YOUNG INITIATIVE ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017
INTRODUCTION Under the leadership of Professor Sanjeev Khagram, the Young Initiative was critical to some of the defining events of the 2016-2017 academic year. The hard work of the students and faculty, supported by the Young Initiative, has made this year another productive and successful one for Occidental College and helped advance our vision to be a leader among liberal arts colleges in the study of global affairs.
ABOUT THE YOUNG INITIATIVE The Young Initiative at Occidental College is funded by an endowment that supports the John Parke Young Chair in Global Political Economy, together with programs and research designed to promote national or international economic, social, financial or political policies or actions of general public and social benefit. This fund is dedicated to John Parke Young, who graduated from Oxy in 1917 and was a distinguished international economist, former chair of the College’s economics department and the son of the Rev. William Stewart Young, one of Occidental’s founders and a 50-year member of the Board of Trustees.
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A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR The 2016-2017 year was another incredibly successful one for the Young Initiative in a world that faced many challenges including the ongoing Syrian crisis, increased political polarization in both the United States and Europe and an array of deadly terrorist attacks in the UK, France, Iran, Afghanistan and other nations. However, there were also many hopeful signs. Governments, civil society organizations, the private sector and numerous other stakeholders are advancing collaborative efforts to achieve the ambitious Global Sustainable Development Goals. More generally, organizations across the world continue to take bold and innovative steps to make the global economy more inclusive, equitable and sustainable. In an effort to deepen its engagement with these contemporary dynamics, the Young Initiative introduced the Globalization and Its Discontents Speaker Series, alongside our ongoing series on the Global Sustainable Development Goals. The Young Initiative also led an excellent workshop on global multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) in partnership with MSI Integrity and the Harvard University Human Rights Program. The workshop, Designing the MSI of the Future: A Research Workshop on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives for Sustainable Development and Human Security, involved participation by leading academics, researchers and experts from more than 20 countries around the world. There were many other accomplishments throughout the year, including bringing three distinguished Oxy alumni to campus to discuss their careers in various fields including law, public service and international relations. Additionally, our nationally recognized entrepreneurship initiative had another productive year, including our most successful J-Term, in large part due to the excellent student leadership teams that have worked closely with supporting faculty, staff and alumni. Finally, I am always delighted to recognize our Young student grant recipients, who again conducted groundbreaking research and participated in amazing internships worldwide. Let me conclude by expressing my gratitude for what this generous endowment enables us to achieve each year. My special thanks as well to Chamnan Lim, our remarkable assistant director; faculty partners from diplomacy & world affairs and across campus, especially Sophal Ear and Sherry Simpson-Dean and Derek Shearer, director of the McKinnon Center; our fantastic student interns; the many senior administrators and staff from across campus; as well as alumni and partners from around the world, without whom our continued success would not be possible. We are looking forward to this coming academic year as we plan our third biannual TEDxOccidentalCollege, and launch our Trump and the World Series as well as a major event on global cities with world-renowned expert and author, Saskia Sassen; among many other highlights. We hope to see you at these exciting events in the coming year.
Sanjeev Khagram John Parke Young Professor of Global Political Economy Director, Young Initiative on the Global Economy
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Sustainable Development Speaker Series
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Globalization and Its Discontents Speaker Series
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Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series
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Young Initiative 2016-2017 Workshop
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Oxypreneurship
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J-Term 2017
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Model United Nations
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Young Initiative Student Grants
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Faculty Grants and Activities
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People
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER SERIES
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integrate the efforts of various countries to achieve transformative global progress and address issues of poverty while promoting equality and prosperity. A number of distinguished speakers visited Occidental to discuss collaborative and innovative approaches to achieving the SDGs.
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER SERIES JENNA SLOTIN SEPT. 6, 2016
The Process and Politics of Negotiating the Global Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations Jenna Slotin is the director of sustainable development policy at the United Nations Foundation and has over 12 years of experience working on UN policy issues related to sustainable development and peacebuilding. In her talk, Slotin described how the Sustainable Development Goals address “dignity, prosperity, justice and partnership, leaving no one behind” and spoke about the ways to establish compromise throughout the goalnegotiation process.
