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 WILLIAM & MARY
VOL. 10, NO. 2, SPRING 2018
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ALSO INSIDE:
W&M: #1 PUBLIC UNIVERSIT Y FOR STUDY ABROAD 20 YEARS OF FAIR-TRADE LEARNING IN BOSNIA DIVERSIT Y VS. JUSTICE
A PUBLICATION OF THE REVES CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AT WILLIAM & MARY VOL. 10, NO. 2, SPRING 2018
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Alumna Profile: A Q&A with Harshad Daswani ’98
FEATURE
W&M alumni enhance the Global Film Festival, both above- and below-the-line
AROUND THE WORLD
William & Mary American Bosnian Collaboration Project celebrates 20th anniversary of cross-cultural partnership A Summer Odyssey
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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 one 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.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS A Conversation with Dania Matos and Eva Wong
STUDENT & FACULTY RESEARCH VIMS study urges global-change researchers to embrace variability
AidData gains $2.95 million to track HIV/ AIDs in Côte d’Ivoire Announcing the 2018 Faculty Fellows Recently Published Books by W&M Faculty
SCHOLARSHIP NEWS
Hixon family gives $1.8 million to fund international scholarships
VISITING SCHOLAR
A Kraemer Scholar-in-Residence inspires on a large and small scale
Reves Center Advisory Board - Spring 2018 Kira C. Allmann ’10
James D. Hunter ’85
Luis H. Navas ’82
Dana B. Bennett
R. Marc Johnson ’04
John E. Osborn ’79
Michael R. Blakey ’98
Richard C. Kraemer, Jr. ’94
Guillermo S. Christensen
David C. Larson ’75
Sharon K. Philpott ’85, Vice Chair
Lee Welton Croll, Ph.D. ’95
Donald F. Larson ’76
Scott R. Ebner ’96
Leslie McCormack Gathy ’88
Barbara Pate Glacel ’70, Chair
Katherine W. Meighan ’92
Gregory J. Golden
Stephanie A. Morse ’92
John F. Greenwood ’98
Judy P. Nance ’69
United Kingdom Bethesda, MD Singapore
Arlington, VA
United Kingdom Boston, MA
Oak Hill, VA
Falls Church, VA New York, NY
By the Numbers WORLD MINDED
Hong Kong
Charlottesville, VA Washington, DC Fort Myers, FL McLean, VA
United Kingdom Arlington, VA
Tallahassee, FL Jupiter, FL
Miami, FL
Seattle, WA
White Salmon, WA
Young Ju Rhee ’98 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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n February 2018, William & Mary’s by Professor Lily Panoussi, students in this Global Film Festival brought to the program enjoy a range of academic majors. fore such themes as the war in AfWhat they all have in common, thanks to ghanistan, post-conflict Bosnia, race Panoussi and her colleagues, is preparation relations in the United States, and economic in the literature, history, language and injustice throughout the world. More often government of Greece. In other words, than not, the stories that unfolded throughtheir studies abroad begin long before out the three-day festival in films like Last they board the plane, and when they do, it Days in Havana, Spettacolo and Through a is with a significant research question in Lens Darkly, conveyed an artistry built on mind. Panoussi’s role: to build on what the hope; and for the students, alumni, edistudents know, guide the research, inspire tors, writers, producers and directors who and mentor them when they encounter contributed to this year’s event, the overunfamiliar ground. arching thread was anything but phantom. In this issue, you will also find a series These films insist that storytelling matters Teresa Longo of articles about William & Mary’s centers and that art makes a community resilient and institutes and the influential partnerActing Vice Provost for International Affairs and whole. Throughout this edition of ships they are forming. AidData recently Acting Director, Reves Center for International Studies World Minded, you will find echoes of the received a $2.95 million grant to support same theme, with an emphasis on a few of a geospatial data center in Cote D’Ivoire. the inspiring mentors and partners whose stories keep William & In collaboration with the local government and NGOS, they are Mary’s global community strong. tracking HIV/AIDS and helping to ensure that crucial services Children of Peace, a documentary featured in the 2018 reach the people who need them. At the Virginia Institute of festival, tells the story of the first generation of children born Marine Science, Professor Emily Rivest and her colleagues after the Bosnian war. As the young protagonists document are researching how ocean warming might affect corals and their post-conflict stories, the kind of peace they describe is coralline algae. The partners include Auburn University and at once fragile and hopeful. For many at William & Mary, the the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, story isn’t entirely new. In the past two decades, students in the among others. The Reves Center’s own partners are, of course, American Bosnian Collaboration Project, under the mentorship many. To learn more about our informal but growing partnerof Professor Paula Pickering, have partnered with students from ship with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, please read “In the University of Sarajevo to develop grassroots peace initiatives Their Own Words,” (pp. 13-17), an interview with Dania Matos and teach media skills to children. A shining example of global and Eva Wong. Together, Matos and Wong emphasize the engagement across campus and across continents, the project essential commitments we share, the commitments to diversity also includes an essential academic component that prepares and equity needed to make our community strong. students for engaged research abroad. For students on William & Mary’s summer programs in Cape Town, St. Petersburg, Rio de Janeiro, Athens and elsewhere, field research and study abroad are one and the same. As an example of what this means, I invite you to read “A Summer Odyssey” (pp. 9-12) about the Athens Program. Led most recently
World Minded Staff
On the Cover
Editor: Kate Hoving, Public Relations Manager, Reves Center for International Studies
Films shown at the 2018 Global Film Festival represented fifteen countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Cuba, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and the U.S.
Contributing Writers: Jim Ducibella, University News & Media; David Malmquist, VIMS; Rachel Sims, Reves Center; Ashley Speed, University Advancement Graphic Designer: Rachel Follis, University Web & Design
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Alumnus Abroad A Q&A WITH HARSHAD DASWANI ’98
Director, The Beach Company and Partner, Fountainhead Exports
Where were you born? What do you consider your home town? I was born in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in India. A very different city now than it was back in 1976! Why did you choose to attend William & Mary? As I stacked up the major factors I looked for in a university, W&M was right on top. It had the right class size, well rounded liberal arts curriculum, not located in a major urban area, a smaller international student population and coming from India, it wouldn’t be as cold, perhaps, as schools in the northeast! I believed I could make an impact – both as an “ambassador” of India, and as a foreign student on an American campus. What was your major? Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA, 1998) with a focus on finance courses. Did you have a favorite course and/or professor while you were at W&M? I enjoyed a lot of my classes at W&M, but a special mention for Professor Herrington Bryce & Professor Karen Locke, both at the Business School, as their classes really were of most interest to me. And outside of the business school, I enjoyed Professor Donald Baxter’s class on South Asian comparative politics. Although I never had a class with him, Professor Jim Bill made a lasting impression in the time I spent speaking and working with him at the Reves Center.
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Do you have a favorite memory of your time at W&M? Learning racquetball! Outside of the classroom, learning a typically American sport (at the time) but by trying to apply rules of squash, earned me multiple black-eyes and bruises! And also my kinesiology class – kayaking! What career path(s) have you pursued? I returned to India in 1999 and after working with the family business a while, I left to set up an apparel and swimwear manufacturing business. Around 2001 with the changing climate of Indian business, we began to grow fast, and well. Today we are India’s largest specialty manufacturer of holiday apparel and we export to more than 30 countries. Do you have any current projects/ passions you’d like to share? We run a social campaign called So More Can Swim. Our mission is to prevent the loss of life caused by accidental drowning, and we partner with organizations & individuals to support their efforts in this area. Drowning sadly is among the leading causes of accidental loss of life globally, primarily among children under the age of 14. How do you think your experience at W&M has affected your life and decisions you’ve made? It did, in many ways. W&M has the advantage of being close to Washington, allowing access to resources, internships, jobs and life-experiences. Furthermore the limited class size WORLD MINDED
allowed students to excel and share in an environment that was competitive. The people I met at W&M, I still consider many among my close friends. Do you have any advice for current students? When I was at W&M, life was simpler. We didn’t have social media (we barely had e-mail). Although we all know the essentials – work hard, play hard, and the important of respect and loyalty – my advice would be to focus on immediately structuring a work-life balance so in the “real world” everything is managed better. Is there any advice you wish you’d received? Laugh more. Worry less. Do you think international experience as a student is helpful in future life and career? Absolutely. It would be myopic to expect any one country to provide everything. Even if you get married, work and live close to where you were born, you cannot escape the exposure and integration different parts of the world will bring to your life. From travel and literature, to work relationships, business & data, you will have to work together and compete with other cultures and countries. Understanding people (starting right here at W&M) will give you an incredible edge. Anything else you’d like to add? William & Mary was like family, and I can’t wait to be back in a few months for my 20th reunion homecoming.
W&M alumni enhance the Global Film Festival, both above- and below-the-line
The W&M Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, directed by Anne Rasmussen, plays before the Festival’s closing film Foxtrot. Photo courtesy AVAdventure
THE WILLIAM & MARY GLOBAL FILM FESTIVAL (GFF) MARKED ITS ELEVENTH YEAR THIS
PAST FEBRUARY WITH FOUR DAYS OF FILMS, SPECIAL
GUESTS, WORKSHOPS, AND
RECEPTIONS IN THE HISTORIC KIMBALL THEATRE. by Staff
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he festival featured a diverse program of films and live performances showcasing the work of international filmmakers, the William & Mary community, and local performers. Cook Up a Storm, a Chinese film that follows two rival cooks in their quest to be the best in the industry, opened the festival Thursday night. Award winning chef and restaurateur Peter Chang spoke about Chinese cuisine after the film and welcomed everyone to a reception with a special tasting menu prepared by his local restaurant. Sponsored by the William & Mary Confucius Institute, the opening night program was the first of many collaborations between the GFF and campus and local groups. SPRING 2018
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of African Americans in Residence and the 20th anniversary of the American Bosnian Collaboration (ABC) Project, formerly known as the W&M Bosnia Project. Festival producers Adam Stackhouse (‘04) and Liz Sykes (‘06) collaborated with each group to screen films in recognition of these milestones. Jacquelyn McLendon, chair of the committee overseeing programming for the 50th anniversary and an Emerita Professor of English, worked with Adam and Liz to program a screening of Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photography and the Emergence of a People followed by a panel discussion with W&M faculty. As students both Stackhouse and 3
Left: Award-winning chef and restauranteur Peter Chang (left) speaks to the audience about traditional Chinese cuisine after Cook Up a Storm, a Chinese film about two rival chefs. Deliang Wang (right), Director of the W&M Confucius Institute, translates his remarks. Below: A panel discussion with special guests Producer Zana Marjanovic (left), Director Emir Kapetanovic (center), and W&M ABC Project Co-founder Dr. Larisa Kasumagic-Kafedzic (right) after the screening of Children of Peace.
