Mid-Hudson Valley World Affairs Council

“The 21st Century Worldwide Refugee Crisis: What Role Can Institutions of Higher Learning Play?”
2016-12-07 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | NY
Weds., Dec. 7, 6 pm. Members Only Dinner with Maria Höhn, Marion Musser Lloyd Prof. of History and International Studies, and Chair, History Depart., Vassar College. Founder and faculty mentor of Vassar College Refugee Solidarity. American Bounty Restaurant, Culinary Institute of America.

Ebola, Zika and More: Global Diseases and Local Effects
2016-11-30 19:00 - 20:00 | Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12604, United States
Weds., Nov. 30, 7 pm. Dr. Monica Parker, Director of the Bloodborne Viruses Laboratory and Faculty at
Wadsworth Center School of Laboratory Sciences of the NYS Department. of Health, will discuss the current state of global public health, how current concerns like Ebola, Zika, HIV/AIDS, and others are being managed by state and federal governments, and what we can do as concerned citizens.
Rockefeller Hall 300, Vassar College.

Great Decisions: Cuba and the U.S.
2016-11-14 19:00 - 20:00 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Mon., Nov. 14, 2016, 7 pm at the Boardman Road Branch of the Poughkeepsie Public Library. Great Decisions Program Discussion, “Cuba and the U.S.” with Patricia Ferrer-Medina, Assist. Prof. of Spanish Literature and Language, Marist College, as a facilitator.

Great Decisions: Climate Geopolitics
2016-10-24 19:00 - 20:00 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Mon., Oct. 24, 2016, 7 pm at the Boardman Road Branch of the Poughkeepsie Public Library. Great Decisions Program Discussion, “Climate Geopolitics” with Steven Leibo, International History and Politics, The Sage Colleges.
In the past few years, the American public has become more aware of the damage wrought by climate change. From droughts in the west to extreme weather in the east, a rapidly changing climate has already made its footprint in the United States. Now, it is expected that the presidential election in 2016 will be one of the first to emphasize these environmental changes. What can the next President do to stymie this environmental crisis? And is it too late for these efforts to be effective?

Foreign Policy and the Next President: a Panel Discussion
2016-10-05 19:00 - 20:00 | NY
Weds, Oct. 5, 7 pm. A panel of experts on US foreign policy to discuss foreign policy challenges and opportunities the next US president will face and the positions of the current candidates.
FDR Museum and Library.
Stephen Pampinella, Asst. Prof. of International Relations, SUNY New Paltz
Pavlina Tcherneva, Assoc. Prof. and Chair, Economics Dept.,and Research Scholar, Levy Economics Institute, Bard College
Juris Pupcenoks, Asst. Professor of Political Science, Marist College
James Ketterer, Dean of International Studies, Bard College
Moderated by John Penney, Community Conversation/Editorial Page Editor, Poughkeepsie Journal

Great Decisions: "The Kurds"
2016-06-06 19:00 - 20:00 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Monday, June 6th, 2016, 7 pm at the Boardman Road Branch of the Poughkeepsie Public Library
Great Decisions Program Discussion, “The Kurds” with Martin Charwat, Past President of the World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley, as facilitator.

Member-Only Dinner and "The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: New Kid on the Block"
2016-06-01 18:00 - 19:00 | NY
Wednesday, June 1, 2016, 6 pm at the American Bounty Room of the Culinary Institute of America
Join us for our Member-Only Dinner and a presentation by World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley Board member and Professor of Economics at Dutchess Community College talk about “The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: New Kid on the Block”.

Great Decisions: "International Migration"
2016-05-09 19:00 - 20:00 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Monday, May 9th, 2016, 7 pm at the Boardman Road Branch of the Poughkeepsie Public Library
Great Decisions Program Discussion, “International Migration” with Juris Pupcenoks, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Marist College, and World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley Board member, as facilitator.
As a record number of migrants, fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and parts of Africa, cross the Mediterranean seeking refuge in Europe, the continent is struggling to come up with an adequate response. Several world powers are facing a difficult question: how can they balance border security with humanitarian concerns?