PHILIP THIGO SEPT. 27, 2016
Kenya’s Implementation of the Global Sustainable Development Goals Philip Thigo is a senior adviser for the deputy president’s office in Kenya as well as the founder of Infonet. He has co-created unique initiatives such as Apps4Africa together with the U.S. State Department. He spoke at Occidental about the need for community engagement and participation in the SDGs. As he noted, “the biggest challenge is belief,” not technological or financial limitations.
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LAURENT LAMOTHE SEPT. 28, 2016
New Approaches to Development: Empowering Economic Change Former Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe visited Occidental to discuss the ways in which new methods of economic development can enhance the future of multilateral international relations. Lamothe shared his experiences using technology as a resource in his efforts to help Haiti recover from the 2010 earthquake and resulting humanitarian crisis. The former PM also addressed the importance of private equity, but warned of the costs of long-term aid assistance that builds dependency and eventually crowds out domestic business.
LAURA MANLEY NOV. 1, 2016
Open Data for Sustainable Development Laura Manley is the co-founder of the Center for Open Data Enterprise. Manley’s presentation focused mainly on targeted group work, where students were asked to create teams to analyze some of the challenges facing the use of data to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. She emphasized that while she is more passionate about development than data, data is usually the “missing piece” that hinders development work.
PHILIPP SCHÖNROCK NOV. 29, 2016
Colombian SDGs: Planning & Implementation Philipp Schönrock is the director of CEPEI (Centro de Pensamiento Estratégico Internacional) in Bogotá, Colombia. As director of CEPEI, an independent, nonprofit, non-governmental think tank, Schönrock is responsible for coordinating an interdisciplinary group of development stakeholders. His talk primarily focused on the role of governance in development and specifically the role Colombia played in creating and implementing the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. 6
GLOBALIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS SPEAKER SERIES
The Globalization and Its Discontents Speaker Series is a new series that was launched this past academic year to specifically address topics relating to globalization including neoliberalism, international organizations and trade agreements, in light of the rise of economic nationalism. We invited speakers from a number of disciplines to campus to share their expertise and research.
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RINALIA ABDUL RAHIM JAN. 31, 2017
Governing the Internet in a Global Age Rinalia Abdul Rahim is the founder of Compass Rose Sdn Bhd and serves on the board of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Rahim based her talk on the three layers of digital governance: infrastructure, logic and socioeconomics. She emphasized the multidisciplinary nature of internet governance using ICANN as a model, highlighting its transparent decision-making in the field of digital affairs, and encouraged students to get involved in similar transparency mechanisms for international internet governance and policy.
GREGORY TREVERTON FEB. 7, 2017
Global Trends in an Age of Terror Gregory Treverton has served as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, director of the RAND Corporation’s Center for Global Risk and Security and RAND’s Intelligence and Defense Policy Centers, as well as on the first Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He spoke at Oxy about the future of global dynamics, citing a paradox in the trajectory of globalization—as globalization continues to evolve, forces yearning for past global frameworks fight against it. Additionally, Treverton spoke to the unknowns of the future: the U.S.-China relationship, the decline of economic growth worldwide and the potential rise of biotechnology as an industry.
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GLOBALIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS SPEAKER SERIES JAN NEDERVEEN PIETERSE FEB. 14, 2017
Multipolar Globalization Jan Nederveen Pieterse is the Mellichamp Professor of Global Studies and Sociology in the global and international studies program at UC Santa Barbara. His most recent work, China’s Contingencies and Globalization, takes a closer look at China’s complex role in an increasingly interconnected landscape. As an expert on globalization, development studies and cultural anthropology, Pieterse perfectly embodied the mission of the Globalization and Its Discontents Speaker Series. He has devoted much of his recent research, lectures and studies to 21st-century globalization and economics trends.
DANIEL SUAREZ FEB. 28, 2017
The Next 30 Years: Automation, Decentralization and Genetic Editing Daniel Suarez is a New York Times bestselling author, famous for techno-thriller novels including Daemon (2006), Freedom (2010) and his most recent work, Influx (2014). He is self-taught in software development and is a former systems consultant to Fortune 1000 companies. He has also developed critical software for the defense, finance and entertainment industries and has spoken at TED Global, MIT Media Lab and the Long Now Foundation. 9
KAREN TSE
MARCH 14, 2017 How to Stop Everyday Torture: The Globalization of Public Defense Karen Tse is a former public defender interested in the cross-section of criminal law and human rights. She is the founder of International Bridges to Justice, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization with a vision to end torture and ensure due-process rights through the just implementation of criminal laws. In 2009, she was honored with the Gleitsman International Activist Award from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Her discussion focused on the judicial side effects of globalization, particularly concerning torture.
