end of September, and it will be the third time (!) that I’ll be graduating in a Christopher Wren building. At W&M, the Government department held its graduation at the famous Wren Building on campus, and at Oxford, we graduate in the Sheldonian, designed

by Wren as well!

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W&M Sails to Ireland with a New Global Business Minor

by Kate Hoving

Lunch Break: Students enjoying a lunch break outside on the grounds of University College Dublin. Photo courtesy Dawn Edmiston

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eth Comstock was a biology major!”

Dawn Edmiston, Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, wants the world to know that Comstock ’82, the Vice Chair of General Electric and the first Chief Marketing Officer to be named by Fortune as one of the “Most Powerful Women in Business,” was a liberal arts major at William & Mary. So why does a business school professor make that fact her rallying cry? Because to Edmiston, Comstock is a role model for all liberal arts majors, in that they not only don’t need to avoid the business world, but that they just might be able to thrive there.

And even if they don’t become the CEO of a multinational corporation, any undergraduate, regardless of major, could profit from learning the basics of business and personal branding (a.k.a. showing yourself in your best light in order to be hired). Unfortunately, it’s often not possible for liberal arts students to find time during the academic year for business courses that do not interfere with their major studies, which is why Edmiston proposed

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As an undergraduate in 1987, she studied marine biology at Gerace Research Centre in San Salvador, The Bahamas. It was a small education center, not many luxuries, but she learned more than just science. “I learned what a privilege it was to live, and be educated, in the U.S.” As a graduate student at Columbia Business School, she was one of only two students selected to attend the international exchange programme at London Business School. In fact she had chosen Columbia – it was her only application – because of its international MBA program.

Edmiston also spent significant time working abroad and taught in China before coming to Mason, and she realized the value of international teaching experiences not just for students. She was determined to create the kind of program that would provide new experiences and opportunities for professional growth for Mason faculty as well.

DEVELOPING A NEW ACADEMIC PROGRAM

The planning for the inaugural summer program in Dublin began in spring 2016. Edmiston coordinated the proposal with Mason colleagues Todd Mooradian, at that time Associate Dean, Jennifer Dahnke, Assistant Dean, and professors Don Rahtz and Brent Allred.

They wanted a program that wouldn’t be too taxing on the faculty the creation of the Global Business during the summer, so while the full Minor program, offered during the summer. Thanks to the vision and skill program would be 12 weeks, each of several Mason faculty and staff, the of the four Mason faculty members would only be required to spend two Global Education Office at the Reves Center and University College Dublin weeks in Ireland. The final curriculum proposal consisted of one week at (UCD), a diverse group of thirty-five non-business majors completed the 18 W&M, three weeks online and eight weeks abroad with company visits and credits required for a Global Business Minor over twelve weeks from May to weekend excursions. The initial facAugust, without taking any time away ulty selected to teach in the program included: Inga Carboni (Management); from their regular studies. They also fulfilled their COLL 300 cross-cultural Michael Luchs (Customer Insights requirements. What’s more, they got to for Innovation and Design Thinking); Hugh Marble (Finance); and, Eddo it in one of the most international miston (Marketing). Kathy O’Reilly, cities in the world.

Assistant Professor at UCD’s Michael WHY “GLOBAL” WAS NOT OPTIONAL Smurfit Graduate Business School, taught Global Business Immersion.

Edmiston is unequivocal in her belief Including the faculty in the design in study abroad: “It changed my life.”

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of the program aided in the buy-in.

When they presented the proposal to the Mason faculty, it received 100% approval. “Unanimous faculty approval with no questions! That never happens,” Edmiston notes with pride.

WHY DUBLIN?

James Joyce said, “If Ireland is to become a new Ireland she must first become European.”

The Mason faculty knew from the start that the program should be located in Dublin.

It may not be exactly as Joyce envisioned, but they chose the Dublin of today because, in addition to being a beautiful and welcoming city, it’s home to multiple European headquarters including: Accenture, Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Guinness, Microsoft, Oracle and Twitter. And, Dublin has a tradition of innovation, most recently with the Designing Dublin initiative, an example of Design Thinking in action.

It’s also the home of three worldclass universities from which to choose as a partner institution for the program: National University of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin (UCD).

FINDING THE RIGHT HOST

The Reves Center was involved from the start of the planning efforts, and the selection of a site is where they were indispensable. Ebony Majeed, Global Education Special Programs Advisor in the Global Education Office (GEO) at Reves, recalls the first meeting in August 2016. The Mason team had the academic vision, but it was the GEO that would make the idea a reality as a program. “We handle the nitty gritty of program development, from deciding on a partner institution, to contract negotiation and financing,” Julie Hummel, Director of Student Engagement and Services at Mason, was Majeed’s counterpart, serving as the Business Program Director.

With input from Don Rahtz, who had been in Dublin on a conference, and GEO’s Sarah Mullen, who had also been there recently while on a site visit to W&M’s Galway program, Majeed began to benchmark the universities 7

INAUGURAL STUDENT PROFILE 16 11 8

’18

’19

15 out of 35 Students Received Scholarships

’20

43%

Class Years Represented

States / Countries Represented Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and China Majors Represented Economics, English, Government, Hispanic Studies, History, International Relations, Physics, Psychology, and Undecided

for this particular program.

“We’re responsible for all elements of program development, so I look at location, accommodations, pricing and level of support,” says Majeed. UCD’s campus is not right in the middle of town so it is both lovely and safe for the students. “As I did my research, I also consider things like how it is to work with the staff.” In the case of UCD, in addition to the high marks from Rahtz and Mullen, Majeed found working with her UCD counterparts, Suzanne Shorten and Lisa Kehoe, made UCD the perfect choice on the administrative side.

UCD’s academic credentials are also impeccable. “UCD has a tremendous reputation, comparable to the high ranking of W&M, which was important for the quality of the educational experience,” Edmiston explains. UCD boasts several prime ministers among its alumni, in addition to star athletes, scientists, actors and writers. James Joyce, one of most famous Dubliners, was an alumnus.

UCD is Ireland’s most international university with over 6,000 international students, drawn from over 120 countries. The university emphasizes the “internationalisation of the Irish student experience – preparing all UCD students for future employment and life that crosses borders and

cultures.”

But perhaps most important to a successful undergraduate study abroad program, UCD has an extremely supportive culture and is experienced hosting international students. As Edmiston notes, “UCD does summer programs better than anyone else.”

THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

While in Dublin, the students were able to meet with high-level business executives, and several students cited a meeting with the Global Brand Ambassador at Jameson as a highlight.

They also worked on projects that were relevant to today’s global economy. One assignment from Edmiston was to make a pitch for a U.S. company thinking of expanding to Ireland and an Irish company thinking of expanding to the U.S. The students who pitched Chick-fil-A’s introduction to Ireland went so far as to sew their own cow costumes.

Majeed visited the class in Dublin about ten days into their program.

She says she wasn’t surprised to see they were energetic and fully engaged.

She credits that in large part to the work that the Mason team did in the eight weeks between the time the student participants were selected and the time the program started – from about mid-March to the Monday after

Faculty and students gathered at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business for a Global Business Minor reunion in September 2017. Photo courtesy Dawn Edmiston

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Clockwise from top:

A student team in the Marketing course proposed bringing Chick-fil-A to Ireland; Participants in the W&M presidential listening session in Dublin with BOV member Will Payne ’01 (back row, 5th from left); Students attend a meeting at the Jameson headquarters.

Photos courtesy Dawn Edmiston

graduation. “Mason was very intentional and strategic in preparing these students – not just for what they were going to learn but also for the rigor of the program,” Majeed remarked. Mason hosted several events with alumni and other professionals, and even had a photographer take head shots for the LinkedIn profiles they would create as part of the program. “This is what makes the program so impressive – how hard Mason worked.” Students were already making valuable LinkedIn connections during the program.

Majeed also credits the program director, Sarah Van Kirk ’15, M.Ed. ‘17 who had been the graduate assistant for GEO and had studied in Italy.

“She was one of the main reasons the students had such a good experience, as she offered a healthy and necessary balance between staff member and supporter.”

Board of Visitor member Will Payne ’01 was in Dublin at the end of the students’ first week, and met with them for a presidential search listening session. “We have been serious about the presidential search listening sessions, so it was a real treat to hold one with students in Dublin. They

had a lot to say and offered very constructive feedback about what they want to see in the next president and what aspirational goals they have for the university,” Payne recalls. “I know from speaking with many of them that they enjoyed their classroom experience and the cultural exposure while traveling around Europe. I hope W&M continues to offer the program in the future.”