Sykes participated in the ABC Project in 2003, making the anniversary programming personally meaningful. W&M’s longest-running community service project, the program partners with education students at the University of Sarajevo to teach English and media skills to children. Paula Pickering, Professor of Government and the program’s mentor, helped coordinate several events during the Festival to celebrate twenty years of service. A screening of the Bosnian documentary Children of Peace with special guests Writer/Director Emir Kapetanovic, Producer Zana Marjanovic, and W&M Bosnia Project co-founder Dr. Larisa Kasumagic-Kafedzic was the first of those events. Several workshops and a reception hosted by W&M Libraries Special Collections offered additional opportunities for attendees to learn about the ABC Project and connected current and past program participants. Notably, the entire group from the class of 2004 returned to campus for the anniversary events. Many of these alumni facilitated workshops about their area of expertise. “It was inspiring to gather with new and old participants and reflect 4
on the project’s long evolution,” said Kelly Weissberger ’04. “Over 20 years of collaboration, we’ve developed an impressive community, and a strong sense of mutual respect and trust with our partners in Sarajevo. I’m excited to see that community growing and extending to new generations of students.” The ABC Project alumni were among the nineteen W&M alumni that returned to campus for the GFF to facilitate professional workshops for students and community members. Not limited to film, workshops covered a range of careers in the arts such as theater, creative writing, and marketing. Lauretta Prevost ‘05 returned to
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Williamsburg to present a workshop on the pre-production process of professional filmmaking: “I found attending the festival to be a meaningful context for returning to campus. I enjoyed sharing my little corner of the industry with students, and I was glad to connect with students during workshops, around the fest, and with those who have followed up online... I had a blast!” Up from eight alumni presenters, the increased participation from alumni is one of several ways the Festival grew from 2017 to 2018. Student attendance is another, with a 384% increase. Such a significant jump is undoubtedly attributed to W&M students receiving free tickets to all GFF programs for the
Photos courtesy AVAdventure
From top: Chelsea Marotta ‘12 facilitates a workshop about unscripted television for current students and community members in Reeder Media Center; Students get hands on experience in the Techniques of Audio Field Recording workshop facilitated by Tyler Trumbo ‘07 in Reeder Media Center.
first time in the festival’s 11-year history. Academic internships, the Youth Filmmaking Institute, and the 24 Speed student filmmaking competition offered additional opportunities for current students to get hands-on experience. Three student interns help produce this year’s festival, focusing on social media, volunteer management, and workshops. The Youth Filmmaking Institute, in its sixth year, gave Williamsburg-area middle and high school students an opportunity to make a short film with a undergraduate W&M student as their mentor. The 24 Speed contest challenged students to create a three-minute film in only twenty-four hours with
an assigned genre, character, and line of dialogue. The winning films were screened during the GFF prior to selected featured films. Sponsorship from campus and local organizations made these opportunities and free student tickets possible. The Roy R. Charles Center, Reves Center for International Studies, W&M Libraries and Muscarelle Museum of Art all continued their long-time support of the Festival. AVAdventure Productions, the company owned by festival producers Stackhouse and Sykes, oversaw the GFF for the second year in a row. The company has worked on numerous SPRING 2018
events for the College since it was founded in 2011, including Commencement, Charter Day, and an interactive team scavenger hunt as part of the 100th anniversary of co-education programming to take place in Fall 2018. Additionally, the company produces an event for the City of Williamsburg welcoming new students to the community. Held annually since 2011, these events foster the “town-gown” relationship by connecting students with local businesses and organizations through memorable interactive events. The Great Williamsburg Adventure Race is the most recent event AVAdventure Productions has created for the City. The long-term vision for the Global Film Festival is for it to serve as a homecoming-style event that draws alumni working in the arts back to campus annually. 5
AROUND THE WORLD
William & Mary American Bosnian Collaboration Project celebrates 20th anniversary of cross-cultural partnership IT WAS EARLY 1996 – THE PEACE AGREEMENT OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA HAD BEEN
FRESHLY SIGNED, AND THE WAR WAS AT ITS END. FIGHTING HAD STARTED DURING L ARISA K ASUMAGIĆ-K AFEDŽIĆ’S L AST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, ALTERING HER FAMILY’S REALIT Y AND SHAPING HER EARLY CAREER AS A COMMUNIT Y ACTIVIST. NOW, AT THE ONSET OF
A NEW FRAGILE PEACE, HER WORLD WAS SET TO COLLIDE WITH STUDENTS AT WILLIAM & MARY – FORGING A 20-YEAR PARTNERSHIP BET WEEN BOSNIAN AND AMERICAN STUDENT EDUCATORS AND TRANSFORMING PEACE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN IN BOSNIA. by Rachel Sims
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hile the war imposed a break in her education, Kasumagić- Kafedžić used her time to co-found local organization Sezam in Zenica, translating articles focused on war trauma and children. When the war ended, Kasumagić-Kafedžić was finally able to pursue her education at the University of Sarajevo where she was awarded the opportunity to join Yugoslav scholar Mihailo Crnobrnja, a Borgenicht Scholar-in-Residence at William & Mary who was teaching a course on the breakup of Yugoslavia and co-organizing a conference on Bosnia and the Balkan region. Kasumagić- Kafedžić was one of seven students from across the former Yugoslavia invited by Dr. Crnobrnja to spend a month at W&M, partnering with W&M students to develop grassroots peace projects. A formative and productive experience for Kasumagić-Kafedžić, she was encouraged to think of ways to use the skills, experiences, and resources she was learning to implement a peace education project in her country. The program at W&M empowered her to broaden her horizons as a young student who had lived through the war, while also influencing her future
work. “I thought engaging students would be a very good way to give back what I received,” she explains. Kasumagić-Kafedžić’s connection to Sezam laid the foundation for a collaboration between W&M students and the local Bosnian non-profit organization. The William & Mary American Bosnian Collaboration (ABC Project – initially named Bosnia Project) grew from a year-long initiative sponsored by the Reves Center for International Studies in 1998-99. The collaboration between W&M and local Bosnian non-profits has since developed into a unique international service opportunity for W&M students interested in making a difference in the world while learning about a culture in-depth and up close. Every summer since 1999, W&M students have travelled to Bosnia to work alongside young Bosnian educators – most recently from the University of Sarajevo – to teach a free informal education camp for English expression and nonviolent communication skills to about 80 children. Their mission? Bring together W&M and Bosnian students to foster cross-cultural understanding and empower the youth of Bosnia to work towards positive change.
As W&M’s oldest and longest-running international service trip, the ABC Project celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year. The partnership has undergone many developments to benefit both the local Bosnian community and W&M students. In 2007, the W&M portion of the project moved under the oversight of Professor of Government Dr. Paula Pickering with the idea that it should have an academic home with an inter-disciplinary course designed to prepare students for meaningful service and research. The project is currently supported by the W&M Institute for the Theory & Practice of International Relations (ITPIR), the Charles Center, and Russian and Post-Soviet Studies (RPSS). As a scholar focused on evaluating international intervention into the post-conflict Balkans and author of Peacebuilding in the Balkans: The View From the Ground Floor (Cornell University Press), Pickering is a good fit to mentor the unique cross-cultural initiative as Faculty Advisor. Additionally, the project began its move to Sarajevo in 2008-9 when ABC Project alumna Kelly Weisberger ‘04 (formerly Chroninger) returned to Bosnia on a Fulbright teaching grant to Photos courtesy ABC Project
Clockwise from left: Children in the program create posters with their own definitions of tolerance; Children in the program create backdrop for ecology lesson; W&M’s Aaron Spitler ’19 and W&M’s Salma Elsayed-Ali’19 discuss the Fourth of July holiday and its significance. Opposite page: University of Sarajevo student Senada Cizmic and William & Mary student Jasmine Curry‘18lead children through an ice breaker activity on the first day of the 2017 program.
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Photos courtesy ABC Project
the University of Sarajevo and reconnected with Kasumagić-Kafedžić who had moved on to teach ESL Pedagogy at the University of Sarajevo. They coordinated efforts, and the new phase of the project focused on teaching children intercultural communication and basic media production skills, culminating in the production of short creative films by the Bosnian youth. Since 2010, the ABC Project has been based in Sarajevo, now partnering with educational non-profit organization Creativus founded by Larisa and her sisters Lejla and Amela Kasumagić. Creativus teaches English-language learning in a unique way, integrating perspectives while combining art with language education curriculum for children, Kasumagić-Kafedžić explains. She says that she is committed to a career focused on helping future teachers incorporate peace education and nonviolence. She wants to help her education students put what they learn into real life in their partnership with William & Mary students, “so they can really see what it is like to collaborate with someone from a different culture – and all the struggles, tensions, challenges, issues, and rewards [necessary] to do something collaboratively.” According to Weisberger ‘04, current Associate Director of the Center for Scholar Development at Drexel University, international service learning opportunities like the ABC Project must constantly balance and adjust between student learning goals and community needs so that both are mutually beneficial. Weisberger ‘04 explains the importance of ‘fair-trade learning’ – service opportunities which address local community-identified themes while connecting service to learning around ideas of global citizenship, civic engagement, and intercultural communication. With the tremendous growth in the field of international service learning, ‘volun-tourism’ is often carried out for personal growth and not for benefiting a local community. “Combating poor quality service is accomplished through having a strong partnership with a community organization in the host community, ideally something
From top: A group of W&M students and Bosnian co-teachers pause for a photo with Professor Pickering; Host mom and Project coordinator Lejla Kasumagićwith W&M’s Salma Elsayed-Ali ‘19.
that’s locally grown and comes from the community themselves,” she explains. Pickering agrees. “Continuity is a critical element of successful collaborative international service-learning programs in post-conflict environments. Building strong cross-cultural relationships and working to have an impact that lasts longer than the four-week duration of the summer English course requires conveying strong support for and consistently working with our Bosnian partners.” She also highlights the importance of the project’s willingness to evolve, for example by incorporating the innovative teaching tool of filmmaking and community-based collaborative research. Local Bosnian non-profits with strong roots in their communities like Sezam and Creativus are those ideal partners necessary for effective change. The collaboration led by Dr. Kasumagić-Kafedžić and Dr. Pickering WORLD MINDED
is fostering cross-cultural understanding and creating positive change for the youth of Bosnia, as well as for W&M’s own future educators and leaders in international affairs. “There is no other initiative at William & Mary in which I’ve been involved that has had such a profound impact on student participants,” Pickering says. Jasmine Curry, ABC Project alumna ’17 and W&M class of 2018, remembers last summer in Bosnia as a particularly transformative experience. “I’ve learned so much thanks to the project, through the class dedicated to research and teaching preparation, the actual experience in-country, and now as a teaching assistant [for the ABC Project course]. The people, the food, the youth arts center we worked in – I loved it all. This past summer in Bosnia was by far the most meaningful experience of my college career.”