AMBASSADOR DEREK SHEARER MARCH 14, 2017
Globalization and Sports Ambassador Shearer is director of the McKinnon Center at Oxy and has taught numerous classes including “Diplomacy and War” and “Sports and Diplomacy in a Globalized World.” He is an avid sports fan and enjoys studying the intersections between global politics, diplomacy, soft power and sports. His talk explored the ways in which sports have developed over time and examined their effects on soft power globally. 10
GLOBALIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS SPEAKER SERIES ANN HIRONAKA MARCH 28, 2017 Greening the Globe Ann M. Hironaka is an associate professor in the department of sociology in the school of social sciences at UC Irvine. She studies environmental sociology, politics and war from a global perspective. She is also the author of Greening the Globe: World Society and Environmental Change (2014), which examines the historical emergence of the global environmental regime and its impact on national policy and environmental practices around the world. Hironaka spoke about the diverse ways in which the environment is affected by the ever-evolving forces of globalization.
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DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI SPEAKER SERIES
The Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series is devoted to highlighting the work and success of eminent Oxy alumni in the world of public service and global affairs. This series provides a unique opportunity for students to learn more about possible career paths after Oxy and to hear firsthand from leaders in their fields.
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DISTINGUISED ALUMNI SPEAKER SERIES CARMEN CHU OCT. 25, 2016
From Oxy to Elected Office: Carmen Chu’s Journey to Public Service Carmen Chu graduated in 2000 and returned to campus to share the story of her path to public service. She serves as the elected assessor-recorder of the city and county of San Francisco, where she oversees over 200 employees and manages approximately $2 billion in property-tax revenue each year. Currently, she is the only ChineseAmerican assessor elected to serve among the 58 counties in the state of California. During her Oxy visit, she discussed the importance of the role of government and the capacity it has to do good. She encouraged students to consider careers in public service and embrace the “uncomfortable.”
JUDGE JACQUELINE NGUYEN FEB. 2, 2017
From Oxy Gown to Judge’s Robes Judge Jacqueline Nguyen graduated in 1987 with a degree in English and then received her J.D. from UCLA Law School. She is the first Asian-American female to serve as a federal appellate judge, working in the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. In February 2016, she was identified as a potential nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. Nguyen talked about diversity on the federal bench, how Oxy prepared her for a career in law, and how the number of judicial vacancies impacts the workload of the judiciary.
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COIT ‘CHIP’ BLACKER APRIL 20, 2017
From Oxy to National Security Coit Blacker graduated in 1972 and is a current Oxy trustee. Blacker worked as the director of the Stanford Center for International and Security Affairs. He is also a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Olivier Nomellini Professor in International Studies at the school of humanities and sciences at Stanford University. Blacker worked in government as the senior director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration. During his visit to Oxy, Blacker discussed his career, the future of U.S.-Soviet relations and the ways in which academics intersect with foreign policy.
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YOUNG INITIATIVE 2016-2017 WORKSHOP
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DESIGNING THE MSI OF THE FUTURE: A RESEARCH WORKSHOP ON MULTI-STAKEHOLDER INITIATIVES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN SECURITY The Young Initiative on the Global Economy, in partnership with the Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity (MSI Integrity) and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, held a workshop April 3-4 at Oxy on multi-stakeholder initiatives. This two-day workshop welcomed academics, researchers and professionals as they discussed and deepened their academic engagement with MSIs to improve governance mechanisms for the private sector. “MSIs have emerged as central actors in the business and human rights and private-sector sustainability fields. They exist in nearly every major industry and address a range of human rights, governance and environmental issues...Even as MSIs have spread, understanding of their internal and external political dynamics, operations and impacts remains limited and fragmented….the political function and dynamics of MSIs remain under-researched, even as many of these initiatives have become significant sites for contention between civil society, governments and the private sector.”—MSI Integrity
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MONDAY, APRIL 3 MSI SESSIONS Opening plenary • Can MSIs advance transformational, and not just transactional, goals?