NEXT STEPS

Edmiston sees this as just the beginning: “My dream for this program is to be a bridge between the liberal arts and business at W&M.” The program is already in the planning stages for 2018, and judging from the enthusiasm of everyone on the team, it promises to be another success.

Brian Clarke ’18 is proving to be an excellent “Brand Ambassador” himself: “I am a history major and have always had an interest in learning business as well and found this to be a wonderful opportunity to do so. We were able to get a solid foundation on business concepts and apply that knowledge to the real world through FALL 2017

our fieldwork and integrative projects.

Being in Ireland, we also gained a great sense of how businesses operate in different places. All of our weekend excursions were incredible and we experienced some of the most beautiful places in the world. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn about business, but prefers another subject as their major – and I have already done so to a few students.”

The students’ gift to Edmiston at the end of the program was a silver pendant made by an Irish artist. It’s a tree – a tree of learning, the students explained – and the crown of the tree is in the shape of Ireland.

Edmiston wears it with pride as she walks the halls of the Mason School, bastion of business acumen, inspiring students and visitors: “Remember, Beth Comstock was a biology major!”

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Shark Tank Rewards Entrepreneurial Solutions to Real World Problems THE DAZZLING SET, CAMERAS, DRAMATIC LIGHTING AND AIR OF EXPECTATION WERE

COMPARABLE TO ITS TELEVISION NAMESAKE, BUT THE THIRD ANNUAL SHARK TANK HOSTED

BY THE INSTITUTE FOR THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL REL ATIONS (ITPIR) IN

COMMONWEALTH AUDITORIUM ON AUGUST 3RD, GAVE THE CONCEPT A UNIQUELY W&M SPIN.

by Kate Hoving

hereas the Mark Burnett-produced reality show attracts viewers with promises of multi-million investments, sparkly marketing campaigns, Scrub Daddy sponges and pheromone-infused hair products, ITPIR’s Shark Tank drew a robust audience and impressive panel of sharks not only because of what it promises but also what it delivers: student-faculty 10

partnerships using their creativity, skill and interests to find innovative solutions to international challenges.

As ITPIR Co-Director Mike Tierney said in his introduction: “ITPIR incubates student-faculty research projects that are international, interdisciplinary, and policy relevant. One of my favorite ITPIR programs is the Shark Tank . . . Their ideas and sweat equity actually WORLD MINDED

provide the foundation for many existing projects here at ITPIR.” Who’s to say that isn’t at least as important as the Simply Fit Board® The Workout Board with a Twist?

THE SHARKS

The Sharks, or panel of judges, assembled for the event were W&M alumni and distinguished experts in their fields:

the actual effectiveness. They identify two issues: the repayment rate of microloans could be higher, enabling more loans to more people; and data scientists bring different skills than Dr. Ellen Stofan ’83, former Chief professionals in microfinance and Scientist of NASA could improve the efficiency of the process. In their minds, repayment Mr. Thomas Benedetti ’92, rate misses the point. The goal should Co-Founder of and Partner at Blue be wealth creation, and their proposal Heron Capital, and would help predict whether a microMs. Alena Stern ’12, Senior Program loan would also positively impact the local economy.

Manager at AidData They posit that machine learning algorithms predict loan repayment It was clear from their thoughtful questions, that they took their respon- more accurately than human evaluators. Machine learning is used in sibility seriously and brought years of conventional banks, and computers experience to bear on their questions are better than people at reducing and analyses. Although they were the celebrities of the event, they were low- mistakes by 13.7% Questions from the judges mostly key and made the event all about the concerned how to identify and choose students and their proposals. the best datasets, and one question was if the project would put single women THE PITCHES The seven projects presented over the at a disadvantage, since there is very little data about them. Bilenkin had course of two hours were the culmiclearly thought about that, and said nation of a 10-week course on Policy they, too, were concerned and were goEntrepreneurship taught by ITPIR staff members David Trichler, Rebecca ing to incorporate that thinking in their algorithms, much the way it is done in Latourell, Duenya Hassan, and Jake affirmative action. When the issue of Sims. The students brought a variety potential predatory lending in South of majors, backgrounds and interests Africa was raised, Belikin responded: “I to their approaches, and the seven projects were as creative and thought- was just reading an article about that in ful as they were different, showing that the Guardian.” And then she proceeded the good data is applicable to multiple to discuss the concerns and how they were going to address them in their disciplines and areas of analysis. project. You can’t get flustered when Using storytelling and compelling you know your subject so well. graphics, they described how they would use data to improve decision making and understanding.

“Comparing Donor and Recipient Priorities” Allie Cooper ’19 “Why Microfinance Needs Chris Elsner ’20 Machine Learning” Mentor: Jake Sims Abby Bilenkin ’20 Vincent Taday ’20 Mentor: Siddharta Ghose Cooper and Elsner focused on the lack of accountability and relevance to recipient priorities in foreign aid.

Abby Bilenkin started the afternoon Using the UN’s seventeen Sustainable with a presentation about MicrofiDevelopment Goals (SDG) as a guide. nance and Machine Learning. Her The goals and targets were formulated partner, Vincent Taday, was not able to stimulate action over the next to join her, but she didn’t miss a beat. fifteen years in areas of critical imporOn a cursory level, even outside the tance for humanity and the planet and development field, most people are familiar with microcredit and microf- range from No Poverty (#1) to Gender Equality (#5) and Partnerships for the inance, but the question addressed by Bilenkin and Taday is how to measure Goals (#17) Ambassador Thomas Shannon, Jr. ’80, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs

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Cooper and Elsner propose creating the first map for SDGs for three countries: Colombia, Malawi and Uganda. They would rank the donors and their effects. Stofan led the questioning by noting the overlap of the SDGs would make it difficult to narrow down to a goal, and had the students considered concentrating on just a few of the goals. Their response was that they would be coding to the goal level, using the SDGs as broad guidelines. Other questions involved how to weed out the appropriate data and also to differentiate as Stern noted, the difference in the specialization of a donor from the goal of the recipients.

Stofan cautioned that it would be important to focus on the achievable.

Elsner clarified that the goal was to map out where the gaps are as a tool for donors to see. Shannon pointed out that accountability and meeting felt needs were the most difficult issues in the field. Elsner responded that his goal was to publish what they find and make the information available.

“Indexing Taxation” George Moss, UVA ’20 Caroline Nutter ’18 Mentor: David Trichler If the statement “Tax capacity is essential to the macroeconomic, social and institutional development of all countries” is a bit intimidating, this project can best be summed up this way: Helping Countries Help Themselves.

Their project analyzes how countries and localities collect taxes. The premise is that in the developing world, because there are not effective means of collecting taxes, the countries have more means at their disposal than they’re able to get access to. The tax revenue is 10 - 20 % of GDP in developing countries versus 40 - 50% of GDP in developed countries. They estimate the equivalent of $100 billion is lost in tax revenue each year.

Moss and Nutter want to create a tax capacity index to be used by public finance researchers, policymakers and practitioners for benchmarking domestic resource mobilization. It will consist of downloadable data in 11

COURSEWORK

Over the summer, the Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations’ (ITPIR) David

Trichler, Rebecca Latourell, Duenya Hassan, and Jake Sims taught a 10-week course focused on Policy Entrepreneurship. The class was created primarily for students doing summer research for ITPIR proj-

ects, helping students develop research questions into coherent proposals by providing the necessary tools to help them envision, develop, and communicate their ideas. The course culminated in the presentation of these proposals at the annual ITPIR Shark Tank event.

Past ITPIR Shark Tank winners have gone on to do a variety of interesting work. As a rising sophomore and AidData Summer Fellow, Sarah Harmon was a competitive applicant with strong GIS skills and was placed with USAID Philippines. Senior Graeme Cranston-Cuebas worked with the National Defense University in DC over the summer. Data from his Shark Tank project is directly assisting Mike Tierney and Brad Parks with their ongoing book project. Samyuktha Mahadevan interned in Senator Mark Warner’s office during the summer. This internship was partially funded by Shark Tank and is a good example of how students at ITPIR are eager to bridge the academia and policy gap.

How did the idea for the Policy Entrepreneurship course form?

Trichler: Just having good research is insufficient to succeed; you need to match a good idea with how to package the idea. We want to prepare students to do research . . . but also help them to have a foot in the policy world so that the research also has the alignment and focus on solving a problem. So it combines the best of academia with the best of policy making as well. The class is designed to be a bridge for those two worlds.

What does policy entrepreneurship mean to you?

