World Affairs Colloquium Series with Damon Wilson

Join us for a talk on democracy and democratic renewal around the world. Our guest is Damon Wilson, President CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy, will present his lecture, “Forging a Coalition in Favor of Freedom Around the World.” This talk is a co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Charleston (WACC) and the Mroz Global Leadership Institute.  It’s open to CofC faculty, staff, students and WACC members.

Damon Wilson is President CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy, a private, non-profit, non-partisan foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democracy throughout the world. It promotes political groups, free markets, trade unions and other independent institutions. Prior to joining the Endowment, he helped transform the Atlantic Council into a leading global think tank as its executive vice president. Previously, Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council helping to enlarge a Europe whole, free, and at peace; to secure freedom through NATO enlargement; to deter and counter Russian aggression; and to work with a united Europe as a leading US partner to support democracy in the world.

When: 6pm, Thursday, January 27, 2022
Where: Arnold Hall, Jewish Studies Center (96 Wentworth St, Charleston, SC 29424). This is a live in-person event and masks are required during the talk. Space is limited. RSVP to join the in-person event http://shorturl.at/bhyHZ. We will also stream the talk via zoom. Register for live-streaming at http://shorturl.at/hqAQ7.

 

The Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center lobby got a facelift!

In case you missed it, the lobby in Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center has been renovated! The renovation took place over the summer 2021 and it’s looking bright, beautiful and ready to be used. Visit the Center at 96 Wentworth Street.

M.Ed. in Languages Fall 2021 Newsletter

Don’t miss out on the third issue of the newsletter of The M.Ed. in Languages Program at the College of Charleston!

Congratulations to the graduates this semester – everyone is so proud of all of your impressive accomplishments and all your hard work. Despite a global pandemic and all the additional challenges of teaching during the past 20+ months, you completed your degree! You did it! A special thank you to the M.Ed. in Languages Executive Committee: Dr. Shawn Morrison, Dr. Silvia Rodríguez Sabater, and Dr. Antonio Pérez-Núñez for their unwavering support and collaboration. Thank you so much to all who contributed to the newsletter and many thanks to Katie Agile, the Graduate Assistant for our program, for all her hard work in bringing this to fruition.

Students, alumni, and friends: if you have news or updates to contribute or if you’d like to be profiled in the next issue, please let Director Emily Beck know (becke@cofc.edu). She would love to hear from you!

 

International Studies Major Reads to Elementary Students

Dyllon Gunsolus an International Studies major, minoring in Russian Studies and a concentration in Europe, here at CofC, enjoyed a little bit of fame recently when The College Today published a story about his having won a national championship event in bicycling. Evidently, that story led to an invitation from a teacher at Sangaree Elementary School for Dyllon to read “Bonapart Falls Apart” to the primary school grades pre-2nd.  He also got to participate in a meet and greet with the parents that afternoon when they arrived to pick up their children and share his biking and activity initiatives with the Vice Principle and assist in coordinating a ride to school event in the spring.

We’re looking forward to watching Dyllon as he continues to excell in his academics and extracurricular activities!

 

Photography exhibition by Yulian Martinez-Escobar

We’d like to congradulate Yulian Martinez-Escobar, Adjunct Lecturer of Spanish in CofC Hispanic Studies for his upcoming photography exhibition!

https://www.publicworksartcenter.org/s/stories/november-5-december-30-passenger-in-transit-next-stop-cuba-east-gallery-exhibition

Passenger in Transit was inspired by the song “Pasajera en Trance” (“Passenger in Trance”) by Charly García, an Argentinian rock singer. This exhibition is a window to a beautiful and exciting island that has become a myth to the world during the last sixty years. A year after a normalization agreement between the US and Cuba, my wife and I decided to travel to the Island to take advantage of the newly opened direct flights between Miami and Havana. Bianca, our 10-month-old daughter, became our ambassador everywhere we went. We stayed in the homes of Cuban families who made us feel at home and who gave us a glimpse of how Cubans live their daily lives.

Yulian Martinez-Escobar is a Spanish professor and filmmaker based in Charleston, South Carolina. He is also a self-taught photographer whose work has been exhibited in Colombia and in Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina. His avid interests include languages, traveling, and culture, which have defined his artistic style. Yulian first cultivated an interest in the fine arts in his native Colombia as an actor in his college theater company. As a photographer, he especially enjoys capturing candid portraits of people he meets in his travels, from Scotland to Peru, from Senegal to Cuba, from The Gambia to The Philippines. As a foreigner, he wants to explore and document the lives and diverse backgrounds of other people who have ended up in the United States.