Morning panels: MSIs and global challenges • MSIs and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) • MSIs and the business and human rights agenda
Afternoon panels: stakeholder perspectives on MSIs • MSIs as a link between the global north and south • Power dynamics and trust within MSIs
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TUESDAY, APRIL 4 MSI SESSIONS Second day opening plenary • Designing the MSI of the future
Morning panels: MSIs and governance systems, public and private • Interactions between MSIs and other forms of global governance • Worker-driven social responsibility: a new model for labor rights enforcement in global supply chains
Afternoon plenary • MSI effectiveness and institutional design
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WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS Ann Florini
Singapore Management University; Brookings Institution
Arnold Kwesiga Barbara Gray Ben Collins Ben Hensler Benjamin Hoffman Brandon Brockmyer Charles Corbett Cielo Magno Deval Desai Erika George
Uganda Consortium on Corporate Accountability Pennsylvania State University MSI Integrity Workers Rights Consortium Columbia Law School American University UCLA Anderson School of Business University of the Philippines School of Economics Harvard Law School Human Rights Program University of Utah College of Law
Ernst Ligteringen
(formerly) Global Reporting Initiative
Fabrizio Scrollini
Latin American Open Data Initiative
Harris Gleckman
University of Massachusetts-Boston
Isabel Garcia-Drigo Jeremy Blasi Jill Purdy Juan Pablo Guerrero
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Pennsylvania State University University of Washington Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency
Julia Dehm
University of Texas School of Law
Ken Obura
University of Nairobi
Lina Lorenzoni Escobar Manolete V. Gonzalez Marianna Smirnova Martijn Scheltema Munyema Hasan
University of Halle Wittenberg Oregon State University College of Business Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition Erasmus University Open Government Partnership (via videoconference)
Pamela Brody-Heine
Green Electronics Council
Peter Lund-Thomsen
Copenhagen Business School (via videoconference)
Rebecca DeWinter Schmitt Rinalia Abdul Rahim
American University Washington College of Law Compass Rose; ICANN
Sam Szoke-Burke
Columbia University
Sanjeev Khagram
Occidental College
Sheila Keetharuth Theresa Haas Tumai Murombo 19
University of Pretoria Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network Wits University
OXYPRENEURSHIP “For me the goal is to have a higher percent of our students, in any department, go out across the world and believe in themselves and have the confidence to become entrepreneurs.” —SANJEEV KHAGRAM, John Parke Young Chair
A cornerstone of the Young Initiative, Oxypreneurship (OXP) is a student-led, multi-stakeholder hub that strives to increase student engagement in entrepreneurship. This year Oxypreneurship faculty advisers and students successfully hosted the fifth annual J-Term and contributed to Eureka FEST 2017, along with bringing alive the entrepreneurial spirit of students on campus through its incubator and curated speaker series. 20
OXYPRENEURSHIP HIGHLIGHTS THE INCUBATOR The Incubator has been working diligently to create a weekly newsletter to be launched next semester to student business leaders and interested students to introduce industry practices and create an online Oxy community for student entrepreneurs. The newsletter will include introductory market materials and pitch deck how-to guides and key guiding topics regarding the development of a startup. This spring semester the Incubator worked closely with two student businesses, Mynd and Thicket. Mynd was the result of Oxy’s 2017 J-Term and caters to the mental health needs of bullied children in the Los Angeles area. The Incubator presented pivotal market research regarding education technology, mental health care and student privacy laws to Mynd to guide the development of this app-based business as well as define the areas where it could be most effective. The second business, a continuation of the previous semester’s partnership, was Thicket, an education technology startup. Through partnership with Incubator, Thicket has increased the clarity of its vision and defined its target audience. An Incubator team member also sat in on two Thicket team members’ white-boarding sessions this year to further guide their development.