Latourell: Policy entrepreneurship is about having a good idea and then figuring out a way to make it happen. What makes a policy entrepreneur an entrepreneur? They have a

particular idea they’re interested in and they’re constantly looking for opportunities and trying to create opportunities to get that idea pushed through. So they need to be creative and committed, and I think with the nimbleness needed in order to succeed in policy making.

Why is this an important course for students working in ITPIR’s projects?

Sims: Student ideas and innovation are extremely important for furthering ITPIR’s research and this is a way to showcase that. It connects students to broader funding for their research. Even teams that don’t win at Shark Tank might receive funding for great projects. For example, a team that didn’t win last year was funded through AIDdata’s policy team, and the results of this project were presented in Colombia in May. The project was a social vulnerability index where students used Colombian census data to map which municipalities were classified as the most vulnerable. By using this data, they were able to determine – at a municipality level – which communities were most vulnerable. They overlayed this data with information on where aid projects were based in Colombia to begin to answer questions about how well those aid targets were conducted.

How do you see this course contributing to ITPIR’s broader goals?

Latourell: We try to keep [the course] grounded in both theory and practice . . . because having that background knowledge of the intellectual framework is very useful,

Preparation: Students in the Policy Entrepreneurship course prepare to present their proposals at ITPIR’s Shark Tank. Photos by Borah Kim

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but really only in combination with real world experience. We try to have all the workshops be similar to work people might actually do when they graduate, like using a real budget template or making concept note structure similar to concept notes we would actually send to lenders. We’re equipping people with real skills that they can use in their jobs.

ITPIR’s Shark Tank is three years old. Where did the idea come from?

Trichler: We’ve tried a couple different ways to engage student research assistants over the summer . . . It’s important to connect them from the data to the end product, and the Shark Tank idea came about from trying to figure out how to help them connect what they’re doing in their day-to-day research with outcomes in the world.

Competition is always useful to help inspire ideas, especially when there’s funding provided that they can then pursue for their project.

a public domain that’s accessible and user-friendly.

Shannon pointed out that it was so important to find out about indications of corruption and poor business activity but that it’s very hard to find data: “I know, because I’ve looked.”

Shannon also remarked that with Moss from UVA and Nutter from W&M combining forces, “Thomas Jefferson would be pleased.”

“Global Media Perceptions of U.S. Foreign Policy” Katherine Armstrong ’20 and Jack Shangraw ’20, Mentor: Marcus Holmes

This proposal is based on the premise that the success of US foreign policy is influenced by America’s soft power.

Although there is some ad hoc monitoring of opinion, Armstrong and Shangraw propose using web-scrap“Mapping Food Insecurity” ing and sentiment analysis to track real-time attitudes towards the U.S. in Maxim Maiello ’19 foreign media. They would be creating Elizabeth Sutterlin ’20 a real-time Trends Map from their Mentor: Rebecca Latourell Sentiment Tracking Tool, which does not currently exist. With this inforIf you want to show your project is mation as context, U.S. policymakers worth doing, it surely doesn’t hurt to and implementers will be better able start your presentation by quoting an to convey U.S. interests abroad and expert. Food deserts are not unique observe the impact. The Sharks asked to developing countries – many urban and rural parts of the U.S. struggle with about the value of following media outlets as opposed to social media the same problems – and this project addresses the need for data to diagnose or other data, and Armstrong and the issues. Maiello and Sutterlin started Shangraw explained that they would begin by identifying the key media their presentation about the need for outlets to track, and that they would their project by quoting Arif Husain, also compare it with public opinion Chief Economist and Head of Food Security Analysis Service at the United polling, to get a balanced sense of the Nations World Food Programme. In an mood in a country. email exchange, Husain told them that “Identity Messaging and “Data [on food insecurity] is sparse at Environmental Development” best.” Domestic urban growth stresses the food supply and forces vulnerable Michael Giovanniello ’20 populations to rely on informal Anatoly Osgood ’20 food sources without nutritious or Mentor: Dan Maliniak economic options. Such food vendors are unmapped and understudied.

Environmental sustainability and Maiello and Sutterlin will focus climate change mitigation projects on Hyderabad, India, to locate and are often hindered by the inability map the locations of food vendors and to convey their impact or urgency. other markets. Using cell phone data Giovanniello and Osgood offer this of food-insecure populations, they will hypothesis: If individuals perceive map the routes between homes and their group as prioritizing climate food sources in order to help improve change action, they will have higher access to food by identifying the support for local environmental most in-need neighborhoods and city development projects. With methodsectors; targeting efficient locations for ologies developed to understand how food aid; and recommending improve- political identity impacts one’s climate ments in planning for urban planners change knowledge, they will examine and city officials. Stofan suggested the effect of social connotations on focusing on the vendors rather than making environmental development trying to glean information from the efforts more relevant to communities. customers, and the other Sharks also Their hope to show how group-idenadvised them to consider what kinds tity increases support, which could of information they’ll be tracking and improve communication strategies what it will indicate. through all development fields. They FALL 2017

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Left to right:

Sami Tewolde ‘19 and Lincoln Zaleski ‘20 present their proposal “Tracking Targets: Identifying Ethnic Minority Violence” at ITPIR’s Shark Tank.; The panel of Sharks listen to presentations.

Photos by Stephen Salpukas

intend to travel to Nicaragua, where they already have contacts in the Peace Corps. Shannon reflected that having “outsiders” or foreigners deliver aid in the Ebola crisis caused some resistance among local populations, and Stofan suggested a way to engage local farmers would be to asking them what they are noticing, creating common ground and a starting point for exchange and discussion.

“Tracking Targets: Identifying Ethnic Minority Violence” Sami Tewolde ’19 Lincoln Zaleski ’20 Mentor: Dan Runfola Tweolde and Zaleski took the stage with a clear definition of the problem: Data on ethnic minority violence is scattered. Organizations are aiming in the dark because there’s also a lack of access to where this ethnic violence occurs. Their solution is the creation of a tool that will bring critical geospatial information to organizations that affect change. They can do a basic two-dimensional map of the acts of violence, but their hope would be to create a much more versatile and data-rich interactive map. They had already investigated potential users or 14

customers. They asked organizations if it would be and they got a resounding yes: “A geocoded map of ethnic violence would be an essential tool for the international community . . .

This is not something we already have, and we need to,” said Arslan Malik (Former UN Peacekeeping Senior Policy Advisor); and “A geocoded map would be extremely useful . . . and this is an enormously important area,” said Johanna Birnir (Director, All Minorities at Risk).

They see the potential of the project as a building block and ongoing tool for analysis. It also is a widespread problem with a large scale population impact. Ethnic discrimination or violence affects all countries in Asia and the Middle East but three. Millions of people are affected.

WINNERS

After the seven impressive research pitches, the Sharks had a difficult deliberation and split the $20,000 between three teams, who will begin their research in the fall: “Indexing Taxation: A Measurement Index of Tax Capacity in over 190 Countries,” by George Moss (UVA ’20) and Caroline WORLD MINDED

Nutter ’18, was fully funded at $5,000.

“Tracking Targets: Identifying Ethnic Minority Violence,” by Sami Tewolde ’19 and Lincoln Zaleski ’20, was fully funded at $8,340.

“Group-Identity Messaging and Support for Environmental Development Projects,” by Michael Giovanniello ’20 and Anatoly Osgood ’20, was funded at $6,660.

THE FUTURE

In his questioning of Belikin, Shannon asked her what she would consider success. She thought for a moment and responded: “It would be that we were using research to apply to the real world . . . that this research was used somewhere and helped people.”

What Belikin expressed so well is true for all the students and their projects. As Mike Tierney said at the beginning of the afternoon: “Our researchers apply social science methods to real-world problems. We seek to teach through research, to create new knowledge, and to have an impact in the world.”

Perhaps that’s the best reward of all.

William & Mary Leads Internationally in Gifted Education

By Rachel Sims

Mihyeon Kim with her son nearly fifteen years ago, as she began looking for a gifted Pre-K program for him. Photo courtesy Mihyeon Kim

D

r. Mihyeon Kim’s introduction to gifted education started many years ago through a conversation with her son’s preschool teacher. Her son’s advanced abilities – even at such an early age – had garnered special attention, and the director of the center worked with Kim to find an appropriate Pre-K program to fit her son’s gifted needs.

Kim has learned a lot since her initial introduction to gifted education nearly 15 years ago. She now serves as the Director of Pre-collegiate Learner Programs, specializing in Enrichment Programs and Focusing on the Future programs at the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary. As a research and development hub, the Center was established in 1988 by Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska to provide “services to educators, policy makers, graduate students, researchers, and parents in support of the needs of gifted and talented individuals.”