China's Naval Build-up
2016-05-03 19:00 - 20:00 | Marist College, 3399 North Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601, United States
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016, 7 pm in Room 2023 Hancock Hall, Marist College
Hear Professor Lyle Goldstein, China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College talk about “China’s Naval Build-up”.

The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908-1923
2016-04-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Bard College, 30 Campus Rd, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY, 12504, United States
Tuesday, April 19th, 2016, 7 pm at The Henry A. Wallace Center of the FDR Library, Hyde Park
Join us to hear Professor Sean McMeekin, from Bard College talk about “The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908-1923”.
Sean McMeekin is a Professor of History at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.

Student World Affairs Conference: "Global Poverty and Development"
2016-04-16 | Dutchess Community College, 53 Pendell Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601, United States
Saturday, April 16th, 2016 at Dutchess Community College
Area college students organize and run a conference dedicated to world affairs. A keynote speaker will present and there will be small workshops with papers presented by students on the Global Poverty topic. Come enjoy their enlightening presentations and discussions.
https://wacmhv.org/swac-call-for-papers/

Great Decisions: "The Rise of ISIS"
2016-04-04 20:30 - 21:30 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Monday, April 4, 7-8:30 pm at the Boardman Road Branch of the Poughkeepsie Library.
James Ketterer, Director of International Academic Initiatives and Senior Fellow Institute of International Liberal Education, Bard College, and World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley Board member, will facilitate a discussion on “The Rise of ISIS”.
Born out of an umbrella organization of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) burst onto the international stage after it conquered Fallujah in 2013. Since then, the group has seized control of critical strongholds in both countries and declared itself a caliphate. What is ISIS and what danger does it pose to U.S. Interests?

Academic World Quest 2016
2016-03-05 | Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center, 4079 Albany Post Rd, Hyde Park, NY, 12538, United States
In 2016, Spakenkill High School team members, Courtney Noll, Neil Errickson, Jon Shwoerer, and Jacob Webster won the Regional Academic World Quest Competition, thus landing them a position at the National competition in Washington, D.C. to compete with the guidance of their coach, Jim Daley. Christopher Weida from the World Affairs Council accompanied the team and worked closely with the committee to secure all appropriate arrangements throughout the competition.
The competition was sponsored by the World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley (WACMHV) and was held at the Henry A. Wallace Center in Hyde Park on Saturday, March 5, 2016. The World Affairs Council is a non-partisan forum for citizen participation in world affairs. Its mission is to raise public awareness of critical world issues
Second place in the competition was captured by the ‘A’ team from Washingtonville High School, and third place went to the ‘B’ team from Washingtonville. The ‘B’ team from Poughkeepsie Day School won the “Roosevelt Round,” which includes questions on Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency and his life.
In all, 15 teams and 60 students from the mid-Hudson region competed, including teams from Cornwall, Kingston High School, Oakwood Friends School, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Roy C. Ketcham High School.
Both IBM and the Handel Foundation have contributed to support the event. Sheila Appel, the US Regional Director, of Corporate Citizenship at IBM, was the quizmaster for the competition. The Council also wishes to thank the Henry A. Wallace Center for its generous support.
For more information about the program please email Brianne Kelly at kelly.e.brianne@gmail.com or visit us at https://wacmhv.org/youth-programs/academic-worldquest/about-academic-worldquest/

Timbuktu: An Illustrated Talk by Alexandra Huddleston
2016-01-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12604, United States
Tuesday, January 12, 2016, 7 pm at Vassar College, Rockefeller Hall 200
Supported by a Fulbright grant, the photographer, Alexandra Huddleston, lived in Timbuktu, Mali, for ten months to photograph the city’s culture of Arabic language scholarship, a tradition of learning and teaching that has been passed down from teacher to student since the fifteenth century.
Located at the edge of the vast Sahara Desert, Timbuktu was little known in the West—except as a byword for the remote and exotic—until militant Islamist groups destroyed many of its religious shrines and ancient manuscripts in 2012.
Huddleston’s work captures a way of life and learning as it was shortly before the militants overran the city. The photographs show a culture of moderate Islam that is under threat—a deeply rooted, ancient Islamic tradition of tolerance, erudition, and faith—and a city that has built its very identity around scholarship and a love of books and learning.
This illustrated presentation tells a story of discovery: exploring a rich and beautiful African intellectual culture, that of the ancient manuscript libraries of Timbuktu and the culture of scholarship that created them.