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OXYPRENEURSHIP HIGHLIGHTS
EUREKA FEST 2017 This year Oxypreneurship was invited by Oxy alumnus Peter Polydor ’09, founder of Eureka Building and Ergo Capital, to send three representatives to help oversee Eureka FEST 2017. Eureka FEST celebrates entrepreneurship in Orange County with music, parties, pitches and great content. Entrepreneurs were able to hear from distinguished speakers such as Ryan Ogle, the founder of Tinder, and network with industry influencers. Joshua Schlisserman ’19, Ethan Glass ’19 and Sharon Zhang ’19 made invaluable connections for the future of the club and learned from some of the best entrepreneurs in the Southern California area. Additionally, these student leaders learned how to run a large-scale event and gained inspiration from the connections they made. The Orange County area will be of crucial importance as Oxypreneurship continues to grow and expand.
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OXYPRENEURSHIP SPEAKER SERIES OXYPRENEURSHIP SPEAKER SERIES Every semester Oxypreneurship works to bring relevant and engaging speakers to campus. This year was no exception. The lineup included Stephen Meade, entrepreneur and CEO of BigBamboo LLC, a holding company that incubates tech-related startup companies; Christy Wang, innovative strategist at the Wells Fargo Innovation Group; and Clif Alferness, co-founder of six medical device companies that have collectively raised more than $300 million. Additionally, Oxypreneurship invited Dylan Purcell-Lowe ’12, an Oxy alumnus and founder of Somabar, the world’s first app-controlled, robotic bartending appliance created for the home kitchen, to speak.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT Each year, Oxypreneurship continues to expand and engage with Occidental College alumni. This year, for example, Oxypreneurship invited alumna Emily Linebarger ’16 to J-Term 2017 to judge the 30-second sales pitch competition. Other alumni who returned to speak, judge and mentor at J-Term include Edu Santana ’99 (executive director of Pershing Square Renew), Eve Critton ’15 (development and external relations coordinator of Pershing Square Renew) and Alene Gabriel ’03 (founder of Blue Sky Coaching). Dave Berkus ’62 also provided feedback and advice to the winners of J-Term as they pursued their entrepreneurial projects. In addition, Teddy Zou ’09, founder of Boba Bear, came to talk during the Adulthood 101 workshop. Moving forward, OXP will continue to expand its alumni network and seek to connect Oxy graduates with current Oxy students and to provide them with internships, investment opportunities and mentorship.
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J-TERM 2017
STUDENT LEADERS JOSHUA SCHLISSERMAN ’19 SHARON ZHANG ’19 CASSANDRA MADRAZO ’19 ETHAN GLASS ’19 CHRISTY WONG ’18
“For many individuals and groups, J-Term represents a creative awakening, adding fun, creativity and critical thinking to the mix of hard skills. Congratulations to our student leaders who plan, budget and implement J-Term.” —SHERRY SIMPSON-DEAN, adjunct lecturer in diplomacy and world affairs and co-faculty adviser to Oxypreneurship
J-Term once again returned to Occidental College this year and through their participation in this program, students were able to develop hard skills in computer programming and digital media. By attending lectures on entrepreneurial leadership, students were exposed to an array of entrepreneurs in the Los Angeles area who helped guide them toward their final project, which they pitched to a panel of entrepreneurial experts. This year J-Term also developed a website that offers J-Term participants an expansive pool of resources. With a better social media presence, resources and prizes, there were even more opportunities for participants to succeed following the conclusion of J-Term. Programs like J-Term demonstrate the importance of a liberal arts degree, where students of all backgrounds and majors can explore their educational and entrepreneurial pursuits.
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MODEL UNITED NATIONS
The Occidental College/United Nations Association High School Model United Nations program is currently in its fourth year at Occidental. This program has grown to represent a powerful new partnership between the UNA USA local and national leadership and the College. This year our student Model UN course (DWA 260) planned and chaired a one-day Model UN conference for high school students from the surrounding area. The UNA USA Southern California Division served as an outreach mentor and provided training to the high school students prior to their arrival for the conference. The training and authentic academic and experiential learning dimensions of this program have huge implications for the awareness and recognition of the work of the UN among multiple populations. Thanks to the Young Initiative, 100 students from predominately public high schools in the area received an extended education in global affairs and experience in critical thinking, public speaking, collaboration and diplomacy. Both the Oxy students who served as leadership (The Secretariat) of the event and the high school students engaged in fun, growth and development, while negotiating resolutions to the world’s most challenging issues.