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Kim’s role also oversees international programs for children and teachers, and she has spent a considerable amount of her career working in the international context. Previous teacher trainings included groups from Saudi Arabia and South Korea, with the goal to serve professionals seeking further expertise in gifted education.

The content is customized to the international audience, and Kim’s experience working with Korean educators and students opens doors for strong partnerships between gifted education professionals in South Korea and the US. One previous enrichment program included a five-day, advanced placement STEM curriculum developed for gifted Korean middle schoolers. Due to the positive results, the partnership between Korean educators and the Center for Gifted Education continued on for several more years.

Recently, the Center for Gifted Education facilitated a week-long 15

international teacher training program at William & Mary for visiting Korean teachers. Initially stemming from a short three-hour workshop Kim conducted in 2016, the Busan Metropolitan City Institute for Gifted Education and Promotion in Korea asked for a longer intensive training specifically focused on the William & Mary Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM), one of the most internationally well-known curriculum development models for gifted education. Developed by the W&M Center for Gifted Education’s own VanTassel-Baska, the empirically-based ICM is used throughout the world to assist in the creation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment for highly gifted students.

The model provides a useful way of structuring curriculum for advanced students, encouraging higher level thinking and helping students understand different concepts on a deeper level and in a more creative way.

As content for programs is customized to the international audience, Kim utilized her knowledge of Korean culture and the education system to create a globally-informed training program for the visiting teachers.

While South Korea employs a deeply competitive educational environment, interest in gifted learning is relatively new. According to Kim, many education systems around the world tend to center around an “acceleration” concept with gifted students: advanced students receive speedier material presentation, but not necessarily richer 16

From top: Dr. Janice Robbins speaks at a session on creativity, where visiting Korean teachers explored purposeful ways to infuse creative thinking into their curriculum; Teachers explore practical applications of the Integrated Curriculum Model during the 2017 summer workshop.

Photos by Rachel Sims

and more varied content. The William & Mary ICM focuses on enrichment, depth, and breadth so that students can learn more effectively and connect how knowledge is applied in the real world.

Conducted in English and translated to Korean, the 2017 summer program helped 87 visiting Korean teachers learn how to teach advanced students using the Integrated Curriculum Model, designed for advanced learning emphasizing complex WORLD MINDED

thinking through differentiation and creativity. The week-long workshop also included a panel discussion related to various topics on gifted education in the US. Through global opportunities for cross-cultural learning and collaboration like this one, the expertise of William & Mary’s Center for Gifted Education continues to cross borders and contribute to developing gifted education around the world.

Language Learning as a Gateway to Culture and Understanding ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS YOU REALIZE IN TALKING WITH MARTHA YOUNG, MA TESL, THE NEW ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE ENGLISH L ANGUAGE PROGRAM, IS THAT TEACHING

ENGLISH AS A SECOND L ANGUAGE IS ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN SYNTAX, VOCABUL ARY AND

PRONUNCIATION. AT REVES JUST A FEW WEEKS AFTER RETURNING TO THE U.S. AFTER ALMOST A DECADE OVERSEAS IN TURKEY, GEORGIA AND PAKISTAN, SHE HAS BROUGHT HER ENERGY, CREATIVIT Y AND PASSION TO TAKE THE PROGRAM TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

by Kate Hoving

Y

oung, MA TESL, has been in the field of education for more than 20 years. Her experience includes English teaching, Teacher Mentoring, Teacher Education and Intensive English Program Administration both abroad and in Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She was a Senior English Language Fellow with the U.S. Embassy of Ankara, Turkey, US Department of State and focused on English language teaching methodology and learning across the country with Turkish Fulbright, the National Ministry of Education, Turkish American Association and Pearson Education Publishing.

Most recently, she served on the Faculty of Divinity at Ankara University in Ankara, Turkey, working with an English Theology program that she co-developed. She taught English and Presenting in English to Islamic theologians while also developing and teaching English courses and religious content courses in English for undergraduate students.

Young was in Turkey but considering returning to the U.S, when her former VCU colleagues sent her the notice about the William & Mary job.

Her immediate reaction was that it was a perfect fit, looking at the job description, skills and experience required.

And yet that wasn’t enough. “I wanted to know: What is the place about?” She needed to understand the goals and zeitgeist of the place. “I dove into the Reves Center,” she explained, exploring the website, reading staff

Young and student Mehmet Sahhoca practice critical thinking by reading Sherlock Holmes. Photo by Kate Hoving

descriptions, program information and the goals. The two aspects that spoke to her most were the Mission Statement and commitment to internationalization across the university.

Young believes in the transformational power of travel and experiencing different cultures. “You bump into parts of yourself you don’t even know.”

At the same time, she knows it can be tempting not to test yourself or your limits. “But we have a choice. So . . . do you stay in your box? Reves encourages that push into discomfort.” And it’s that aspect of the Reves mission that clicked with Young and made W&M the right choice for her.

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She’s taken leaps of faith throughout her career. One of the most challenging, perhaps, was her first posting to the Middle East as an English Language Fellow. “It was terrifying,” she admits, but her eyes sparkle and she laughs as she says it, and barely takes a breath before she adds, “I loved the challenge.”

She understands that feeling of being “other” in an unfamiliar place.

She remembers how hard it can be to navigate in a foreign land – whether realizing that the bus you’re on is going to pull off the road for a lunch break before it actually loops back to your destination, or that paying your 17

From top:

Turkish National Ministry of Education’s Teacher Training Project; Professional Development for Pre-and In-service teachers: “How to Scaffold Speaking Strategies in the Classroom”; English Language Learning at the Islamic Divinity School, Ankara University.

Photos courtesy Martha Young

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you’re bringing your own culture to the educational process.” But she points out that’s not to be avoided; that’s the point of the experience. “The students have chosen to study in the United States because they want to understand U.S. culture and language.”

As teachers, “we are the gateways to American culture.” In that capacity, language teachers can have a tremendous impact. “In Turkey, every single day I was bridge building.”

One thing she comes back to is that there’s more to this program than the language classes and curricular goals.

“I’m a student of the students, while the students are students of me.”

That realization helped her learn to forget about trying to make everybody like you, or to be afraid of awkwardness rent involves not just dropping the check in the mail, but rather engaging or honest discussions of beliefs and in an hour-and-a-half visit and several cultural differences. “What’s happening cups of tea with your landlady. In fact, [in these interactions] is that just as you “the art and science and craft of tea” is stumbled over their culture, they’re stumbling over yours. The question is a part of most social and professional how can we learn from each other and interactions. “It’s the way to find the discard preconceptions?” human in the person with whom She reminds herself that, “I’m just you’re working,” she learned.

This empathy is in part why she’s so one person from one culture, and everyone around the world has their sensitive to helping her students navigate the daily activities and newness. way of living life, and it’s wonderful to She knows it’s not easy, and she’s been be able to learn from them.” in a similar spot, but “You’re not going to know until you try.”

HOPES FOR THE FUTURE She was intrepid but also prepared Young has lots of ideas for the future and open. “I became an astute student of the W&M program, but is also eager of Turkish culture.” She felt it was to learn from the staff and faculty important not to come with an agenda.

Above all, she is committed to “My goal was to learn and to do good. making learning interesting for the What mattered most to me was learn- teachers as well as the students, from ing what was most important to them.” professional development to ensuring The hospitality of the Turkish peo- that they remain excited about the ple made all the difference in helping work and content. I want to ensure her feel welcome, and she remembers that the faculty “like waking up in the that as something to help students in morning to go to their job.” the U.S. “I’ve conducted informal exit Young is also focusing on course interviews with participants in U.S. content and program standards. She State Department programs and asked would like to explore collaborations about the most meaningful part of with W&M and her former faculty in their time in the U.S. Every single time, Ankara University Divinity School and I was told, ‘I got to be a guest in an opportunities in Latin America.

American home.’ Every time.”

She’s excited that she will be able to do some teaching, too. “There’s something that happens in a classroom THE UNIQUE MISSION OF that’s magic,” Young says. “I like the THE ESL TEACHER story of the English language, and I like One of the aspects of being an ESL helping people achieve important life teacher, Young explains, is that goals through their English learning.” “professionally, you’re aware that WORLD MINDED

Choirs trip: The William & Mary Choir and Botetourt Chamber Singers perform with the African Harmonies Male Choir and Nazareth Youth Choir at Old Apostolic Church in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. Courtesy photo

said choir member Meg Collins ’18.