A Summer Odyssey by Kate Hoving
hat motivates a student to study on a summer program in Greece? The allure of azure water, sandy beaches, stucco walls and ancient ruins against a cloudless sky? The chance to explore this unique country that is at the crossroads of history as well as continents? Or perhaps the pull is more strategic, a desire to be more competitive in a 21st century, global marketplace. Whatever inspires or compels a student to take on that challenge of the unfamiliar is no more important than any other. But this is a tale of a student with an impetus all her own for traveling to Athens the summer of 2017. Those who think that all virtue is to be found in their own party principles push matters to extremes; they do not consider that disproportion destroys a state. — Aristotle
Madison Miller ’20 on the Areopagus, a prominent rock outcropping northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Photo by Kathleen Lauer ’19
SING IN ME, MUSE, AND THROUGH ME TELL THE S TORY OF A TR AVELER SEEKING TRU TH, WHO MET A GIF TED TE ACHER WHOSE PA SSION AND SKILL BRE ATHED LIFE INTO S TORIES PA S T AND GUIDED OUR HEROINE TOWARD NE W DES TINATIONS AND U NFORESEEN INSPIR ATIONS. - a dap ted from Homer’s Odysse y
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A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE
Our traveler, Madison Miller ’20, is a biology major. She is no stranger to travel, having participated in several mission trips through her church to various states in the U.S. She felt compelled by a need to help others, but also to learn about the world beyond her home in Northern Virginia. “I crave the chance to learn from different experiences and realities. It’s an amazing opportunity.” At William & Mary, she knew she wanted to study abroad, and didn’t waste any time organizing her first trip for the summer after her freshman year. She chose the W&M Program in Athens, an intensive three-week summer program in Ancient Greek Studies run through the Department of Classical Studies. Students visit archaeological sites and excursions take them throughout 9
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Professor Panoussi delivers a lecture on the Areopagus in Athens. Photo by Madison Miller
Athens and Nafplio, and other places of interest, such as Delphi, Olympia, Santorini, and Mycenea. Miller, who goes by Maddy, went to Athens not for the reasons listed above. This remarkable and curious young woman was on a quest to find an answer to a question that consumed her: “Given the political climate in America right now, I was wondering, was our current system the intent, not just of the Founding Fathers, but of Aristotle?” That could seem like an overly ambitious goal for a study abroad trip, except for the fact that her odyssey intersected with that of an equally remarkable woman who was leading the program to Athens.
courses on Greek and Roman literature and culture and all levels of Greek and Latin. She is currently at work on a book project on women’s religious experiences in Roman Literature. The trip in 2017 was the second time Panoussi had led the program; her first was in 2015. (The classics trip alternates each year between Rome/ Pompeii and Athens/Nafpoli). “It was particularly exciting for me to share my love of my hometown and of Greece with my students, so I was eager to take up the task.” The students are not only classics or history majors. “Most students who go on this trip have studied Ancient Greece at some level and have an interest in its rich history and PROGRAM DIRECTOR AS Those that culture. It is a particular thrill for GUIDE AND MENTOR know, do. the students to visit the majority Vassiliki (“Lily”) Panoussi, Those that of the places they have studied in Professor in the Classical understand, class, such as the Acropolis, for Studies Department, is a teach. example, or see up close some of native of Greece, received — Aristotle the most famous art objects in the her BA in Classical Philology, world,” says Panoussi. But beyond from the University of Athens, and her the emphasis on classical history, the Ph.D. in Classics, from Brown Univer- experience encompasses more than a sity. Panoussi’s research focuses on look back at the past. “They also have a Latin Literature of the Late Republic chance to experience life in a Euroand early Empire, and on Vergil in pean city, live like modern Athenians particular. She has taught a range of in apartments, and enjoy the food and 10
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the culture that the modern country has to offer,” she adds. “Overall, it is a life-changing experience for most of them and it is very special for me to be able to guide them through it.” It is just as special for the students she guides. Students say that Panoussi makes the people of the past and their monuments come alive. Miller sums up the universal regard for Panoussi and the impact she has: “Professor Panoussi was unbelievable. I can’t speak highly enough. She was so influential, and paramount in making the trip unforgettable.” GETTING READY IN WILLIAMSBURG
In preparation for the program, students met on every other week for two hours. “Professor Panoussi assigned readings on the contemporary Greek government to gain an understanding of modern Greece, because most of what we would focus on during the trip was ancient Greece. It was about giving context to us.” Miller recalls. “A lot of people were classical studies majors or minors but they were maybe seven of us out of 17 that weren’t. One of my dearest friends is a neuroscience chemistry major. I was biology. There was an accounting
major. It was really nice to have a group with different backgrounds come together. We learned some Greek, and we had really great discussions about the readings.”
and have connected it with modern Their days started around 7 or 8am, seating practices in similar venues.” and they would visit two or three sites Miller explains how she came to every day, finishing up around 3pm. select Epidaurus, a site of ancient heal- “I really liked that,” exclaimed Miller. ing, for her project. “I picked it because “You’re tired, but it’s what you want to that is where medicine stems from and do when you’re there.” THE ITINERARY that was really fascinating to me,” One of the many advantages of The program’s itinerary and Miller said. But it wasn’t her first Panoussi’s being a native is that she What we excursions were designed choice. understands the impact of the climate have to for more than just scenic or “We picked a place in the on even the most enthusiastic travellearn to do, tourist value. The sites they very beginning. I met with ers. “The first day we did the Acropolis we learn by would visit were to be the Professor Panoussi, and I asked bright and early,” Miller recalled. doing. focus of individual research what she thought I’d should do. “Professor Panoussi told us that as the — Aristotle projects. Each student, as I was thinking that maybe I’d do summer goes on, the more popular it part of their grade for the course, had Poseidon’s temple because it seemed becomes. And we went early, because to choose a location out of the some 18 cool, but when I was telling her a little Greece gets really hot. Some days I locations visited, research its history bit more about me, and my interest was there it was 102 degrees!” and significance, and then do a presen- in biology, and she said, ‘Maybe you On that first day, they saw the ruins tation there. should consider Epidaurus. Here are of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, “My students have always done some articles you can go read. Here’s a a stone theatre on the Acropolis, research in conjunction with these photo of the site itself.’” learning about its purpose in Ancient trips,” Panoussi asserts. “Even though “I read more about it, and I fell in Greece. At the end of the trip, they ancient sites and artifacts have been love.” returned to the Odeon to studied for a long time, the new experience it as contemporary generations ask different questions NO REST FOR THE WEARY Walking is Athenians do, watching a silent and so we reach different conclusions. Although travel from town man’s best film alongside locals and tourNew knowledge and understanding is to town was by bus, they medicine. ists, with the Athens symphony produced every day. My students have were anything but seden— Hippocrates orchestra playing the score. “It done research on mystery cults, medtary, traveling by foot most was at twilight; it was unbelievicine, burial practices and have often of the time. able,” Miller remembers. connected them with today’s customs and contemporary concerns.” The students could reinforce and enhance their experiences with documentation and research. William & Mary’s institutional partner, College Year Athens (CYA), not only managed housing and logistics, but through the International Center for Hellenic and Mediterranean Studies (DIKEMES) provided access to a facility with computers and Harvard library databases, so even though they were traveling, they could pull together information and prepare the presentation and handouts. “Students usually are successful in finding ways to connect their own interests to the material we cover in that class,” she explains. “Maddy Miller last summer did a project on dreams used for healing purposes at the sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidaurus and was able to connect with similar practices in China, but other students have explored how social hierarchies were reproduced in seating arrangements at At Cape Sounion, Temple of Poseidon, in Larro. Photo courtesy Madison Miller theaters and sports events in antiquity SPRING 2018
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EPIDAURUS IN PERSON
Databases can’t replace the thrill and unique opportunity to experience the sites in person and through the eyes of those most immersed at the moment: “When we would go to different sites, often it was the director of the excavation, maybe a visiting professor, who would lead us around the site,” Miller recalls. “It was really special to get to hear from someone for whom this particular site is their life right now.” At each site a student would give a 10-minute presentation. The emphasis was on analysis, and presentation skills. No powerpoints or microphones. It was just as it might have been in ancient times. “We would all sit and listen, and we would learn. Oh, gosh, it was so cool!” Miller remembers. Epidaurus in person was everything Miller had hoped. “What was so interesting is that you can really see the evolution of when the Romans are coming through and then when the Christians came through.” In addition to its history, the physical site inspired as well. “It’s a huge site. There’s a sports complex, where they held games. And it’s beautiful to see where the bathing occurred. Both were so therapeutic. We know about endorphins now, but you can see the building blocks of what we understand now.” The site has a huge theater as well, so there were actually two presentations at Epidaurus. Miller’s focused on 12
Photo by Madison Miller
Leaving Athens, their first main stop was Nafplio, a picturesque town on the Argolic Gulf. Miller remembers, “It was stunning!” But in the same breath describes their exploring Palamidi’s Fortress, one of its major sites. “They say it has something like a thousand stairs, but we did that hike!” “I don’t persevere through physical pain, but I ended up in great shape. And again, it was Professor Panoussi who made the difference,” Miller recounts. “She’d say, ‘Tomorrow we’re going to be hiking up this huge site, so I’m warning you.’ It was a mental preparation, and because she was so ready and she would say enthusiastically, ‘You’re going to love this!’ I don’t know what came over me, but I found I was saying, ‘Let’s do this!’”