International Political Cartooning
2015-12-15 18:00 - 19:00 | NY
Tues., Dec. 15, 6 p.m. Members-only Annual Dinner. Liza Donnelly, cartoonist, and writer with New Yorker and Forbes.com and Cultural Envoy for the U.S. State Department, specializing in politics and women’s rights. American Bounty Rm., Culinary Institute of America, and Eco-Lab Theater.
Please register for this event here. Thank you.

Great Decisions: Human Trafficking
2015-11-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Mon., Nov. 16, 7-8:30. Facilitator: Dr. Andrew Reiser, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Dutchess and President of the World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley. Great Decisions discussions are a collaboration with the Poughkeepsie Public Library District and are held at the Boardman Road Branch Library.

The Life of a Cuban Exile
2015-11-02 19:00 - 20:00 | SUNY New Paltz, 1 Hawk Dr, New Paltz, NY, 12561, United States
Mon. Nov. 2, 7 p.m. Carlos Eire, T. Lawrence Riggs Professor of History & Religious Studies, Yale University and prize-winning author of Waiting for Snow in Havana and Learning to Die in Miami. The Honors Center at College Hall, SUNY New Paltz. Parking in the Main Lot on Rte. 32, Lot 28.

Electing Violence: Explaining Post-Election Violence in Africa
2015-10-22 19:00 - 20:00 | Marist College, 3399 North Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601, United States
Thurs. Oct. 22, 7 p.m. Faith Okpotor, Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar, U.S. Institute of Peace. Hancock Hall, Rm. 2023, Marist College.

Great Decisions: India Changes Course
2015-10-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Mon. Oct. 19, 7 p.m. Discussion Facilitator: M. Glen Johnson, India expert and Emeritus Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Vassar College. Great Decisions discussions are a collaboration with the Poughkeepsie Public Library District and are held at the Boardman Road Branch Library.

Great Decisions: Sectarianism in the Middle East
2015-09-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Mon. Sept. 21, 7 p.m. Discussion Facilitator: James Ketterer, Director of International Academic Initiatives and Senior Fellow, Institute of International Liberal Education, Bard College. Great Decisions discussions are a collaboration with the Poughkeepsie Public Library District and are held at the Boardman Road Branch Library.

The U.S. & Russia Today: New Cold War, Hot War, or Reconciliation?
2015-09-09 19:00 - 20:00 | Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center, 4079 Albany Post Rd, Hyde Park, NY, 12538, United States
Wed. Sept. 9, 7 p.m. Thomas M. Nichols, Professor of National Security Affairs, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I. Henry Wallace Center, FDR Library, Hyde Park.

Members Only Dinner
2015-06-24 18:00 - 19:00 | Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12604, United States
Members Only Dinner, Weds., June 24, 6 p.m. “Narendra Modi: Transforming India?”, M. Glen Johnson, Emeritus Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Vassar College and former WACMHV President. Caterina De Medici restaurant, Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park.

Members Only Dinner: Narendra Modi: Transforming India?
2015-06-24 18:00 - 19:00 | Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12604, United States
Weds., June 24, 6 p.m. M. Glen Johnson, Emeritus Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Vassar College and former WACMHV President. Caterina De Medici Restaurant, Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park.

Privacy in the Digital Age
2015-06-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
The second discussion in our Great Decisions collaboration with Poughkeepsie Library District will be “Privacy in the Digital Age” facilitated by Jane Livingston, Associate CIO for Campus Community Technologies, Yale Univ., on Mon., June 8, 7-8:30 pm, Boardman Road Branch Library, Greene Rm. For more information or to sign up for the discussion group, contact Reference Desk, at 485-3445 x3702, or email adultevents@poklib.org.
Legislation, both at home and abroad, hasn’t kept pace with technological developments and is currently in flux in the U.S. as Congress negotiates changes to the Patriot Act. The idea of “privacy” has undergone significant changes in the digital age, as has the idea of privacy “harm.” Fearful of British spying, influence, and intervention, the founding fathers granted citizens significant protections in the Constitution.