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YOUNG INITIATIVE STUDENT GRANTS
“This project is dedicated to my mother and all the other women in my family who continue to cross borders to provide their children with a better future—immigrant women who are willing to risk their lives for their children.” —Cynthia Magallanes-Gonzalez ’17, recipient of a Young Initiative grant award 26
YOUNG INITIATIVE STUDENT GRANTS
John Parke Young sought to promote the study of the global political economy and global affairs. This initiative is committed to supporting his vision by providing student grants for independent research, internships and conference attendance around the world. This was another banner year for students who applied for and received Young Initiative student grants. The selection committee managed a competitive process, awarding grants to 31 students. The committee awarded a total of $85,199.90 during 2016-2017. As in prior years, once their project or research is complete, recipients must submit a report and present their activities and findings. One such recipient, Cynthia Magallanes-Gonzalez ’17, received a Young Initiative grant award for her research in Morocco entitled “‘I’m not a good mother now, but I will be in the future’: Black African Transnational Mothers in a Transit Migrant Country.” Her research was inspired by the transformative role immigrant women have played in her life.
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YOUNG INITIATIVE GRANT RECIPIENTS Other grant recipients include: Julia d’Amours ’17 Research: The Salability of Death: The Selk’nam Genocide in the Public Sphere Santiago, Chile
Isaac Glanzrock ’17 Research: Geological Research in Iceland’s Central Highlands Reykjavik, Iceland
Chelsea Blair ’18 Research: Commodification and the Indian Diaspora Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Ryan Henderson ’17 Internship: International Budget Partnership: Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency Washington, D.C.
Sydney Bowman ’18 Internship: Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Integrity San Francisco, Calif. Evan Brandaw ’18 Internship: Institute on Economics and International Affairs (IEIA) Washington, D.C. Elizabeth Bushong ’18 Research: Womanhood and the Environment: Examining Native American Artists’ Intersectional Identities Venice, Italy Ciara Byrne ’18 Research: The Nicaraguan Experience in Costa Rica San Jose, Costa Rica Zachary Cohen ’18 Internship: World Affairs Council, Global Education Washington, D.C. Ca’La Connors ’17 Research: Creolization and the Creation of Afro-American Nations Santiago, Dominican Republic Kathleen Fedorchak ’18 Research: Investigating the Effects of French Colonialism on the Development of the Moroccan Education System Rabat, Morocco
Rosalind Jones ’18 Internship: United Nations Populations Fund Washington, D.C. Yumi Kobayashi ’19 Research: Clash of Histories: The Forgotten Baltic Genocide Kobe and Tokyo, Japan Dana Lim ’17 Research: Decolonization Through Global Visibility of Indigenous Artistic Production Venice, Italy Hongjin Lin ’18 Internship: Operations and data management intern, Half the Sky Foundation, Beijing Representative Office Beijing, China Cynthia Magallanes-Gonzalez ’17 Conference: The 1st. International Conference on Mobile Identities. Sub-Saharan Migration Towards Western Europe Ibn Zohr University, Morocco Ieva Marcinkeviciute ’18 Research: Clash of Histories: The Forgotten Baltic Genocide Vilnius, Lithuania
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YOUNG INITIATIVE GRANT RECIPIENTS (CONTINUED) César Martinez ’17 Research: Documentary film “No Olvidados” San Diego, Calif.
Matthew Riback ’17 Research and internship: AMUMRA: Human Rights in Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina
Anna Misenti ’17 Conference: Arctic Circle Assembly on Climate Change Reykjavik, Iceland
Anthea Taeuber ’19 Internship: Musings Magazine New York
Jason Mittler ’20 Internship: Hybrid Social Solutions: Solar Unit Development in the Philippines Manila, Philippines Hanan Mohamed ’18 Internship: Global Youth Connect 2017, Colombia: Historical Memory and the Right to Truth Bogota and Medellin, Colombia Jesse Moore ’17 Research: Transnational Labor Migration and Its Impact in Rural Bolivia Cochabamba, Bolivia Gaea Patrice Morales ’18 Research and internship: (Women + Political Empowerment) + ? = Sustainability: The Missing Link in the Gender and Sustainability Discourse Makati City, Philippines Naomi Navorro ’18 Research and internship: Women, Skateboarding and Development Jarwa, India
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Elizabeth Taylor ’18 Research: Analyzing the Dutch and American Mental Health Systems Amsterdam, Netherlands Poppy Thekdi ’19 Internship: U.S. Department of State: Embassy in Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Andrea Tuemmler ’18 Research: From Paper to Practice: Tracing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Colombian Peace Process Medellin and Bogota, Colombia Taylor Walton ’18 Internship: Some of My Best Friends are Kimchi: Exploring Gastrodiplomacy Through Documentary Los Angeles, Calif. Charles Witwer ’18 Conference: Students for Sensible Drug Policy Annual Conference 2017 Portland, Ore.