Communicating with the Divine “I am genuinely moved every single time I visit all of these ancient cities, theaters, sanctuaries. But there is a special place in my heart for the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. The sacred site is nestled among steep ravines, with a valley of olive trees below and overlooks the gulf of Itea. The breathtaking views from the temple of Apollo or the theater cannot be described! When you visit Delphi, you realize why it was identified as a place where humans could communicate with the divine.” – Lily Panoussi
its medicinal aspect, “But my friend Rachel McCoy ’19, a marketing major, did her presentation on the visual and aural aspects of dramatic presentations. That was really interesting.” Miller’s presentation at Epidaurus and research in Greece and at William & Mary culminated in a research paper: Dream Interpretation as a Means of Medicinal Function in Greek Antiquity. Her imagination and enthusiasm were inspired by her visit. She sees the site not as ruins, but as the vibrant place it used to be. “People would come to this site from all over to see Asclepius, the god of healing,” she describes. “They would go through a purification ritual with the priest and then go down into the labyrinth. It was like being in a dreamlike state, where they would be almost sleeping. The patients would wake up and would feel as though they had met with Asclepius and his snake and had been healed. I devoted a lot of my research paper to how we now understand our mind is so powerful.” WORLD MINDED
AN ANSWER OF SORTS
Although Miller may At the not have returned with intersection a simple answer to her where your gifts, initial question about talents, and our democratic society abilities meet today, she did come back a human need; with an ever greater therein you appreciation of the will discover philosophers and healers your purpose. of ancient Greece. “I — Aristotle think that a big takeaway from my time there in the sense of that initial question … I would say that … the people that we studied had such a wealth of knowledge, almost a mystical magical essence to them,” Madison explains with characteristic enthusiasm. “Hippocrates was so… that man!” she laughs. But then she gets serious: “I think what I’m trying to really get at is that their words were so strong back then and they still stand today. They have this timeless and remarkable effect on everyone who reads them. That is really moving to me.”
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
A Conversation with Dania Matos and Eva Wong
Dania Matos (left) is the Inaugural Deputy Chief Diversity Officer, and was recently selected as one of the “Top 25 Women in Higher Education and Beyond” by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. She is a 2003 graduate of Brown University and a 2009 graduate of the Catholic University School of Law. Before coming to William & Mary, Dania was the Executive Director of Latinas Leading Tomorrow and worked for the Office of the Federal Public Defender (Eastern District of Virginia) and Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. Her primary responsibilities include oversight of institutional diversity action plans and diversity and inclusion efforts. Eva Wong (right) is Assistant Director for International Programs at the Reves Center. She directs programs, advocacy and outreach initiatives, including collaborative par tnerships with campus offices, to suppor t the success of William & Mary’s international community. Eva received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. You both have come to William & Mary from other communities and institutions and organizations. What paths and decisions brought you here? DM: I had a career that had spanned government, corporate, leading a nonprofit, and I wasn’t really happy where I was, so I took a month off. Kind of through divine intervention I was able to sustain myself financially through that period so I could spend a lot of time digging deep into what
I wanted to do next. I made a list of things I was passionate about and loved and realized what I cared about most were equity and justice issues. I had done a lot of this work at Brown and it was very clear to me that higher ed was a place where I could make the most impact. So when I saw this job [at W&M] it was kind of a dream come true. But a dream that I thought was beyond my reach. I had convinced myself I was going to apply to five jobs a week that scared SPRING 2018
me, and this was one of them. I think we all have had that inner dialogue that says, “Oh, no, I’m not qualified. I don’t know that I can do this. Am I insane?” All those questions kept coming up for me. But I forced myself through that inner dialogue to apply, and I was participating in a program in Spain when I got a phone call about 8:00 p.m. one night from a number I didn’t recognize, and it was Chon Glover asking me to come to W&M for an interview. 13
IN THEIR OWN WORDS I had to fly back from Spain, landing at midnight with my interview at 9:00 a.m. that morning because it couldn’t be delayed. So talk about being extraordinary. And that’s how I got here. EW: And I was on your search committee… DM: Oh, yes! That’s right! You were! EW: You say that this is something you thought maybe was beyond your reach but you decided to go for it anyway. Well my fellow search committee members and I are so glad that you decided to take that leap. I remember talking to you when you had just arrived at the airport and thinking, she’s coming from Spain, and she’s at the airport, and is meeting with us, even with jet lag! DM: I woke up at 5 am, but I said we’re going to do this! EW: I think it was also an indication that you were really interested in the job, that you were willing to make it work. DM: That’s right. You were one of the first friendly faces I met. EW: We’re so glad that you’re here. My journey to W&M was different. I was finishing my doctorate at UC Santa Barbara, where I met my husband [Max Katz, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology]. He was in a doctoral program in the music department; I was in a doctoral program at the school of education. I’ve always been in higher education administration, and halfway through my program I knew that I wanted to go back to administration not academia. Max was going to go the academia route, so I knew that most probably I would be the trailing spouse. DM: There’s a term for it? EW: Yes, the trailing spouse. DM: There’s nothing trailing about you! EW: Well, I knew that I might need to
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fill that role because finding positions in academia is hard, and I thought there would be more options for me. He was offered a job at W&M and we didn’t know much about W&M because we were both based in California, but in 2008 we moved here, and I had to go job hunting. It was challenging but I think the amazing thing was that everybody was so supportive – in the college community and Williamsburg. My job at the Reves Center was the perfect match for me. I came to
“. . . climate is something that we address a lot with our international students. Diversity may be a completely different concept in different countries, and so their issues of equity and justice might also be completely different.”
and staff and students?” Now, that’s a diversity question. An equity question is: “Why are they not here? What’s the climate been like that these folks are not here?” Another example would be: “Let’s do a panel on Black Lives Matter,” That’s the diversity question. The equity and justice question would be more along the lines of “Why do we feel like we have to put a marginalized community on display?” And so it’s using a different lens. I think that sometimes we get bothered by numbers, but there’s a story behind the numbers. And I think climate is something that we address a lot with our international students. Diversity may be a completely different concept in different countries, and so their issues of equity and justice might also be completely different. We just hosted our first Student Diversity Symposium and the keynote speaker was Ken Bouyer, Director of Inclusiveness Recruiting for Ernst and Young Americas. He talked about how diversity in Latin America is really about class and socio-economic status. In other countries it might be about disabilities and abilities. Diversity encompasses whatever issues are affecting a particular population. So we need to ask ourselves, “How do we address diversity in ways that we also address inequities in the context of a particular country and its people?”
EW: I think in a very similar framework. When I was at UC Santa Barbara I had the privilege to be a teaching assistant and teaching associate in the Departments of Asian American What does diversity mean to you? Studies, Black Studies and Women’s DM: I recently read an article in InStudies. Being in those departments side Higher Ed that talked about the and working with some amazing shift that colleges need to make in the faculty members really formed my language of appeasement, by which ideas of what diversity, inclusion and they mean diversity refers to incluequity mean. Yes, it’s true that lots of sion, a concept with which most folks times when we talk about diversity we are comfortable. It’s in the vernacular. talk about numbers. It’s so easy, kind But diversity is really about equity of the low hanging fruit. “Look at our and justice. numbers. We’re always increasing So we ask ourselves: “Do we have diversity.” But that is just at the very to increase the diversity of our faculty surface of it. the U.S. as an international student, so being able to work with international students is almost coming full circle.