Great Decisions: Russia and the Near Abroad. Facilitated by Martin Charwat. Mon, May 11, 7-8:30 p.m.
2015-05-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Woodstock Public Library District, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
The first discussion in our Great Decisions collaboration with Poughkeepsie Library District will be on “Russia and the Near Abroad” facilitated by Martin Charwat on Mon., May 11, 7-8:30 pm, Boardman Road Branch Library, Greene Rm. For more information or to sign up for the discussion group, contact Reference Desk, at 485-3445 x3702, or email adultevents@poklib.org.
This session examines the movement later known as the Euromaidan, or “Euro Square,” which pulled western Ukraine closer to its European neighbors while another powerful force threatened to tear away the country’s eastern half: Russia. Putin’s pushback against European expansionism has the West wondering: If Putin’s Russia isn’t afraid to take an aggressive stance against Europeanization in Ukraine, what does that mean for the rest of Russia’s neighbors?

Charting a Path for US Policy toward Syria, ISIS and Across the Middle East
2015-04-08 19:00 - 20:00 | Marist College, 3399 North Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601, United States
Ambassador Theodore Kattouf, President and CEO of AMIDEAST (America-MidEast Educational and Training Services, Inc.) Weds., Apr. 8, 7 p.m. Marist College, Hancock Rm. 2023. Ambassador Kattouf joined the Foreign Service in 1972 and from 1973 to 1975 served in Kuwait as an economic and commercial officer. Following Kuwait, he attended the Foreign Service Arabic Language Program in Beirut and Tunis before being assigned as a political officer to Damascus. Mr. Kattouf then returned to the United States to serve as a Middle East analyst in the State Department.
From 1983 to 1986, Mr. Kattouf served in Baghdad as Deputy Chief of Mission. He then served in Sanaa, one year as Deputy Chief of Mission, and one year as Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Mr. Kattouf returned to the United States in 1988 to serve as Deputy Director and subsequently Director of the Office of Lebanon, Jordan, and Syrian Affairs. In 1992, he returned overseas, first as Deputy Chief of Mission in Damascus, then as Deputy Chief of Mission in Riyadh, where he served from 1995 to 1998. President Clinton nominated Mr. Kattouf as Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and was confirmed by the Senate in September 1998. He was then nominated by President Bush as Ambassador to Syria and confirmed by the Senate in August 2001.
During his career, Ambassador Kattouf has received the Cobb Award for outstanding advocacy efforts on behalf of U.S. companies abroad, two Meritorious Honor Awards, four Senior Performance Awards, and one Presidential Honor Award. He was also named runner-up as DCM of the Year for 1996. He speaks English and Arabic. He is married to Jeannie (Ajay) Kattouf and has one daughter and three sons, Jennifer, Jonathan, Paul, and Michael. He is also the proud grandfather of four boys.

Academic WorldQuest Competition
2015-03-07 09:30 - 10:30 | Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center, 4079 Albany Post Rd, Hyde Park, NY, 12538, United States
Sat., Mar. 7 – Academic WorldQuest competition, starting at 9:30 a.m. Multipurpose Room, FDR Museum & Library, Hyde Park.

“Conflict Resolution.” 2nd Annual All-Day Student World Affairs Conference
2015-02-28 | Marist College, 3399 North Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601, United States
Sat., Feb. 28 – “Conflict Resolution.” 2nd Annual All-Day Student World Affairs Conference. Sponsored by the World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley and Marist College.

Understanding the Female Fighter: Women in ISIS. Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan, Visiting Research Professor at the Colin Powell Center for Global and Civic Leadership at City College New York
2015-02-04 19:00 - 20:00 | Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12604, United States
Weds., Feb. 4, 7 p.m. Understanding the Female Fighter: Women in ISIS. Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan, Visiting Research Professor at the Colin Powell Center for Global and Civic Leadership at City College New York. Rockefeller Hall 300, Vassar College.