“Audiences there are so much more passionate and expressive, I feel like, than audiences we normally perform to, especially the type of group that we are. That’s what I was really surprised at and what was really great.”

Nathaniel Clemens ’17, who sings with both groups and served as a student tour manager, said one of his favorite performances was at the Holy Cross Anglican Church in Soweto.

After a church service, W&M singers shared a concert with youth, semi-professional and church choirs.

After the concert, the local choir invited all of the guest choirs to sing as a collective ensemble, teaching them some traditional pieces by ear involving a soloist who would lead each phrase, a response from the ensemble and synchronized movement.

“Although we struggled a bit

by Jennifer L. Williams with the text, we were thrilled to be welcomed with open arms and open hearts into a different culture through illiam & Mary singers choirs and conductor of the Botetourt music and embraced the opportunity to sing and dance with our new started off in their usual Chamber Singers. friends,” Clemens said. formal performance mode.

“At first, our wonderful, perfect “Throughout the performance, But by the end of their sumWilliam & Mary students who do our joy could be felt throughout the mer trip to South Africa, the W&M everything perfectly the first time church, and members of the audience Choir and Botetourt Chamber Singers were uncomfortable and out of their often stood up to join in the singing or had warmed up to a very different way comfort zone,” Bartlett said. “But by of experiencing music. the second, third and fourth song, they waved their hands and fingers to show The choir has done an international were up there rocking and dancing; the they were pleased.”

Armstrong said that everybody tour every three years since 1978, transformation was just phenomenal mostly in Europe. But this summer’s — the smiles on everybody’s faces, the present was a participant, with no distinction between who sings and visit to South Africa May 17-June 1 was real joy and participation and underwho doesn’t. unique because almost every concert standing of what this really meant.”

“The audience, of course, is totally was a joint performance with a South James Armstrong, W&M director engaged,” he said. “Hands are up wavAfrican choir. of choirs and conductor of the W&M ing in assent. Something moves them, Choir, said that music is an integral out comes ululation. Now more hands part of everyday life in African MUSIC TRIP TO SOUTH AFRICA are waving. So the experience for them cultures.

Singing is a way of expressing The students participated in a workis an absolutely vital one. And it was emotions as well as the struggle for shop before each concert where singjust wonderful, wonderful to see.” freedom in a place where apartheid ers from both countries taught each The W&M Choir and Botetourt historically separated the races. other a song, interacting and having Chamber Singers performed sepaStudents were deeply affected by lunch and social time before performing together. Physical movement, both the level of attention and participation rately and together in concert. South their hosts invested in the preparation African composer Mokale Koapeng by performers and the audience, is wrote an original composition “Wings and performances. also part of the indigenous musical of Peace and Love,” commissioned by “The audience — that was what experience in South Africa, said Jamie the tour company especially for the really blew me out of the water,” Bartlett, W&M associate director of

Hosts’ warm embrace makes choirs’ trip to South Africa unique

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From top:

The William & Mary Choir sings at St. Mark’s Cathedral in George, South Africa; The William & Mary Choir and Botetourt Chamber Singers at the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Peninsula, South Africa; (left to right) William & Mary Director of Choirs James Armstrong, South African composer Mokale Koapeng and William & Mary Associate Director of Choirs Jamie Bartlett in Pretoria, South Africa.

Courtesy photos

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W&M groups to sing together on tour.

The tour, including historical sites and safari animal parks, started with a performance hosted by the Ovuwa Cultural Ensemble at the University of Pretoria on May 19, and continued with performances at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Soweto, St. Mark’s Cathedral in George, Old Apostolic Church and National Library of South Africa in Cape Town and the Company’s Garden park in Cape Town after the final performance was canceled because of student protests at the University of Cape Town.

The W&M students shared concerts with the University of Pretoria choir, a church choir, the African Youth Choir, township choirs in Johannesburg and Cape Town and the nationally-renowned Imilonji Kantu Choral Society.

A cappella performance is a specialty of the indigenous folk traditions of southern Africa, Armstrong said, adding that the choirs the group heard were fantastic.

“I wanted the students to go to a place where they could experience and feel what it’s like to have singing really like food and drink, not something which is set aside apart from life, but something that’s essential to life,” Armstrong said.

In other summer travels, the William & Mary Orchestra trekked to WORLD MINDED

Paris May 16-24. Students toured the city and performed at La Madeleine and the Church of Saint-German Des Pres. A couple of professionals from Orchestre Colonnes joined them in performing, according to Orchestra Director David Grandis. The orchestra performed Beethoven’s “4th Symphony,” Barber’s “Canzonetta” for oboe and strings with Emily Chrisman ’17 as oboe soloist, Vaughan-Williams’ “English Folk Song Suite,” Fauré’s “Pavane” and Mauldin’s “Petroglyph.”

“Playing Fauré in La Madeleine had a special meaning since he was the principal organist there at the end of the 19th century,” Grandis said.

For Bartlett, the historical parts of the tour in South Africa were more immersive than those on past trips.

She talked about the overall experience of seeing the historic prison on Robben Island where former South African President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for anti-apartheid activities, and driving past miles and miles of township shanty towns.

Armstrong noted that the educational experience for students was immeasurable.

“Opening up these worlds, you can see them all becoming themselves,” he said.

FACULT Y & STUDENT RESEARCH

At the Crossroads of Art and Science ONE W&M STUDENT’S SUMMER WITH REMBRANDT

I

From top:

Amsterdam nights; Shelle and Raman Microscope at the Ateliergebouw.

Photos courtesy Shelle Butler

magine being awarded the opportunity to live and work in one of Europe’s most treasured destinations for the summer, a city with more bicycle traffic than pedestrians or cars, with winding canals and tall, narrow buildings and streetlights that illuminate the rhythmic, quiet rippling of the water at dusk. Imagine, for a moment, that one of the world’s most renowned art museums housing some of our history’s most valuable and cherished art works opened its doors to you and invited you to work in its conservation lab. Imagine being Shelle Butler, a second-year master’s student in the William & Mary Department of Chemistry and the recipient of one of the National Science Foundation’s coveted grants, part of its International Research Experience for U.S. Students (IRES) program. She was awarded a spot through a specific program called the Cultural Heritage Research in the Netherlands, which is administered through Northwestern University.

Butler, together with only one other recipient, had the unique opportunity this past summer to FALL 2017

by Anne Grasselli

work in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum in the Ateliergebouw, the building that houses the museum’s art conservation laboratories. More specifically, she worked with extraordinary and highly acclaimed paintings by the most famous of all Dutch masters, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). Butler was tasked with the important mission of working toward a conservation plan for these precious paintings, with the goal of preserving them for long-term enjoyment and study. Because of her coursework and hands-on experiences here at William & Mary, in addition to her passion for both forensic science and art, she could not have been a more natural fit for this weighty responsibility.

Butler’s original plan had been to become a forensic scientist, but she fell into the art world through her experiences with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CWF) and her work with her two mentors, Shelley Svoboda, the Senior Art Conservator at CWF, and Kristin Wustholz, Associate Professor of Chemistry at W&M. Butler discovered that her work with 21

FACULT Y & STUDENT RESEARCH

The Jewish Bride: Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebecca by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, c.

1665 - 1669. Courtesy the Rijksmuseum

22

art conservation was in fact similar to forensic science, noting that both fields require extensive investigation and the use of very specific scientific techniques. “Before joining the Wustholz lab, I wasn’t fully aware of such a captivating intersection between both of my passions: art and science.” According to her, conservation is actually the “fusion of passions,” further pointing out about her unique experience in Amsterdam, “When do you get to sit at the crossroads of art and science?”

From Svoboda and Wustholz, Butler learned a new technique for analyzing and identifying the make-up of pigments in historical works of art, focusing on period colors (i.e. carmine and madder red). The so-called Svoboda-Wustholz Technique begins with the collection of minute paint samples, which are then treated with silver nanoparticles. The samples are then subjected to a laser beam, which creates an interaction between the WORLD MINDED

paint sample and the silver nanoparticles in a process called surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

The SERS process creates a “vibrational fingerprint” from the organic pigment, thus allowing for the color’s chemical make-up to be identified.

The W&M lab where Svoboda and Wustholz developed their technique has a homemade set up that includes an entire floating laser table, which is more accurate and complex than the commercial Raman microscope being used at the Ateliergebouw.