FACULTY GRANTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Young Initiative continues to support an array of activities conducted by the Occidental College faculty in the department of Diplomacy & World Affairs.
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SANJEEV KHAGRAM Khagram completed another successful year of leadership as John Parke Young chair. He was honored by the U.S., Kenyan and Colombian governments for his efforts as the architect of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data after handing over the baton to its newly appointed permanent executive director. In addition, he was honored by the governments of Canada and Mexico for his efforts as architect of the International Open Data Charter Initiative after handing over the baton to its recently appointed executive director. Both the Partnership and the Charter are now vibrant international networks shaping the global economy. Additionally, Khagram participated in a number of extramural conferences and workshops. He had an integral role as speaker and moderator at the 71st United Nations General Assembly on the Global Data Partnership at the Open Government Summit on the Open Data Charter. On campus, Khagram hosted a major research conference on Global Multi-Sectoral Stakeholder Initiatives with the Harvard Human Rights Program and MSI-Integrity. This conference brought over 40 academics, scholars, researchers and practitioners from all over the world to Oxy and laid the intellectual foundations of the field. Khagram also led the second year of the Global Sustainable Development Speakers Series. He jointly pioneered two additional speaker series, Globalization and Its Discontents and the Distinguished Alumni speakers series. These speaker series have contributed immeasurably to the Oxy community’s understanding of global economy. He also continued to advise Oxypreneurship and J-Term, with the latter becoming virtually self-sustaining for the first time.
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ANTHONY CHASE The Young Initiative was again instrumental in enabling initiatives Anthony Chase undertook, both in research and in connecting his research to campus events. Most important is the February 2017 publication of his Handbook on Human Rights and the Middle East and North Africa. Professor Chase reflected, “This is a signal event in my academic career, establishing my prominent place in the field; this could not have taken place without Young support, for which I am grateful.” The Young Initiative also helped support an on-campus workshop on “Where to Go After the Middle Eastern Counter-revolutions? The U.N., Social Movements and Empowering Human Rights and Democratic Change From the Ground Up.” This workshop brought to Oxy four Handbook contributors and two experts to serve as discussants on discussions of future research directions that will flow out of the Handbook. This included a campuswide public event with one of the contributors, Fateh Azzam, on “Connecting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement to Black Lives Matter.” Students also engaged with a number of workshop panels in ways that they report were significant to their understanding of the academic enterprise of knowledge production. Additionally, two future research projects flowed out of this workshop. Professor Chase expressed that he looks forward to continuing Young Initiative support as he begins to develop those projects during the 2017-18 academic year.
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SOPHAL EAR In 2016-17, Sophal Ear received support from the Young Initiative to speak on his refugee experience to high-schoolers from all over the world, including Libya, Syria and other conflict-affected countries currently attending school in Europe. Even if one of these students were to matriculate at Occidental College, he or she would make rich contributions to the life of the College. For many of these high-schoolers, this was a wonderful experience to learn about Ear’s journey and his current work on political economy. This was followed by a presentation at the International Studies Association Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Md., where he delivered a paper on China and Southeast Asia. The resulting co-authored article will be published in Pacific Review following peer review. The ISA panel was well-attended and received numerous questions from participants. The Young Initiative continues to fund Ear’s research through the provision of editorial assistance in the preparation of manuscripts for publication.