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IN THEIR OWN WORDS I think for many people — particularly from marginalized communities — it’s so important to talk about the social justice and equity piece I wonder how as an institution we can make sure that once we’ve attracted diverse students, faculty and staff, we make sure that every single person feels they have the support and the resources they need to thrive and flourish. I think that is that big piece that we haven’t necessarily been really good at. How do we make sure that resources are equitable? This is not a comfortable conversation, because a lot of time when we talk about equity, it’s a redistribution of power and of resources which can make some people uncomfortable. But if we were truly to become an equitable inclusive society, I think those are the conversations that we need to have. We have to work hard to figure out how we provide the same kinds of opportunities, as far as we can, to every single person who comes to our institution. DM: I think about that, too. For instance, facilities staff can seem like the invisible labor. People don’t see when they come in; don’t see them when they leave. Are they included? I’ve been meeting with all the academic departments for their diversity action plans. And it wasn’t until my 35th department meeting that someone said, “Oh, we should include custodial staff in our diversity committee.” It’s interesting and also important, because a lot of this work is about process and thinking about how we don’t know what we don’t know, and where we’re not engaging folks. We’re so used to emailing. That’s how we advertise things. Is this a population that even gets e-mails? How do they receive information? What times are they off? I have such a privilege. I’m not an hourly employee and I don’t get docked if I go to a meeting, but they do. The monetary amount they get an hour is crucial. It might be critical to them. So we need to think about reaching them where they are and
figuring out how we can best disseminate information. Who’s there to create those programs that can reach them, and who is thinking about providing opportunities? I ended up at Brown because one of my high school teachers said, “You’re so Brown!” She had gotten her Ph.D. at Harvard but she urged me to consider it, and that’s how I ended up putting Brown on my list. It can take someone else seeing the greatness in you that
“. . . it does require making that commitment. Not saying, ‘Oh, it’s too hard.’ It’s extra work for us, but we must learn how to include individuals who have a unique set of challenges and a unique set of experiences.” you might not see in yourself. EW: A lot of times when I’m in a meeting with a committee I look around the table and ask whose voice is missing? Like with your example of the department’s diversity committee asking who is missing from this conversation. Whom do we need to invite to be part of this conversation? And particularly for those who are in leadership positions and those who do have the power to make decisions, are they making opportunities and inviting as many people as possible to be part of that conversation? I think we need leaders who are willing to think
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outside the box to look at these issues in the broadest sense. It’s also like your teacher who suggested Brown, seeing potential in you. I can speak for myself that it was so many people — as mentors and faculty and staff — who really invited me to either be in a committee or to be part of the conversation or encouraging me to go to grad school and pursue a Ph.D. It really is about extending the invitation — whether it’s small or big — to as many people as possible. And the other piece is, as you mentioned, removing barriers. I serve as a co-chair of the Women’s Network, and one thing we’ve always talked about is that we serve all women faculty, staff, and graduate students on campus. But there are lots of staff who have different work hours and then a lot of them might not have access to email. They don’t have the privilege to take off from work, but we really want to offer some programs that will be relevant to them, and so it was working with supervisors to determine when would be the best time for them to go. Putting flyers and posters where they are, such as in breakrooms. In that way we’ll be able to reach out to those staff and to offer some programming that will be relevant and accessible to them, But it does require making that commitment. Not saying, “Oh, it’s too hard.” It’s extra work for us, but we must learn how to include individuals who have a unique set of challenges and a unique set of experiences. WORKING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
DM: It’s my role in particular to foster partnerships across the entire institution. There are so many populations and I want to be responsive to everyone. In roles like mine, where my office is overseeing everyone, it’s important to me for people to have touch points. Access is a big word in this work and it’s in the fiber of who I am. Who has access to this and who doesn’t? Nobody in my family had been in the higher ed world, so there was a lot of lingo and systems that I didn’t know. I latched on to folks that were willing to help and
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IN THEIR OWN WORDS teach me. I wasn’t afraid to ask, but not everybody’s that way. So I’m a big proponent of putting it out there first and translating, if you will, for folks. EW: We’re all interconnected. At an institution like W&M, everybody needs to work together for it to function, for the wheels to keep going and for it to be successful. I think it will be really myopic to think that we just live in our little bubble or in our silos. But sometimes those silos do exist, because there’s no access, or people are not willing to communicate, or maybe there are no opportunities for collaboration. The more we communicate, the more we collaborate, I think you will find there are so many instances to be effective in the work we do and also to access to what unites us, and that’s been build this sense of community. We’re one of the best insights I’ve gained. all working towards the same mission, I think that it’s unfortunate some that we have a shared vision. people never leave their block, to think that their world exists only with what THE IMPACT OF TRAVEL AND they know and that’s it. Some people INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES don’t think it’s attainable for them AND EXPERIENCES to travel, which is why I’m glad we DM: I chose to major in international do a really good job here in terms of relations, because I always wanted to scholarships [for study abroad]. relate internationally but I also saw that travel is such a privilege. I didn’t EW: I, too, think that traveling is a come from a family that could afford to privilege. Because there are many do it and so college was the first time people who do not have access. Think that I could. I moved to Paris two days about just the cost to get a passport. before September 11 and I learned so That’s not attainable for many people much about myself, about race and even though they may have the desire religious diversity. to travel. People might have many And I learned about what it means different limitations or barriers. So to be American, because at that time travel is definitely a privilege and like the State Department was sending you, I’ve been in a position to enjoy warnings like. “Don’t look American.” travel, such as when I had the privilege And I thought, what does that mean? of going to different countries when I How do I not look American? I think was an international student. that started a lot of my questions that I I think one of the wonderful ask today in this work. I also knew that things about travel is that it gives because it was a privilege I wanted to you this amazing ability to be critical absorb as much as possible and bring it or analytical about where you come back to my communities. from and where you’re going. It took I learned that some things are leaving my country to reflect back on universal. And so the more of the world my society in terms of race, gender or I saw the more I appreciated: one, where sustainability. I was from, and who I am; and two, the Why is it that we do it this way? importance of bridge building. People There’s no wrong or right way of sometimes focus on what divides us but doing things. There’s always historical I think international travel gives you context. Travel helped me think in the
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WORLD MINDED
broadest sense, to ask a lot of questions and also to be so appreciative. It takes leaving your comfort zone really. Oh, I do miss my mother’s cooking. I miss the food, the sounds. I miss the places and my friends and family. But it took leaving my comfort zone to realize that there are so many things that I appreciate in my country. When you’re in that new place all the things are new, all the opportunities, but it is also uncomfortable to go somewhere new. The language, the culture are different. Even for someone who is open and flexible, you miss the comforts of your own home. For anybody who’s embarking on this new adventure there’s always this level of discomfort, but it allows you to grow and to see new things. I work with international students and scholars and their families. A lot of times I see that discomfort – in figuring out how to use the bus, how to go shopping or get a cellphone. “I cannot understand my professor,” or “My child is struggling in school.” And one of the things I always share with them is I know that is really hard now. The transition period is always hard and it’s unavoidable. But in my own experience and my years of working with the international community, most of us will get through that difficult period and come to a point where before you know it, you will be
IN THEIR OWN WORDS calling this place home. You find your friends,t you find your community you find the coffee shop that you love. It does take time but eventually you know most people will get there.
if we really want to be thought leaders and drive innovation, then we need to talk about equity and diversity. My office works with the schools, we collaborate a lot in overseeing the diversity action plans. I’m working to Dania, what have been some chalcreate a framework that is structurally lenges with moving to Williamsburg? sound. It should not live with just one With a new job? person overseeing or being accountDM: I was running a national nonprofit able. I recognize that people at this in Northern Virginia, so this has been a institution don’t always have to interact transition to a new community. March with each other because of their roles. 10th was one year. And yet I get to meet so many people My only exposure to Williamsburg had been family visits, and we had gone on a ghost tour, so when I told my family I got the job here, they asked, wait… the haunted place? So I mean it was really really funny. I was so used to intentionally engaging myself in diverse environments that this is the first time where, although I’ve gotten used to my education and my professional spaces being predominantly white, I was not used to where I lived also being predominantly white. So this is the first time in my life that all three were that so it’s been an adjustment for me. I think it speaks volumes that I became used to that in education and in my profession. I don’t think that’s OK either, but that was my normal. I’ve always lived intentionally in diverse communities and urban environments. I was born in Puerto Rico. I grew up in the Northeast. I was very much a city girl so, at first I was wondering, “Why can’t I get this kind of food or where are these kinds of people?” Because they’re not here. And so that was across the institution and it’s great. tough. But I’m learning to embrace I absolutely love it, because I really what’s here and explore more, and I do see myself as a connector and a builder want to become more actively engaged and connecting this community. We in the community. say we’re a tribe, but what does that I think when you’re the first and look like? What does it really look like? people have not had help in a long Everything that I’ve started is really time it’s not that something’s better about coming together and sharing than nothing, but it’s that you have ideas and sharing challenges, putting an opportunity to innovate. You have our heads together. That’s a great idea. an opportunity to set the framework. How ’bout we partner? This is going to be the standard. And I determined it’s going to be pretty high. Eva, You’ve been on the Diversity Moving an institution forward — Committee for a while. It seems to be especially the second oldest institution your passion. in the nation – has its challenges, but EW: Inclusion and equity have always
“Moving an institution forward — especially the second oldest institution in the nation — has its challenges, but if we really want to be thought leaders and drive innovation, then we need to talk about equity and diversity.”
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been core values that I hold dearly. Dania, I see your office taking the lead on a lot of initiatives, but I do appreciate that you’re coming from a place of true collaboration, a true partnership. I think one of the challenges that most institutions face is that a lot of times with inclusion or internationalization the responsibility lies in one office for example. In my time here it’s been good for me to see the institution prioritizing diversity and inclusion and making the commitment that is a shared responsibility. I’m always asking, “How can we figure out how to tackle this issue? How can we share resources? How can we share ideas? I think that once we accept this is a shared responsibility it is then that the institution can move forward. For me it’s been really great to see our institution moving in that direction, that now that we have these action plans in the department’s senior administrative offices, the student body. I think everybody’s beginning to realize that we all have a stake in this. We need to figure out how we can work in individual units, but also how we can come together and put our resources and brains together. Any thoughts on W&M’s new president? DM: I’m excited. A lot of what she said [at her introduction] was how diversity drives innovation. It’s what we think and who we are. I think that whenever there’s a shift there’s always opportunity. I always look at things as opportunities. There are no breakdowns, just breakthroughs. In Virginia we have a lot of shifting landscapes and now new leadership which marks the first moment as we’re going into the 100 year celebration of women. Also, she held a role [at Smith] that we don’t have here. She was interim vice president of diversity inclusion. I say that because our role is not vice president and it’s one of the recommendations in the task force. I think it’s already functioning that way, but it’s good to show the institutional commitment behind it.
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FACULT Y & STUDENT RESEARCH
VIMS study urges global-change researchers to embrace variability
Coral-Reef Research: Dr. Emily Rivest, now an assistant professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, swims above a fringing reef in Moorea, French Polynesia, looking for corals to collect. Photo by Brian Rivest
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WORLD MINDED
in temperature and pH an organism faces in its current environment will likely influence its response to future warming and acidification. For instance, a coral growing in a back-reef lagoon—whose restricted waters may warm drastically each afternoon under the blazing sun—may be less susceptible to long-term FINDINGS PORTEND warming than a coral growing in the more open, temperate waters of the BENEFITS IN RESTORATION reef face. The same may hold true AND AQUACULTURE for entire species or populations of warmth-adapted corals. by David Malmquist In their paper, Rivest and co-authors Steeve Comeau and Christopher cientists typically make every Cornwall of the University of Western effort to keep all factors but one Australia reviewed almost 100 studies constant when doing an exper- of how predicted changes in ocean iment. Global-change scientists pH or temperature might affect coral might move a coral from a reef to an growth. But their review found only a aquarium whose water is held 1°C “handful” of the studies had purposehigher to test the effects of the ocean fully varied these factors, or examined warming predicted for the end of the the importance of natural variability century. Or they might decrease the to the performance of reef organisms. water’s pH by 0.4 units to study the The experiments that incorporated effects of ocean acidification. variability fell into two categories. But a new review article presents “One type was studies where you colevidence that argues for a more nulect corals from a high-variability site anced approach to the design of these and a low-variability site and see how experiments—one that acknowledges they do under controlled laboratory and purposefully incorporates the conditions,” says Rivest. “If the varivariability inherent in nature. ability is important in shaping their The article, in the latest issue of response to environmental change, Current Climate Change Reports, then their response will depend on focuses on studies examining how the site they are from.” ocean warming and acidification The second type “looked at the might affect corals and coralline variability within laboratory treatalgae. Lead author Emily Rivest of ments—taking corals into the lab and William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of raising them under constant or variMarine Science says its findings are able conditions, then providing them also likely applicable to other founda- with an additional stress and seeing if tional reef species such as oysters. the variability they experienced in the “The range of pH and temperature lab influences their response to that that some organisms experience on stress.” a daily basis exceeds the changes we expect to see in the global ocean by INTRIGUING RESULTS the end of the century,” notes Rivest, Rivest and her colleagues found an assistant professor at VIMS. that incorporating variability into “But we don’t really know how this an experiment’s design produced variability affects their physiology ambiguous and intriguing results. and their ability to respond to future “Corals from habitats with more change. The papers we reviewed temperature variability generally suggest this variability is important, exhibit greater thermotolerance,” and we need to incorporate it into our says Rivest, “but the effects of past experiments.” pH variability are less clear.” On the Indeed, there’s a growing conother hand, she says, “In laboratory sensus that the degree of variability studies, pH variability often limited
S
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Back Reef Back reef, Moorea, French Polynesia. Corals growing here typically experience greater variability in temperature and pH than corals growing on the ocean side of the reef. © Emily Rivest.