Butler was responsible for sharing this technique with the Ateliergebouw in order to enhance and bring up-todate the pigment analysis processes that were already in use in the conservation lab there. She did, however, have to pass a test before beginning her work in order to ensure that she could be trusted with the materials.

The test entailed identifying a pigment from one of Rembrandt’s most compelling paintings, The Jewish Bride,

which happens to be Butler’s all-time favorite painting by the artist, adding a level of intimidation to the process.

The sample had been collected from what is called an “area of loss” along the edges of the painting, which is traditionally hidden by the frame, and had been previously analyzed using another pigment identification method. Butler had to use SERS to prove that her method could pick up the organic compounds that the normal Raman microscope was not equipped to do. Not only did she pass the test, but she spent the following eight weeks writing a “how-to” manual for conservators, other fellows, and scientists at the Ateliergebouw laying out the procedures for analyzing paint samples using SERS. The manual not only includes how to test the paint samples, but also how to remove the silver particles from the sample and restore the artwork.

Wustholz, who was able to visit Butler while abroad, commented, “The Ateliergebouw was a beautiful, inspiring space filled with state-ofthe-art instrumentation. Shelle was surrounded by light, color and art – a perfect place to be inspired to do great science.” Butler was also captivated by the beauty and special character of the city itself, including its open, public spaces and the houseboats lining the canals. She enjoyed music at the famed concert house, the Concertgebouw, and admired the resourceful nature of the Dutch, in general. She had the opportunity to tour the conservation labs at the Van Gogh Museum, noting that seeing unframed paintings by Van Gogh and Gauguin was equally as breathtaking and overwhelming as her initial sight of the Rembrandts at the Ateliergebouw. At the Rijksmuseum, she was able to tour all the conservation labs, including those used for textiles and metals, which she also found to be thoroughly fascinating. She pointed out with a certain amount of humor that walking through an art museum with other conservators could be something of a nightmare, for they know which works have been vandalized and which ones need more restoration, things that common museumgoers thankfully would not be able to spot.

As Butler has exemplified in her own studies, the relationship between art and science is a fascinating interplay between aesthetic ingenuity and scientific knowledge, such as the study of mathematics, optics, and perception. Chemistry, especially, has played a critical role in the evolution of organic (and non-organic) pigments through the years. Being able to study the original pigments and paintings with the staff of the Ateliergebouw was an extraordinary opportunity for Butler, who also noted that she was even able to visit De Kat windmill, where traditional recipes and methods are still used to grind pigments and create paints. A painter herself, Butler prefers working with acrylics, which are much less labor-intensive to produce.

After she completes a busy and productive second year in her master’s program, which will include additional research, compiling data, experimenting with new applications with SERS, and writing her thesis, Butler hopes to return to the Ateliergebouw for a longer stay. She felt that she had found her footing—and cycling—among the Dutch in Amsterdam and would welcome the chance to work again with the international staff and the masterworks in the collection at the Rijksmuseum. In her words, “Conducting research at the Rijksmuseum was definitely an experience of a lifetime, which has filled my sails to take me forward on my next journey after graduation from William & Mary.”

FALL 2017

From top:

Amsterdam canal; Zaanse Schans, Netherlands; IRES cohort (L to R: Samantha Miller of Colorado State University, Meredith Taghon of Northwestern University, Francesca Long of Northwestern University, Shelle Butler, Gabriela Diaz of Texas A&M University).

Photos courtesy Shelle Butler

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FACULT Y & STUDENT RESEARCH Data-Limited Stocks: When data from scientific surveys is meager or lacking, fishery scientists— and now students at VIMS—must generate stock estimates by using mathematical models and statistical techniques to amplify any data that might be available. Photo courtesy VIMS

VIMS students advise international fisheries WORK BY GRADUATE STUDENTS AT THE VIRGINIA INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE IS GAINING AT TENTION FAR OUTSIDE

THE CL ASSROOM, AS THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE EXPLORATION OF THE SEA HAS BEGUN TO USE METHODS

DEVELOPED BY THE STUDENTS TO ASSESS THE STATUS OF FISH STOCKS WORLDWIDE.

by David Malmquist

E

stablished in Copenhagen in 1902, ICES is a global treaty organization with 20 member countries. Governments and international commissions turn to ICES for advice on marine policy issues, particularly in regards to management of shared, transnational fisheries. ICES partners with industry and scientists to assess the number of

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fish of a particular species in a particular area—a fish stock. Estimates of stock size are a key driver of fishery-management decisions.

VIMS Professor John Hoenig, who has mentored 4 students involved in developing stock-assessment methods for ICES and other advisory bodies, says, “Our interaction with ICES has been extremely worthwhile, and it’s WORLD MINDED

remarkable it has accepted and used our students’ work to help develop management advice.”

VIMS students Liese Carleton, Quang Huynh, and Kristen Omori have Prof. John Hoenig each contributed to ICES during the past few years, either by evaluating generic stock-assessment methods or developing specific methods for a particular stock. Carleton’s efforts focused on Norway lobster, while Huynh focused on North Sea dab, a kind of flounder. Another VIMS student, Lisa Ailloud, has advised ICCAT, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, with a focus on bluefin tuna.

Dr. Linda Schaffner, VIMS’ Associate Dean of Academic Studies, says, “It’s nice to see how engaged John’s students have been in this important work. It’s a wonderful opportunity for them, and a wonderful reflection on John’s mentorship and on the quality of student we produce at VIMS.”.

NEW COURSE AT VIMS

The interaction has been mutually beneficial to such a degree that ICES and Hoenig are now looking to expand it. As part of that effort, Hoenig recently developed a new course-based internship in William & Mary’s School of Marine Science at VIMS titled ICES Stock Assessment Reviews.

Although listed as a summer course, the internship began in April due to an ICES-imposed schedule. It enrolled 8 students: 5 from VIMS, 2 from the University of Miami, and 1 from Florida International University.

During the 18-week course, says Hoenig, “Students first learned about the ICES process for assessing fishery resources and producing management advice, then reviewed special methods for assessing ‘data-limited stocks’— those for which there isn’t a lot of

greatest commercial and ecological importance. The ChesMMAP and NEAMAP programs at VIMS are prime examples in U.S. waters.

Coupling results from scientific surveys with harvest records and knowledge of fish age, growth rates, and natural mortality gives fishery managers ample data to determine a ‘maximum sustained yield’ and set other regulations concerning the number, size, and species of fishes that can be safely harvested from a given area during a given season.

But for many marine fishes, data from one or more of these sources may be meager or lacking. Indeed, ICES puts about 60% of the 260 fish and shellfish stocks for which it provides advice into this data-limited category — including fish of significant commercial interest such as cod, plaice, and turbot.

This is where fishery scientists— and now students at VIMS—come onto the scene. Their job is to generate stock estimates for data-limited species by using mathematical models and statistical techniques to amplify THE DATA-LIMITED PUZZLE As budgets allow, government agencies any data that might be available.

Describing prior work by his conduct fishery-independent surveys students Huynh and Carleton, Hoenig to estimate stock size for species of information to inform management.”

The students are now using their knowledge and experience to review the latest assessments for about 50 data-limited stocks comprising about 30 different species, and are now advising ICES as to their acceptability.

“We just finished our first batch of reviews on Baltic stocks, and Lily Hoenig from UM just left for Copenhagen,” says Hoenig. “Next up is a batch of 10 deep-sea stocks, which Liese Carleton from VIMS will review in Copenhagen as well. Then it’s Quang Huynh’s turn, and then Nan Yao from FIU.” The other students—Lisa Ailloud, Kristen Omori, and Cassidy Petersen of VIMS and LaTreese Denson of UM—will present reviews to ICES’ Advice Drafting Groups by webinar.

“It’s a real madhouse,” says Hoenig.

“The work has to be done in a rush to meet deadlines, but it is working. The students are getting an eye-opener about the way the real world works, and ICES is getting high-quality labor at very low cost.”

says “Quang estimated mortality rates by compiling and analyzing data on the mean length of caught dab, and ICES recommended his technique as an appropriate method for data-limited stocks.”

“Liese applied the mean lengthbased mortality estimator to several stocks of Norway lobster,” he adds, “and the results were accepted as the basis for ICES’ advice.”

Huynh is now using computer simulations to generate data with known properties and then applying various assessment and management procedures to see which approach or approaches work best. Hoenig says this is “the hot topic in fisheries these days.”

Overall, says Hoenig, “VIMS students are changing the way stock assessments are being conducted by introducing new methods into the stock-assessment process, participating as full members of stock-assessment meetings, and serving as external experts for the review of stock assessments and stock-assessment procedures. They are doing this both in North America and in Europe.”

