Events | UW-Madison Division of International Studies

WPR Airing Peace Corps Stories, Documentary

November 08, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

Wisconsin Public Radio is recognizing 50 years of the U.S. Peace Corps with a special series of broadcasts, November 5-11.

Since 1961, Wisconsinites have responded to President John F. Kennedy’s call for international service in record numbers. More than 2,942 UW-Madison alumni have served in the program, second only to the University of California-Berkeley on the all-time service list.

The broadcasts kicked off with Peace Corps Voices, a one-hour documentary from independent producer Amy Mayer that includes interviews with volunteers who served around the world during each of the past five decades and recordings that they made in their host country.

This also features a special series of Story Corps segments recorded in Madison during the spring 2011. These personal interviews were conducted by the national Story Corps initiative in conjunction with the UW-Madison’s African Studies Program conference “Peace Corps and Africa: Honoring 50 Years.”

The documentary and interviews are available for listening online.

Listen to the broadcasts

New documentary highlights Mildred Fish-Harnack

November 01, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

A new one-hour documentary on Mildred Fish-Harnack—Milwaukee native, University of Wisconsin alumna, and the only American woman executed on direct orders from Adolf Hitler—is scheduled to premiere Monday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Television (WPT).

Also, a free preview screening of Wisconsin’s Nazi Resistance: The Mildred Fish-Harnack Story is scheduled Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., at UW Hillel/Barbara Hochberg Center for Jewish Student Life, 611 Langdon Street, Madison. Rudy Koshar, UW-Madison professor of history and religious studies, will introduce the showing, and a question-and-answer session with WPT producer Joel Waldinger will follow.

“The Mildred Fish-Harnack Story will incorporate historical video from Milwaukee, Madison, Berlin and WWII Germany,” Waldinger says. “Newly uncovered information, official German documents and papers from U.S. archives will provide a glimpse into the world of the resistance.”

The documentary, narrated by actress and UW–Madison alumna Jane Kaczmarek, marks the latest effort to bring attention to Fish-Harnack’s story, which has been the subject of two books. In 1986, the Wisconsin Legislature designated September 16 as “Mildred Harnack Day” across in Wisconsin.

At UW–Madison, the Division of International Studies and the Global Legal Studies Center have honored her courage, idealism, and self-sacrifice through the annual Mildred Fish-Harnack Human Rights and Democracy Lecture. The series is designed to promote greater understanding of human rights and democracy.

Global Health Institute awards seed grants, celebrates merger

October 25, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

UW News — October 25, 2011

Eight research projects ranging from human and animal disease to agriculture to economic growth will move forward with start-up funding as part of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s focus on global health.

The grantees will be recognized Oct. 27 at an event launching the Global Health Institute, a merger of the Center for Global Health and Global Health Initiative.

“The institute’s mission is to tackle the root problems of human health, and to do that requires an unprecedented, multi-faceted approach to these problems,” said Jonathan Patz, population health professor and director of the Global Health Institute. “So it is really exciting to be able to find engineers, economists, agriculture and veterinary and medical science ready to step up to these challenges.”

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World Bank Chief Economist to Speak on Campus Oct. 14

October 06, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

Justin Yifu Lin

Justin Yifu Lin, the chief economist at the World Bank, will give a public lecture Friday, October 14, as part of the annual meeting of the Wisconsin China Initiative advisory board. Dr. Lin will be speaking about his forthcoming book, “Demystifying the Chinese Economy.” The talk will be held in the Wisconsin School of Business’ Morgridge Auditorium (1100 Grainger Hall), from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. Visiting professor Yang Yao (of Peking University) will give the introduction and UW-Madison professor Ian Coxhead will serve as the discussant.

In his current position, Dr. Lin guides the World Bank’s intellectual leadership and plays a key role in shaping the economic research agenda of the institution. Prior to joining the World Bank in 2008, Dr. Lin served for 15 years as founding director of the China Centre for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University in Beijing, China.

The Wisconsin China Initiative was launched in 2007 to both serve as the contact point for information about UW-Madison connections with Greater China and to bring together cross-disciplinary faculty, alumni and leaders in business and government. The Initiative is housed within the Division of International Studies. It is staffed by Associate Director Laurie Dennis, and directed by Law Professor John Ohnesorge.

[West Bend News] UW Professor to Speak on Higher Education in China

September 29, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

West Bend Daily News – September 27, 2011

“UW Professor to Speak on Higher Education in China”

University of Wisconsin scholar Gilles Bousquet will speak about the lessons Wisconsin can take from China’s investment in higher education and its cultural tradition of stressing the importance of higher education on Wednesday at the University of Wisconsin-Washington County.

Reflecting on recent trips to China, Bousquet urges Wisconsin students to learn a language like Chinese or travel to a place like China. He emphasizes that Americans are now global citizens and can benefit from exposure to other cultures.

Bousquet is dean of the Division of International Studies, vice provost for globalization, director of the International Institute, special assistant to the chancellor for international engagement, and Pickard-Bascom professor of French at UW-Madison.

According to Bousquet, the Chinese educational system is profound and impressive and cause to reflect on our own educational system.

“On my most recent trip to China, the delegation I led visited 11 campuses, ranging from a teaching hospital in Beijing to the highly-regarded comprehensive Fudan University in Shanghai to the sparkling new Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,” said Bousquet. “At every single campus I toured, I was impressed – indeed sometimes overwhelmed- by the investment in higher education under way in China. These universities are hiring professors, adding new campuses, and building new programs. They are looking to the United States for ideas and collaborations because we are respected and admired for our higher education system. The question I now grapple with is: do we ourselves respect and admire this system?”

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INT'L@UW

Category Archives: Events

WPR Airing Peace Corps Stories, Documentary

New documentary highlights Mildred Fish-Harnack

Global Health Institute awards seed grants, celebrates merger

World Bank Chief Economist to Speak on Campus Oct. 14

[West Bend News] UW Professor to Speak on Higher Education in China

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