Fringing Reef A typical fringing reef in Moorea, French Polynesia. Corals growing here typically experience more moderate swings in temperature and pH than corals growing in back-reef lagoons. Photo by Brian Rivest
Dr. Emily Rivest retrieves a pH sensor full of data from a reef in Taiwan. Photo by Apple Chui
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FACULT Y & STUDENT RESEARCH the effects of ocean acidification, but the effects of temperature variability on responses to warming were equivocal.” Rivest, Comeau, and Cornwall say their findings warrant additional research. “We want our paper to signal the start of a new era in studies of how climate change affects foundation species,” says Rivest. “We really need to consider an animal’s current environment as a starting point for how it will respond in the future—we want this to be a point of discussion in our field, for how we should be designing experiments and thinking about these questions moving forward.” The team says their findings could also lead to practical applications. “If we know better how environmental variability affects the ability of animals to tolerate future environmental change, then we can think about it in a restoration and conservation context,” says Rivest. “For example, if you target a reef for restoration, we could start a training program for corals where you culture them in the lab under variable conditions so they would be ready to perform well out in
the reef environment .” This approach is already being applied at the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and other research labs worldwide.
future environmental changes just by surveying the natural environmental gradients they face in the Bay right now.” She also plans to begin a series of laboratory studies. “I haven’t had FROM THE INDO-PACIFIC the ability to easily manipulate the TO CHESAPEAKE BAY variability of temperature and pH Rivest led one of the field studies in the lab yet,” says Rivest, “but the included in the recent review article— aquarium system I’m building here in which she compared corals from will allow me to do that.” She’s conthe warm waters of French Polynesia structing the system in the Seawater to the cooler waters of Taiwan—and Research Lab at VIMS, one of the now has plans to extend that research largest facilities of its kind in the to different animals and waters near nation. her new home on the U.S. East Coast. Rivest and colleagues at VIMS She joined the faculty of the Virhave also begun to put her findings ginia Institute of Marine Science in to practical use, employing a recent Gloucester Point in 2016. Sea Grant award to better understand “I think of oysters as the corals of how oyster breeders and growers can Chesapeake Bay,” says Rivest. “They improve aquaculture productivity provide similar benefits in that they by enhancing the conditions oyster create a three-dimensional habitat larvae experience in the hatchery. that supports other species. And the Partners in this work include Auvariability in pH and temperature in burn University, the University of the Bay is even more dramatic than Maryland Center for Environmental we see in a lot of coral reefs. So I plan Science, Cherrystone Aquafarms, on asking the same types of questions Oyster Seed Holdings, Ward Oyster here. There’s a lot we can learn Company, JC Walker Brothers, and about how oysters will respond to KCB Oyster Holdings.
VIMS assistant professor Emily Rivest works with a local student to study experimental oysters deployed in the Rappahannock River as part of her Citizen Scientist Initiative. Photo courtesy Dominion Energy
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AidData gains $2.95 million to track HIV/AIDs in Côte d’Ivoire AIDDATA, A RESEARCH L AB AT WILLIAM & MARY’S INSTITUTE FOR THE THEORY & PRACTICE OF
INTERNATIONAL REL ATIONS, HAS RECEIVED $2.95 MILLION IN FUNDING FROM THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO SUPPORT AN OPEN GEOSPATIAL DATA CENTER IN THE COUNTRY OF CÔTE D’IVOIRE. by Jim Ducibella
fall, where they will be trained in spatial analysis. Upon their return to Côte d’Ivoire, they will then work with local partners to assist with the analysis of data collected on the country’s HIV/ AIDS program. Importantly, the project has opened the door to additional opportunities with funders, while also engaging current students. According to Desai, one benefit is that “we are seeing how this project integrates faculty and has a multiplier effect for research. One of my students, an IR major, is currently interning at the State Department and working in the area of global health. As part of n partnership with other nonour work overseas and help respond to her work at State she is supporting governmental organizations and the needs of the people there.” this project. So it’s a nice example of the local government, AidData The new project is designed to students gaining skills at AidData, will implement the project over enhance the use of data by the govern- using them in a policy position in D.C., two years. It will be housed as part of ment of Côte d’Ivoire and others, inwhich then connects back again to AidData’s Sustainable Development cluding civil society organizations and William & Mary.” Intelligence practice, with support local communities, while empowering When the decision-support tool is from AidData’s Research and Evaluadata-driven, innovative solutions, local complete, researchers will return to tion practice. ownership and leadership. The counCôte d’Ivoire to train local partners According to Harsh Desai, an try has the highest HIV prevalence in on the use of the tool. Throughout AidData program manager leading the West Africa region. the project, AidData and its partthe project, this project is particularly The subsequent analysis will be ners will also secure upgrades to exciting for the team as the collabora- incorporated into an online tool IT infrastructure and hardware as tion is focused on saving lives. designed to integrate the various spatial needed by Ivorian partners in order to “We are working to track HIV/ data sources most useful for empower- facilitate wider data access and use in AIDS at a precise level to help ening more rigorous, evidence-informed decision-making. sure those with the disease get the decision making by local policy makers. “One big part of the project is proattention and services they need,” AidData’s Research and Evaluation ducing a research paper that looks at a he said. “This project has real world practice will also conduct a Geospaspecific question on how services for consequences, and anything we can do tial Impact Evaluation, a pioneering HIV/AIDs are delivered,” Desai added. to help the government better target research technique that leverages sat- “This research will then be directly inresources is a win. ellite imagery and machine learning. corporated into government programs, “It’s exciting to think about how In addition, two Ivorian fellows will bridging theory and practice.” AidData and William & Mary can extend be hosted at W&M this summer and
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FACULT Y & STUDENT RESEARCH
Announcing the 2018 Faculty Fellows EACH YEAR, A COMMITTEE OF FACULTY AND REVES STAFF AWARDS REVES FACULTY FELLOWSHIPS TO SUPPORT FACULTY-STUDENT RESEARCH AND COLLABORATION ON INTERNATIONALLY-FOCUSED, ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP. THE INITIATIVE IS OPEN TO FULL-TIME WILLIAM & MARY FACULTY IN ALL ACADEMIC UNITS. PROPOSALS ARE INVITED FROM FACULTY WITH SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA AS WELL AS THOSE SEEKING TO EXPAND THE FOCUS OF THEIR WORK TO INCLUDE INTERNATIONAL, GLOBAL, AND/OR TRANS-NATIONAL APPROACHES. THE 2018 REVES FACULTY FELLOWS ARE:
NICHOLAS BALASCIO
MICHELLE LELIEVRE
GEOLOGY
AMERICAN STUDIES & ANTHROPOLOGY
“REASSESSING HUMAN, CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTIONS ON EASTER ISLAND” The demise of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island has been regarded as an iconic example of how poor environmental stewardship can lead to societal decline. However, recent paleoecological and archaeological data challenge the environmental and human history of the island, which has implications for the local culture and our understanding of human-environment interactions. This project (part of a collaboration with scientists at Columbia University and the Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano in Santiago, Chile) will gather new data on this intriguing controversy and engage W&M students in collaborative and international research.
“REANIMATING THE MI’KMAW CULTURAL LANDSCAPE ALONG THE MINAS BASIN’S NORTHERN SHORE: PHASE 4” This is a continuation of a project funded by Reves in 2017. The proposed research would be the fourth of a multi-phase, interdisciplinary, and collaborative project to document Mi’kmaw presence on the north shore of the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia, making visible a long-term indigenous history that has often been rendered invisible (or ignored) by the settler population. This phase has three objectives: sub-surface archaeological testing at Newville Lake; gathering oral historical and archival data; and building support for the project with the Mi’kmaw nation.
OLUDAMINI OGUNNAIKE
PATRICK MULLEN
RELIGION
EDUCATION
“EXPLORING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAMS IN INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE EDUCATION ACTIVITY K-12 SETTINGS” This project will study school counselors in international Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) K-12 schools to learn more about the experiences of school counselors in international DoDEA K-12 schools with: implementing counseling services with students and their families; and with assessing, intervening, and supporting students’ academic, social/ emotional, and career development. The goal is to study the unique needs of students and families in international DoDEA K-12 schools and to have students engage in qualitative research on an international level. The findings and experiences gained from this project will result in enhanced training opportunities for counseling students.
“ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY IN INDONESIA: A CONTEMPORARY CASE STUDY” The project will explore the vibrant, but grossly understudied, formal traditions of Islamic learning that take place outside of Western-style educational institutions. The project aims to contribute to the broadening of academic discourse and building of bridges between different intellectual and philosophical traditions through its exploration of the work and learning communities headed by Muhammad Baqir, a popular, contemporary Indonesian Islamic Philosopher and Sufi scholar. Students will learn about the methods and challenges of cross-cultural philosophy, as well as research and interview methods, theories, and techniques.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A LIST OF PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS, VISIT W W W.WM.EDU/OFFICES/REVESCENTER/GLOBALENGAGEMENT/REVESFACULT YFELLOWS. 22
WORLD MINDED
Recently Published Books by W&M Faculty BECOMING AND BELONGING IN IRELAND, C.12001600: ESSAYS IN IDENTITY & CULTURAL PRACTICE Edited by Audrey Horning; Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at W&M; Elizabeth FitzPatrick, National University of Galway; and Eve Campbell, Achill Archaeological Field School
The period c. 1200-1600 was marked by the achievements and decline of the Anglo-Norman colony in Ireland, refashioning of Gaelic elite identity, Reformation, and reassertion of English control that led to Plantation projects, bringing new people and ideas to the island. This collection of sixteen essays explores the complexities and predicaments of identity, and the cultural practices used to express and underpin them in this key period, ranging from the micro-scale and personal to the emergence of ideas of national identity. Overtly interdisciplinary, the volume incorporates contributions from historians, archaeologists, and literary scholars interrogating a wide range of source material. Published by Cork University Press
COMIC PERFORMANCE IN PAKISTAN: THE BHĀND By Claire Pamment, Assistant Professor, Theatre Speech and Dance
This book explores comic performance in Pakistan through the vibrant Indo-Muslim tradition of the Punjabi bhānd which now holds a marginal space in contemporary weddings. With irreverent repartee, genealogical prowess, a topsy-turvy play with hierarchies and shape shifting, the low-status bhānd jostles space in otherwise rigid class and caste hierarchies. Tracing these negotiations in both historical and contemporary sites, the author unfolds a dynamic performance mode that travels from the Sanskrit jester and Sufi wise fool, into Muslim royal courts and households, weddings, contemporary carnivalesque and erotic popular Punjabi theatre and satellite television news. Through original historical and ethnographic research, this book brings to life hitherto unexplored territories of Pakistani popular culture and Indo-Muslim performance histories. Published by Palgrave
CITIZENS OF MEMORY: AFFECT, REPRESENTATION, AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN POSTDICTATORSHIP ARGENTINA By Silvia R. Tandeciarz, Alfred Ritter Term Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures
EL IMPERIO DE LA VIRTUD: GRANDEZA MEXICANA (1604) DE BERNARDO DE BALBUENA Y EL DISCURSO CRIOLLO NOVOHISPANO [THE EMPIRE OF VIRTUE: BERNARDO DE BALBUENA’S MEXICAN GRANDEUR (1604) AND CREOLE DISCOURSE IN NEW SPAIN] By Jorge L Terukina, Associate Professor, Hispanic Studies, Modern Languages & Literatures
El imperio de la virtud offers an updated biography of Bernardo de Balbuena (c.1562-1627) that reminds us of his ties to the Iberian Peninsula, and traces the pre-modern rhetorical, scientific, geopolitical, and economic paradigms upon which his most famous Grandeza mexicana (1604) is designed. Against the widespread proto-Mexican and criollista reading of Grandeza mexicana, El imperio de la virtud analyzes Balbuena’s encomium of Mexico City as a political prise de position in favor of peninsular émigrés like Balbuena himself, who are allegedly endowed with the moral and intellectual virtues needed to direct the spiritual and temporal life of the viceroyalty, and against the morally deficient criollos and the barbaric Indians. El imperio de la virtud invites us to reassess the role that Balbuena and Grandeza mexicana play in the cultural history of present-day Mexico. Published by Tamesis Books (an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd.), UK
Citizens of Memory explores efforts at recollection in post-dictatorship Argentina and the hoped-for futures they set in motion. The material, visual, narrative, and pedagogical interventions it analyzes address the dark years of state repression (1976-1983) while engaging ongoing debates about how this traumatic past should be transmitted to future generations. Published by Bucknell University Press
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FACULT Y & STUDENT RESEARCH FILM AND TELEVISION GENRES OF THE LATE SOVIET ERA By Elena Prokhorova, Associate Professor of Russian and Film; and Alexander Prokhorov, Associate Professor of Russian and Film
Most histories of Soviet cinema portray the 1970s as a period of stagnation with the gradual decline of the film industry. This book, however, examines Soviet film and television of the era as mature industries articulating diverse cultural values via new genre models. During the 1970s, Soviet cinema and television developed a parallel system of genres where television texts celebrated conservative consensus while films manifested symptoms of ideological and social crises. The book examines the genres of state-sponsored epic films, police procedural, comedy and melodrama, and outlines how television gradually emerged as the major form of Russo-Soviet popular culture. Through close analysis of wellknown film classics of the period as well as less familiar films and television series, this groundbreaking work helps to deconstruct the myth of this era as a time of cultural and economic stagnation and also helps us to understand the persistence of this myth in the collective memory of Putin-era Russia. This monograph is the first booklength English-language study of film and television genres of the late Soviet era. Published by Bloomsbury Academic
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FRED FOREST’S UTOPIA: MEDIA ART AND ACTIVISM By Michael F. Leruth, Associate Professor of French & Francophone Studies
This is the first monograph in any language about the French new media artist and activist Fred Forest. An iconoclastic precursor of today’s hackvisists and culture jammers, Forest is a notable French pioneer of video art, media interventions, and Net Art; a co-founder and leading practitioner of the Sociological Art (1970s) and Aesthetics of Communication (1980s) movements; and a fierce as well as ironic critic of the art establishment. This book surveys Forest’s career and focuses on the utopian nature of the alternative interfaces he sets up in order carve out temporary autonomous zones in the contemporary media landscape. Published by MIT Press
KASHMIR: HISTORY, POLITICS, REPRESENTATION Edited by Chitralekha Zutshi, James Pinckney Harrison Professor of History
On the 70th anniversary of Indian independence, Partition, and the creation of Pakistan, this groundbreaking collection brings together 14 cutting-edge scholarly essays on multiple aspects of both the region and the issue of Kashmir. While keeping the political dimensions of the dispute over the territory in focus, these innovative essays branch out from the high politics of the conflict to consider less well-known aspects and areas of Kashmir. The objective of the volume is to probe the limits of postcolonial nationalism and citizenship as exemplified by the situation in contemporary Kashmir. Published by Cambridge University Press
WORLD MINDED
LINEAGE OF LOSS: COUNTERNARRATIVES OF NORTH INDIAN MUSIC By Max Katz, associate professor of music
Drawing on six years of ethnographic and archival research, and 15 years of musical apprenticeship, in this book Max Katz explores the oral history and written record of a longstanding but moribund Hindustani musical lineage, tracing its displacement, loss of prestige, and erasure from the collective memory. In doing so he illuminates a hidden history of ideological and social struggle in North Indian music culture, intervenes in ongoing debates over the anti-Muslim agenda of Hindustani music’s reform movement, and reanimates a lost vision in which Muslim scholar-artists defined the music of the nation. Published by Wesleyan University Press
PASADO DE MODA: EXPRESIONES CULTURALES Y CONSUMO EN LA ARGENTINA Co-edited by Regina A. Root, Professor of Hispanic Studies, with Susan Hallstead, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder
Delving deeply into the archives, Pasado de Moda is an interdisciplinary project that tells the story of Argentine fashion and consumption practices. It has been heralded by the Argentine national press as a “must read” and, in the eyes of one critic, one of “the most astute cultural histories published in some time”. The book’s launch has been accompanied by a fashions past exhibit. Published by Ampersand (Argentina)
OSAKA MODERN: THE CITY IN THE JAPANESE IMAGINARY By Michael Cronin, Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures
THE MAIDS Translated by Michael Cronin, Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures
A translation of Junichiro Tanizaki’s Daidokoro Taiheiki, The Maids is a complement to that author’s most famous novel, The Makioka Sisters, set partly in the same house, in the same turbulent decades, but among the servants as much as the masters. Tanizaki offers a richly ironic self-portrait in the sensualist, sexist protagonist Raikichi, and produces as well a moving, nuanced chronicle of change and loss. Published by New Directions, May 2017
Japan’s “merchant capital” in the late sixteenth century, Osaka remained an industrial center — the “Manchester of the East” — into the 1930s, Osaka represents a critical site of East Asian modernity. Osaka Modern maps the city as imagined in Japanese popular culture from the 1920s to the 1950s, a city that betrayed the workings of imperialism and asserted an urban identity alternative — even subversive of — national identity. Its interdisciplinary approach creates intersections between Osaka and various theoretical concerns — everyday life, coloniality, masculinity, translation — to produce a fresh appreciation of key works of literature and cinema and to recalibrate these widely-used critical approaches. Published by Harvard East Asian Monographs
THE PRIVATE WORLD OF SOVIET SCIENTISTS: FROM STALIN TO GORBACHEV
PRIVATE LIBRARIES IN RENAISSANCE ENGLAND, VOLUME 9 Edited by R.J. Fehrenbach (general editor), and Joseph L. Black (editor). Fehrenbach is Professor of English, Emeritus, at William & Mary.