“It’s a remarkable project,” he adds.

“It is still in its infancy but its potential is clear.”

The 5th ICES Workshop on the Development of Quantitative Assessment Methodologies based on life-history traits, exploitation characteristics, and other relevant parameters for data-limited stocks took place in Portugal in 2015.

Participating from VIMS were graduate students Quang Huynh (4th from L) and Kristen Omori (5th from R), as well as VIMS Professor John Hoenig (white shirt and sunglasses near middle of 1st row). The workshop was the fifth in a series devoted to using life-history characteristics to predict properties of a stock for assessment purposes.

Photo courtesy VIMS

FALL 2017

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Your Gift Matters.

“If not for my Reves Center’s Summer Internship Scholarship award, I would not have had the opportunity to work on IFC projects in my family’s native country, Cameroon, and a host of others...I am grateful for the Reves Center’s awarding me an opportunity to gain such insightful experience through a life-changing internship at an international institution like the IFC.” DANIELLE MAKIA J.D. ‘19 SUMMER INTERNATIONAL INTERN: LEGAL DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION, WASHINGTON, DC

Danielle Makia and her summer internship supervisor at the IFC, Dana Barika Bennett.

Reves Center Scholarships With the support of private donors, the Reves Center awards a

number of scholarships to students undertaking international summer internships. More reflections and photos of 2017 summer scholarship recipients are posted on the Student Funding page on www.wm.edu/reves.

To learn about making donations to the Reves Center Summer International Scholarship Fund or to other Reves Center Scholarships, contact Judy Davis at jcdav3@wm.edu.

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WORLD MINDED

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Nick Vasquez, International Travel and Security Manager Nick oversees all aspects of emergency communications and 24/7 emergency response related to university-sponsored international travel, monitors international developments and assesses risk for overseas travel for students (undergraduate and graduate), faculty and staff who go abroad on university-sponsored travel. He is also the emergency management expert on campus for international students and scholars and is their main point of contact to assist them in the event of a campus emergency. He also works to create and strengthen partnerships across the university, in the local community and with overseas institutions. Nick came to William & Mary from a career in the federal government which included positions in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Department of State and Department of Defense. His previous work included overseas postings in the Middle East, the Balkans and most recently, South America. We asked Nick to share his observations about his role at William & Mary and the world:

Risk Management in an Uncertain World: Expect the Unexpected

I

have been at William & Mary a little over 3 years. My job has been nothing like I expected. Before I interviewed here, I talked to several people in similar positions across the country and asked them for their successes and challenges. Their responses helped shape my first years.

For most of the first year, I listened to faculty, staff, and student concerns in regards to traveling abroad; however; over the last two years, the climate around the risks of overseas travel has shifted away from traditional risks towards mental health challenges and sexual assault support services.

Program assessments and reviewing student travel are still a large part of my responsibilities, but making sure students are prepared to face the challenges and anticipate the errors and pitfalls of travel to unfamiliar environments is what I think makes the Reves Center so successful.

ASSESSING RISKS ON LOCATION

On behalf of W&M I’ve visited Kenya, Uganda, Israel, and Spain. I went to these sites because W&M sends

students there. I was surprised at the hardships that students were willing to endure for weeks and sometimes months on end in some locations to gather research or do community service outreach. It shows to me that they travel overseas because they want to do good in the world, and the travel is not just so they can put it on the resume, but rather an obligation to help where help is needed.

COLLABORATING ACROSS CAMPUS

I work with all 5 colleges at the University. Campus partners include the Counseling Center, the Dean of Students Office, Campus Police, the Emergency Management Team, the President and Provost’s office, Office of Student leadership, the Charles Center, Community Engagement, and AidData and ITPIR. I am Reves’ representative on W&M’s Emergency Management Team. We convene on a monthly basis and we often have exercises and drills that help us better understand the challenges of managing our resources when an exercise is conducted. We FALL 2017

Vasquez speaks on DACA and other immigration issues at the Society for Collegiate Travel & Expense Management (SCTEM) Conference in Miami. Photo courtesy Nick Vasquez

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IN THEIR OWN WORDS

in Europe ; Counterterrorism in Western Europe; Use of Drones; Radicalization in the Workplace; and Brexit: Impact on Security & Cooperation.

In September 24-27 in Miami I was invited to speak at the Society for Collegiate Travel & Expense Management (SCTEM) Conference in Miami. As an example of COLLABORATING WITH the range of my responsibilities, in MiOTHER UNIVERSITIES ami, I addressed the issues surrounding This is probably the best way to keep up with current trends, bounce ideas off other DACA students and Immigration issues such as the Travel Bans. experienced persons, and get reliable information on programs and other best practices that help keep our students safe. THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE I have also collaborated on two separate BEYOND HIGHER ED occasions with colleagues on presenting When I was hired in April 2014, I was at national conferences. This job would be the 30th person in this position across impossible without national collaboration. the country. A little over 3 years later and there are 100 in our group. We collaborate on a daily basis and the backgrounds W&M AS AN INTERNATIONAL of our group is very diverse. While most LEADER IN RISK MANAGEMENT still rise up through the study abroad BEST PRACTICES ranks, there are a number of military, The Overseas Security Advisory Council diplomatic, and intelligence community (OSAC) is an office within the State Department that provides security coopera- members who have successfully made the tion within private, public, and academic transition.

I think that my professional experisectors and the U.S. Department of State. ence has set me apart from my colleagues I arranged to bring their annual conferat other universities. I have been able ence to Williamsburg this year. It was the first time William & Mary had hosted to leverage my past experiences and contacts in the federal government. For it. The conference was well attended by universities, insurance and security com- example, I knew a consular officer in Nepal at the time of the earthquake in April panies. Hosting this conference signaled 2015, who enabled me to more quickly that William & Mary is a leader in the locate and secure a member of the W&M field of travel security and more importantly, we are heavily invested in the best community during that crisis. practices of keeping our students, faculty, and staff safe and healthy overseas.

EMERGING CONCERNS AND ISSUES In addition to hosting OSAC, I was Mental health issues are getting a lot one of only three university represenof attention and getting students and tatives in September at the European faculty the right resources to triage a Regional Security Conference in Paris, a mental health emergency. Since Reves joint conference of the OSAC Overseas is not able to be on the ground for every Security Advisory Council and Interprogram, it’s important we get the right national Security Management Assoinformation and resources to our prociation (ISMA). The program included gram directors and faculty members who presentations from security experts accompany students. representing government, businesses, Another issue which is emerging for non-governmental organizations and aca- students travelling overseas is terrorism. demic institutions, followed by extensive While I have never personally mentioned question and answer sessions. Topics terrorism of any kind in my orientations included: Building your Crisis Response (because the odds of being caught up in recently had a simulated active shooter drill with live actors and our emergency services were put into action. We learned a great deal about strategically placing our limited resources in the areas where they would be most effective during a crisis.

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WORLD MINDED

a terrorist-related situation are very minute), the increasing frequency and target locations have changed, it has been one of the issues I review closely, and evaluate what to do if students are victims of a terrorist incident.

WILLIAM & MARY’S NEW TRAVEL POLICY

It was essential to have this policy in place. The travel policy adds a layer of protection for our travelers and the university. If we know for sure where our people are, we can more quickly react to an international crisis or natural disaster in areas where W&M students are located. An institution is only as strong as their policies, and this is an important document for W&M. (The Policy is posted on the Reves Center’s website.)

NEW IN PRINT

Recently Published by W&M Faculty AMERICAN MOURNING: TRAGEDY, DEMOCRACY, RESILIENCE

By Simon Stow, Associate Professor of Government

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merican Mourning draws on Greek thought and American history to consider the ways in which different modes of mourning serve to shape democratic politics, and the ways in which they might be used to shape the same.

Cambridge University Press, 2017

susAn verdi webster

Lettered Artists and the LAnguAges of empire Painters and the Profession in Early Colonial Quito

UNEQUIVOCAL JUSTICE

By Christopher Freiman, Class of 1963 Distinguished Term Associate Professor of Philosophy

P

olitical philosophers often analyze different political systems within “ideal” conditions — that is, conditions in which people and states fully comply with the demands of justice. Unequivocal Justice argues against this use of ideal theory and examines the nature of liberal institutions in a nonideal world.