Grammy Award-Winning Band Ranky Tanky to Kick Off Black Lives Series

Grammy Award-Winning Band Ranky Tanky to Kick Off Black Lives Series!!!
Check out this incredible article in the College TODAY about the event!

“The College of Charleston community is invited to kick off the LCWA World Affairs Signature Series: Black Lives on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, with a performance by the Grammy Award-winning band Ranky Tanky, which includes several CofC alumni.”

Grammy Award-Winning Band Ranky Tanky to Kick Off Black Lives Series

Ranky Tanky Concert

 

Busy Semester for the Mroz Global Leadership Institute!

The Mroz Global Leadership Institute is planning a busy semester with speaker series, mentoring and professional development programs for students.

1) Global Ambassadors Program. We recruited a group of nine students for the Global Ambassadors Program. This student leadership program is designed for students interested in civil and foreign service. Global Ambassadors will meet weekly with Mroz Institute’s director to learn about the US foreign service, foreign policy, and international agenda of US agencies. Students will work on practical skills required to function effectively in the foreign policy environment and will interact with guest speakers about foreign service and diplomatic work.

2) EWI History Project. We continue to move forward with the EWI History Project to preserve and make available EWI archives to students and scholars. The archives and oral history project will be launched in time for the inaugural convening in spring 2022. Our team received 1/8 TB of data (125.4 GB), which consists of over 26,000 digital objects, in addition to the the physical collection of 14 bankers boxes, which include published materials and photographs. Our archivist has begun processing the collection.

3)  Visiting Global Fellows Program. We will launch the Visiting Global Fellows Program in spring 2022 by inviting prominent internationalists who will will spend 1-2 weeks at CofC interacting with faculty and students and engaging their professional networks.

4) We are planning the Mroz Institute inaugural convening for March 20-22, 2022 to celebrate the East West Institute and its many accomplishments. There will be panels and discussion sessions on international topics of vital importance. There will be opportunities to experience the EWI archives/history project and contribute to its oral histories. There will be time for networking with the members of the EWI Society and a special reunion for EWI alumni.

Stay tuned about Mroz Global Leadership Institute upcoming events. MrozInstitute.org

Jewish Studies Endowed Scholarship! 

The Jewish Studies Endowed Scholarship is an exciting new opportunity for supporters to help offset tuition costs for students pursuing Jewish education at the College of Charleston. The Endowed Scholarship can provide flexible, needs-based awards at any point during a student’s time at CofC. $1,000-$2,000 per year can be the deciding factor for a student and their families when deciding which college to attend. Awards from the Endowed Scholarship can help match offers from other schools and provide the push needed to attract students from all over the country.

We know that the College of Charleston and Charleston Jewish communities are invested and eager to help make our city a destination for motivated young Jew­ish scholars. To that end, we’ve set up the Endowed Scholarship to use a crowd­funding model so that all of us — parents, alumni, and members of the Jewish community — can come together to support this goal. By making a tax-deductible donation of any amount at any time, you would be directly helping to ease the financial burden of tuition for one or more students who are participating in our program. Jewish Studies alumni have become leaders in the Charleston Jewish community and beyond, so a gift to the Endowed Scholarship is an investment in a strong Jewish future.

To donate go to give.cofc.edu/Jewish-Life and select the Jewish Studies Endowed Scholarship from the drop-down menu OR mail us a check with a note that it is for the Jewish Studies Endowed Scholarship. Contact Kim Browdy at ksbrowdy@cofc.edu with any questions.

CofC Faculty and students Discover Slave Badge of Campus!

Read in the College TODAY about the recent discovery of an 1853 slave badge on the College of Charleston campus and how it has offered a profound opportunity to recognize the contributions of the enslaved people who were an integral part of the development of the institution.

You can find the article here cofc-faculty-students-discover-slave-badge-on-campus 

The CLAW program was recently reconisged in the the College TODAY, highlighting the achievements of the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program and how it has progressed from it’s inception.

Hines Prize Puts Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program on the Map

“Every two years, the Hines Prize is awarded to the best first book manuscript relating to any aspect of the Carolina Lowcountry and/or the Atlantic world. Winners receive a $1,000 cash award and preferential consideration by the University of South Carolina Press for the CLAW Program’s book series. Since the first prize was awarded more than 15 years ago, graduate students, tour guides and researchers from all over the world have shared their manuscripts.”
You can read the full article here!