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MOVINDRI REDDY With the support of the Young Initiative, Movindri Reddy was able to continue making headway on her research in South Africa. During the winter break, she spent several weeks in Johannesburg and Cape Town, specifically focusing on social movements in the postApartheid political system. Just over two decades after the democratic transition, protest organizations have been active among students, workers and residential communities. This research contributes to her theoretical exploration of revolutions in southern Africa, which includes Zimbabwe and Mozambique. She also participated in the annual conference of the Western Political Science Association in Vancouver, presenting a paper entitled “Fanon and Theories of Revolution in this Age of Globalization.”
LAURA HEBERT Laura Hebert was on sabbatical during the 2016-17 academic year, during which the Young Initiative provided critical support for the writing of her book, Gender and Human Rights in a Global, Mobile Era. The book engages prominent debates in the gender and human rights arena through the lens of human trafficking, and builds on her experience of teaching courses on feminist theory, human rights and trafficking over the past 15 years. The support offered by the Young Initiative included funds for the purchase of a number of books, along with computer equipment and office supplies necessary for the writing process. Most importantly, the Young Initiative funded the hiring of two diplomacy and world affairs majors who have gathered longitudinal and cross-national data on trafficking complaints, prosecution and convictions, as well as domestic and international efforts to prevent trafficking. In addition to supporting Hebert’s book project, the Young Initiative has provided funds for her membership in professional associations and the purchase of books and subscriptions relevant to the teaching of her courses on international organizations, gender and human rights as well as gender and international relations. 34
SHERRY SIMPSONDEAN “Thank you to the Young Initiative for supporting another year of breakthrough campus activities related to the expanding platform at the intersection of entrepreneurship and global change.” —Sherry Simpson-Dean, adjunct lecturer in diplomacy and world affairs and co-faculty adviser to Oxypreneurship Sherry Simpson-Dean was again integral to the activities of Oxypreneurship (OXP), which was launched with support from the Young Initiative five years ago. It began with a small band of entrepreneurial students, two faculty advisers, visionary administrators, successful entrepreneurs and advisory members who envisioned a 21st-century liberal arts education that included entrepreneurship and innovation. OXP has recently focused on successful fundraising and partnership-building within the city of Los Angeles. This past year, OXP launched a new series that helps prepare students for life after college. Plans are also underway for a new level of alumni engagement, and the next TEDxOccidental College will be helped by OXP. The Young Initiative has provided support for all of these activities. Dean also was critical to the efforts of J-Term, which was sponsored by the Young Initiative for the fifth year in a row. J-Term is a program that emphasizes collaboration as the key to maximizing cross-thinking, failing fast and readying minimum viable products for consumption. This past year, 18 students engaged in an eight-day entrepreneurial boot camp. This was the second year that J-Term has offered two tracks for student engagement. The first track focuses on acquiring digital media hard skills. It emphasizes the critical role of storytelling in creating brands and campaign initiatives. The second, a computer and coding track, is focused on delivering hard skills that are the foundation for app development and other technology-based tools. Students this year met with high-level professionals and experts ranging from Stanford serial entrepreneur Miguel Sugay to social impact specialist Gamal Palmer. The program culminated with a pitch competition featuring new products and initiatives prototyped in working sessions. Thanks to the Young Initiative, students who continued work beyond J-Term were awarded credits for their work. 35
PEOPLE
YOUNG INITIATIVE LEADERSHIP
SANJEEV KHAGRAM
John Parke Young Professor of Global Political Economy Director, Young Initiative on the Global Economy
SHERRY SIMPSON-DEAN Scholar-in-Residence, Young Initiative on the Global Political Economy Senior Fellow, McKinnon Center for Global Affairs Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Diplomacy & World Affairs
CHAMNAN LIM
Assistant Director, Administration & Programs McKinnon Center for Global Affairs Young Initiative on the Global Economy
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PEOPLE
YOUNG INITIATIVE PROGRAM ASSISTANTS
Young Initiative programming and events are supported by a diverse group of student leaders on campus.
CLAIRE VAN FOSSEN Class of 2019, diplomacy and world affairs major
WILLIAM BUTENSCHOEN Class of 2018, diplomacy and world affairs major
ANDREA TUEMMLER Class of 2018, diplomacy and world affairs major
GAEA MORALES Class of 2018, diplomacy and world affairs major
JOSHUA COHEN Class of 2018, diplomacy and world affairs major
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