This most recent volume of Private Libraries in Renaissance England, a project in book trade, intellectual, and social histories, continues the series’ examination of personal libraries in Early Modern England. Volume 9 treats collections owned by statesmen, diplomats, government officials, and estate landowners; by tradesmen (a cooper, an apothecary, a clothier) and a merchant adventurer; by a poet and pamphleteer, a churchwarden, and a lawyer; and by several upper gentry women. With this volume, 340 personal libraries representing approximately 17,000 books itemized in personal catalogues, wills, and probate inventories have been transcribed from manuscripts, the listed books identified, that information annotated, and each collection provided with an introductory essay. Published as Volume 505 of Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2017
Maria Rogacheva, Visiting Assistant Professor of Global Studies
Rogacheva traces the history of this scientific community from its creation in 1956 through the Brezhnev period to paint a nuanced portrait of the living conditions, political outlook, and mentality of the local scientific intelligentsia. Utilizing new archival materials and an extensive oral history project, this book argues that Soviet scientists were not merely bought off by the Soviet state, but that they bought into the idealism and social optimism of the post-Stalin regime. Published by Cambridge University Press
SPRING 2018
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SCHOLARSHIP NEWS
Hixon family gives $1.8 million to fund international scholarships JIM HIXON J.D. ‘79, M.L.T. ‘80
“Scholarships are one of the biggest needs William & AND DAUGHTER, K ATE HIXON Mary has — especially out-of’08, HAVE GIVEN $1.8 MILLION state scholarships — so this gift made a lot of sense,” said TO SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL Jim Hixon, who emphasized SCHOL ARSHIPS AT WILLIAM that scholarships are also & MARY — THE FIRST GIFT TO the top priority of the For the Bold campaign. “The FULLY FUND THE EDUCATION students will be receiving OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS a first-class education that AT THE UNIVERSIT Y. they can use to make a real difference in their respective by Ashley Speed countries.” Stephen Sechrist, director he Hixon Family Scholarship of international students, Endowment will provide scholars and programs at the undergraduate scholarships Reves Center for Internationfor students who are residents al Studies, says the Hixons’ of African countries. The scholarship historic gift has broken covers tuition, board, room, fees and a longstanding barrier at travel. The gift also includes an enrich- William & Mary. ment endowment for internships, study “Our outstanding underabroad, honors research and summer graduate education has long Jim Hixon J.D. ‘79, M.L.T. ‘80 and daughter, Kate Hixon ’08 at courses for international students. been inaccessible to students the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Photo courtesy Kate Hixon Kate Hixon has traveled exfrom abroad who did not tensively throughout sub-Saharan come from families with Africa throughout the course of her the means to afford a U.S. education,” member of the Virginia Institute of professional career working on human Sechrist said. “Now because of this Marine Science (VIMS) Council. Kate rights issues. During her trips, she gift, W&M becomes a possibility for a Hixon currently works in Washington, met countless bright students who student of limited means, from a critD.C., in grant management, focusing wanted a quality education, but lacked ical region of the world that is vastly on democracy building programs in the means to fund their academic underrepresented at the university. Southern and Eastern Africa. She preaspirations. This is a powerful step forward in our viously served on the Class of 2008’s “Obviously there are students in international and diversity efforts and fifth Reunion Gift Committee. financial need everywhere, but there words cannot express how grateful we “The Hixon family has long helped are more existing options for students are to the Hixon family.” us imagine new boundaries for what domestically than internationally…” The Hixons have been generous is possible for our university, and with Kate Hixon said. “When you see kids supporters of the university. A recent this gift they continue that remarkable who definitely want to learn, but don’t gift to the William & Mary Law School vision,” said Matthew T. Lambert ’99, have the finances, that is just very funded the Hixon Center for Experivice president for university advancemoving to me. I want to make sure ential Learning and Leadership, which ment. “This scholarship will have a that people are given an opportunity opened earlier this year. transformational impact in making a to learn.” Jim Hixon retired from Norfolk William & Mary education possible for The first scholarship recipient will Southern as an executive vice presinternational students, and represents begin studying at W&Mnext fall. The ident of law and corporate relations a new era for William & Mary in Hixon’s gift supports the university’s and chief legal officer. He serves on the world as we seek to bring to our Affording Opportunity scholarships several boards at W&M including campus the best and brightest students effort and its goal to build a vibrant the Board of Visitors, the Campaign from all corners of the globe.” community of diverse perspectives. Steering Committee and is a past
T
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VISITING SCHOLAR
A Kraemer Scholar-inResidence inspires on a large and small scale THE KRAEMER MIDDLE EAST
DISTINGUISHED SCHOL AR-IN-
RESIDENCE WAS ESTABLISHED
WITH A GENEROUS GIFT FROM CAROLE A. AND RICHARD C. KRAEMER ’65. IT IS OFFERED YEARLY, AND PROVIDES
THE OPPORTUNIT Y FOR A SCHOL AR SPECIALIZING IN ISL AMIC L AW AND
GOVERNANCE TO SHARE THEIR EXPERTISE WITH THE WILLIAM & MARY
COMMUNIT Y, HOSTED BY
THE REVES CENTER AND THE L AW SCHOOL’S PROGRAM IN COMPARATIVE LEGAL
STUDIES AND POST-CONFLICT PEACEBUILDING. by Kate Hoving
Mohammed Fadel delivers a lecture at the Law School. Photo by David Morrill
M
ohammad Fadel, Associate Professor Canada Research Chair for the Law and Economics of Islamic Law at the University of Toronto, was the 2018 Kraemer Middle East Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence. Professor Fadel wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on legal process in medieval Islamic law while at the University of Chicago and received his JD from the University Of Virginia School Of Law. He practiced law in New York, where he worked on a wide variety of corporate finance transactions and securities-related regulatory investigations, and served as a law clerk to judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court. He has published numerous articles in Islamic legal history and Islam and liberalism. Fadel delivered two lectures in February at the university: “Islamic Legal Reform between Democracy and Reinterpretation” (Law School); and the next evening in Tucker Hall, he discussed his current research into “The Islamic Theology of Sacrifice.” Both lectures attracted a large, diverse audience, but one of the most remarkable events during his visit occurred outside the lecture hall, part of the residency as envisioned by the Kraemer family: an informal exchange of ideas and advice between students and scholars. Teresa Longo, Acting Director of SPRING 2018
the Reves Center, invited two Arabic language professors, Driss Cherkaoui and John Eisele, and their students, to an informal discussion in the Reves Room with Fadel. Students with a variety of majors and interests accepted the invitation: Amin Nasser ‘18; Christopher Ahrens ‘20; Alex Yung ’19; Jack Fleming ’19; and Emma Russell ‘19 (the student representative on the Reves Center’s International Advisory Committee, who studied abroad in Amman, Jordan). Fadel set the tone with his low-key, self-deprecatory style, describing his own – not necessarily straight -- path to Toronto. Although his education started in engineering and led ultimately to a career touching on multiple facets of law, one thing has remained constant: “I really loved Arabic. That’s why I did what I did; I just wanted to keep learning. I still love Arabic. I miss reading poetry.” Discussion ranged from current affairs to differences between the U.S. and Canadian educational systems, but it didn’t take long to realize that whether their interest was politics or Sufi poetry or law, everyone in the room shared Fadel’s passion for the Arabic language. And it was that passion that motivated them to find ways to make it part of their livelihoods as well as their lives. Some described their admiration for and delight in Arabic grammar 27
By the Numbers
755 Fadel with students and faculty at the Reves Center. Photo by Rachel Sims
– almost like a computer program in its efficiency and elegance, one student noted. Or as Fadel exclaimed: “So many words!” For Amin, a science major from Palestine, language study has a more emotional connection: “I miss speaking in Arabic. Speaking my mother language here soothes me and helps me escape cultural differences.” There are more than 200 students of Arabic at William & Mary, and the interest in Arabic spans all disciplines and interests. “If you love Arabic there’s just so much to do in every field,” Fadel suggested. He made a suggestion: “The vast majority of writings in Islamic Law are not translated. There are countless manuscripts that need to be edited.” Eisele and Cherkaoui concurred, noting that as Arabic was the basic language of world literature for some one thousand years, the untranslated manuscripts are in all fields and areas of study, not just law. They explained there are documents at real risk of decaying in libraries in Paris, Egypt and all across the Arab world. And there it was. What had started as ostensibly a discussion of Islamic Law, had resulted in an idea for a new project for William & Mary students – combining Arabic studies and translation with the latest archival methods. Students, professors and visiting scholar left the Reves Center with hopes for future collaborations and transformational research. A perfect ending – and beginning – for the Kraemer family’s gift.
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William & Mary has the highest percentage of undergraduates participating in study abroad programs compared to any other pubNumber of W&M % lic university in the United undergraduates States, according to a report who studied abroad in 2015-16 released by the Institute of International Education (IIE). In the 2015-2016 academic year, by IIE criteria, 755 William & Mary undergraduate students (48.9 percent) had studied abroad during their time as undergraduates. The university is a leader among global education even when compared with private universities, ranking 20th in the report’s list of top 40 doctorate-granting institutions, both public and private.
48.9
13
This past year, more recent graduates of William & Mary received Fulbright U.S. student grants than graduates of any other college or university in Virginia, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Number of W&M With 13 awards for 2017-2018, William & Mary is one of students who 45 institutions nationwide and one of two Virginia unireceived Fulbright versities included on the Chronicle’s list of top-producing grants in 2017-18 research institutions. Although the list is not considered a ranking, William & Mary placed 26th among the W&M research institutions listed, making it the top-prostudents #1 ducing Virginia university. received the William & Mary’s current Fulbright recipients most Fulbright are spread out in 10 different countries, from grants of any Ukraine and Switzerland to Canada. VA university
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Number of W&M alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps.
W&M is top producer of Peace Corps volunteers among nation’s mediumsize public universities
#1
William & Mary is also the top producer of Peace Corps volunteers among all of the nation’s medium-size public universities. With 35 alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps, W&M landed the number three spot on the 2018 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list of medium schools with between 5,000 and 15,000 undergraduates. George Washington University and American University, both private institutions, were ranked first and second on that list. This is the 10th consecutive year that W&M has been included on the Peace Corps’ annual top colleges list. Since the Peace Corps’ inception, W&M has had 661 alumni serve as volunteers.
WORLD MINDED
The world awaits . . . STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS offered by the GLOBAL EDUCATION OFFICE (GEO) Summer Faculty-Led Programs: Australia: Adelaide
Brazil: Rio de Janeiro
W&M-Sponsored Semester Programs:
Bhutan
Argentina: La Plata
Czech Republic: Prague (Area Studies & Performing Arts)
France: Montpellier
China: Beijing
England: Cambridge France: Montpellier Germany: Potsdam
England: Oxford Spain: Seville
Undergraduate Exchange Programs:
Greece: Athens/Nafplio Guatemala
Australia: University of Adelaide
India: Bengaluru/Goa
Austria: Vienna University of Economics & Business
Ireland**
Canada: McGill University
Ireland: Dublin*
China: Tsinghua University
Ireland: Galway
England: University of Exeter
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: Keio University
Spain: Santiago de Compostela
Netherlands: Leiden University
Scotland: University of St Andrews
Winter Programs:
Singapore: National University of Singapore South Korea: Yonsei University
SE Asia (2019)
Wales: Cardiff University
Beijing (2019) Oman (2019)
* Program in collaboration with the Raymond A. Mason School of Business ** Program in collaboration with the School of Education
WWW.WM.EDU/STUDYABROAD
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
Summer English Language Program JULY 2 - AUGUST 3, 2018
The Intensive English Program (IEP) combines high-quality English language instruction with the skills needed to succeed in U.S. universities and professional environments through a focus on:
• Core language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing • Cross-cultural communication skills • US culture
Classes are held Monday through Friday from 9-11am and 12-2pm. This summer’s courses include: • Oral Communication Skills • Reading & Writing
• Gastrodiplomacy: English through Cooking
• Experience US History (with excursions to Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, & Yorktown)
“I had so much fun and learned a lot in the W&M English Language Program. It was a great experience.”
Application: http://forms.wm.edu/28636 Fee: $2300 full-time (part-time also available)
Let your friends and family know about this new opportunity to study at William & Mary! CONTACT:
www.wm.edu/reves/elp • 01 757 221 1279 • intensive.english@wm.edu •
@WMiep
www.wm.edu/revescenter