Routledge, 2017

WHAT MAKES A WORLD-CLASS SCHOOL AND HOW WE CAN GET THERE

By James H. Stronge, Professor of Education, with W&M Ph.D. graduate Xianxuan Xu

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or years, students in the United States have lagged behind students in many other countries on such measures of achievement as the PISA and TIMSS assessments. In an increasingly globalized world, such a gap is worrisome. The book focuses on statistics that explore both the positive and negative aspects of American education, and offers lessons learned drawn from selected national educational systems, including Canada, Finland, Japan, Shanghai from PRC, Singapore, South Korea, and The Netherlands.

ASCD, 2017

LETTERED ARTISTS AND THE LANGUAGES OF EMPIRE: PAINTERS AND THE PROFESSION IN EARLY COLONIAL QUITO

By Susan Verdi Webster, Jane W. Mahoney Professor of Art and Art History and American Studies

Q

uito, Ecuador, was one of colonial South America’s most important artistic centers. Yet the literature on painting in colonial Quito largely ignores the first century of activity. In this major new work based on extensive and largely unpublished archival documentation, Webster identifies and traces the lives of more than fifty painters between 1550 and 1650, revealing their mastery of languages and literacies and the circumstances in which they worked in early colonial Quito.

University of Texas Press, 2017

NEWS BRIEFS

Lawyers from the Palestinian Territories Visit William & Mary the International Legal Foundation (ILF) to learn more about: U.S. court and legal systems; academic training for legal professionals; legal aid assistance for minorities and other under-represented groups; pro bono work; and court management. The participants were Sawsan Baniowda gives George Wythe a high Yasser Alqasrawi, Manager, ILF-Hebron; five. Photo by Kate Hoving Emad Alsalaymeh, Lawyer, ILF-Hebron; Sawsan Baniowda, Lawyer, ILF-West Bank; Nael Ghannam, Country Director, n August the Reves Center under ILF-West Bank; Suad Jawan, Clinic and the auspices of the Presidential Precinct hosted an International Visitor Training Coordinator, ILF-West Bank; and Ghadnfar Kamamji, Legal Director, Leadership Program (IVLP) project ILF-West Bank. sponsored by the U.S. Department In Williamsburg they met with of State entitled “The Law and Legal Defense,” for the Palestinian Territories.” faculty from the Law School to learn about legal training, university-based The program provided an opportunity law clinics, and enhancing judicial for Palestinian legal professionals from

I

administration. Their W&M faculty counterparts were: Patty Roberts, Director of Clinical Programs; Darryl Cunningham and Lindsay Barna, with the Family Law and Domestic Violence Clinics; Christie Warren, Professor of the Practice of International and Comparative Law and Director, Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding; and Teresa Longo, Acting Vice Provost for International Affairs and Director of the Reves Center. The IVLP seeks to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other nations through professional visits to the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders.

Alternative Dispute Resolution Team Wins First Place at Int’l Mediation Tournament in Scotland

by David F. Morrill

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Jamie Huffman J.D. ’18, Hillary May J.D. ’18, and Morgan McEwen J.D. ’18. Photo by David F. Morril

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n April 8, three members of the Law School’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Team—Morgan McEwen J.D. ’18, Hillary May J.D. ’18, and Jamie Huffman J.D. ’18— advanced to the finals and won first place at the 16th Annual International Academy of Dispute Resolution’s (INADR) International Law School Mediation Tournament at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

The INADR has been sponsoring law school mediation tournaments since 2002. The tournament provides law students with opportunities to learn about various approaches and techniques used in mediation, as well as to practice mediation skills in friendly competition with other students from around the world.

WORLD MINDED

The tournament consists of three rounds, followed by semi-finals and a final. Teams compete as co-mediators working on realistic scenarios, with fellow students fulfilling the lawyer/ client roles.

Judges are drawn from the local and international mediation community, and students often comment on the encouragement provided by these professionals’ detailed feedback.

Forty-two teams from around the world competed at this year’s competition. In addition to taking first place, the William & Mary team won first place in the Client/Advocate component and brought home another award as the Outstanding New Mediation Program.

NEWS BRIEFS

Study Abroad Fair Attracts a Big Crowd for Family Weekend

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n Saturday, September 16, during Family Weekend, the Global Education Office held its annual outreach event for students and their families who are curious about study abroad opportunities.

The Study Abroad Fair allows students to explore all their study abroad options. They asked students who have participated in the programs about their experiences, spoke with professors who will be leading trips abroad, learned about the many scholarships available from Financial Aid, and figured out next steps with qualified Peer Advisers.

Student and families also had the opportunity to meet third party sponsors for even broader horizons. More than 120 study abroad returnees volunteered.

W&M Chosen to Test Federal Immigration Portal

W

illiam & Mary has been selected as a testing site for the long-awaited Student Portal of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Launched in 2003, SEVIS is the federal system now used by over 8,600 schools and more than 1.23 million international students and scholars across the US. It is through SEVIS that international students and scholars’ immigration records are created, updated and maintained.

The Student Portal is an application that will allow students to update certain information directly rather than through their international advisor or a software interface.

“The academic community has been waiting for this for almost a decade, so we are really excited,” said Stephen Sechrist,

Director of International Students, Scholars & Programs (ISSP) and the W&M English Language Program. ISSP staff have been working for years in various capacities providing feedback to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, the agency of Homeland Security that administers SEVIS, and looks forward to this new opportunity. “For students, this will be more convenient and for schools, this will alleviate some reporting burdens,” said ISSP’s Senior Immigration Advisor Emily Bailey, “The goal of testing is to identify any challenges and provide constructive feedback.

It’s better to identify these with a smaller population before it’s released to over 1 million people.”

FALL 2017

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NEWS BRIEFS

Mandela Washington Fellows come to William & Mary

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n July, William & Mary welcomed 25 of Africa’s brightest, emerging civic leaders for 15 days of leadership training, public policy seminars, mentorship and collaboration with local faculty and community members. This is the fourth year that William & Mary and its partners in the Presidential Precinct have been selected as hosts for the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

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WORLD MINDED

The world awaits . . .

STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS offered by the GLOBAL EDUCATION OFFICE (GEO) Summer Faculty-Led Programs: Australia: Adelaide

W&M-Sponsored Semester Programs:

Brazil: Rio de Janeiro

Argentina: La Plata

China: Beijing

France: Montpellier

Bhutan (2018)

England: Oxford

Czech Republic: Prague (Area Studies & Performing Arts) England: Cambridge France: Montpellier

Spain: Seville

Undergraduate Exchange Programs:

Germany: Potsdam

Greece: Athens/Nafplio

Australia: University of Adelaide

Guatemala (2018)

Austria: Vienna University of Economics & Business

India: Bengaluru/Goa

Canada: McGill University

Ireland** (2018)

China: Tsinghua University

Ireland: Dublin*

England: University of Exeter

Ireland: Galway

England: Manchester Business School

Italy: Florence

England: University of Nottingham

Italy: Rome/Pompeii

France: L’institut d’Études Politiques de Lille

Russia: St. Petersburg

France: Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier III

South Africa: Cape Town

Japan: Akita International University

Spain: Cádiz

Japan: Kanazawa University

Spain: Santiago de Compostela

Japan: Keio University

Netherlands: Leiden University

Winter Program:

Scotland: University of St Andrews

Singapore: National University of Singapore

SE Asia (2018)

South Korea: Yonsei University Wales: Cardiff University

* Program in collaboration with the Raymond A. Mason School of Business ** Program in collaboration with the School of Education

WWW.WM.EDU/STUDYABROAD FALL 2017

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FACEBOOK.COM/INTERNATIONALWM @INTERNATIONALWM

200 South Boundar y Street Williamsburg, VA, 23185 Telephone: 757-221-3590 Fax: 757-221-3597

REVES CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES @INTERNATIONALWM

Intensive English Program W W W. W M . E D U / R E V E S / E L P

START YOUR PATH TO SUCCESS

The William & Mary English Language Program prepares students, scholars, and professionals from around the world to succeed academically, advance professionally, and grow personally. We offer an Intensive English Program (IEP), summer preparatory programs, and customized programs.

Our experienced faculty and staff can also meet the needs of special groups through customized English language programs on topics such as business, law, and leadership.

The Intensive English Program (IEP) is an academically rigorous program that combines high-quality English language instruction with the skills needed to succeed in U.S. universities and professional environments through a focus on:

Please contact us or see our website for program applications, fees, and dates.

• Core language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing • Cross-cultural communication skills • Academic study skills • Standardized test preparation • Cultural studies

www.wm.edu/reves/elp intensive.english@wm.edu 01-757-221-1279 200 South Boundary Street Williamsburg, VA 23185

CONTACT

www.wm.edu/revescenter