Armin Hübner Wins IR Thesis Prize

Armin Hübner

Congratulations to Armin Hübner, winner of the annual International Relations Thesis Prize for his thesis Ghana and the Resource Curse. Hübner is a recent graduate from the Webster Vienna campus and earned his M.A. in International Relations. He completed a bachelor’s degree at the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna.

Currently, Hübner resides in Vienna and is working for the mission of the United Arab Emirate to the UN Office of Vienna where he assists the Ambassador in a variety of work focusing on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. In addition to his full-time work, Hübner is pursuing a PhD in Political Science at the Vienna University and spending time with his two children.

Webster Grad featured on Time Magazine’s Website

Webster alum and author, Leonard H. Le Blanc III recently had an excerpt from his ebook, Afghanistan: Lashkar Gah, Home of the Warriors (One Year in Opium Country), featured on Time Magazine’s website. In his work, Le Blanc shares the experiences he had in 2007 during his time as an adviser to an Afghan-led counter-narcotics team.

Le Blanc, who holds both an MA in Management (’89) and an MA in International Relations (’03) from Webster, has previously served in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy and held international management positions in several countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Kuwait. Most recently he held the title of Group Chaiman for the Bin Hatem Holding Corporation located in  Bangkok, Thailand before retiring and devoting himself to writing full-time. Le Blanc is a married father of two and proud Webster alum.

“I have always been very proud to tell anyone I am a graduate of Webster University,” said Le Blanc.  “My degrees have repaid me many times over.”

Read Le Blanc’s excerpt.

Kiss Awarded German American Heritage Society Scholarship

Paula Hanssen, Assoc. Prof. International Languages and Cultures, presents Kiss with her scholarship

Congratulations to Edina Kiss!

Kiss is the most recent recipient of the German American Heritage Society Scholarship. The scholarship provides financial assistance to students interested in studying aboard in German.

Kiss studies Music and German because much of music history revolves around the language and culture of Germanic countries like Germany and Austria. She is also of Hungarian descent, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and wanted to study abroad to explore that area as well as become more proficient in German.

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International Languages & Cultures’ Centre Francophone: Off to an Auspicious Start

Webster University French students read children's book -- in French --to students of St. Louis Immersion Schools.

Webster student John Davis reads a children’s book — in French — to students of St. Louis Immersion Schools. John, along with fellow students Nora Benedict, center, and Fatou Thiam, were volunteers in an after-school program.

One of the directives of the Jane and Bruce Robert Endowed Professorship in French and Francophone Studies is that the holder of the professorship should promote French and Francophone culture at Webster University and in St. Louis.

It’s a mission that Lionel Cuillé, the inaugural Robert Professor, embraced wholeheartedly on his arrival at Webster University and the Department of International Languages & Cultures in fall 2012. In cooperation with French Professor Emily Thompson, Cuillé started making plans for the Centre Francophone. He engaged graphic design students to create a logo; he used professorship funds to schedule speakers and to co-sponsor French films; he arranged to take his knowledge—and that of Webster’s French students—into the community.

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Save the Dates: 2013 Human Rights Conference to Be April 18 & 19

The Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies invites everyone to save April 18 and 19 for its annual human rights conference. The 2013 conference, to be held on the Webster Groves campus (location TBA), will examine issues related to the rights of indigenous people and stateless persons.

Speakers include Winona LaDuke, an American Indian activist; Caleen Sisk-Franco, chief of the Winnemem Wintu tribe; Dr. Maureen Lynch, International Observatory on Statelessness; and Justin Semahoro, Banymulenge stateless refugee advocate. The conference will include a photo exhibit by photojournalis Greg Constantine, titled “Nowhere People: The World’s Stateless.”

More conference information will be a available soon on the Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies website.

HateBrakers Aims to Bring an End to Hate

Susan Balk speaks about HateBrakers

Susan Margolis Balk discusses the HateBrakers organization and those who have put the brakes on hate. “These courageous people have been victims of hate violence, from bullying to genocide,” she said, “but they still find courage to become leaders instead of haters themselves.”

The name says it all. HateBrakers aims to bring hate to a screeching halt.

That task may seem next to impossible in today’s world, but Susan Margolis Balk, an Arts & Sciences Advisory Board member who founded HateBrakers two years ago, believes wholeheartedly in her program and its mission. That mission states: HateBrakers, an innovation of NEW CONSCIENCE,INC, provides tools that spotlight and celebrate those who interrupt the predictable cycle of hate-breeds-hate.  We promote the paradigm of hitting the brakes on hate when perpetrators, victims, and bystander/witnesses of acts of hate transform themselves into healers, heroes, and leaders.

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Info Sessions Planned for Feb. 4-8

Attend an information session at the Westport campus, 11885 Lackland Rd., Feb. 4-8 and learn about the campus’s degree programs for adult professionals. Among them: the MS in Science Management & Leadership. (Sessions also will be held at the Winghaven campus, 2299 Technology Drive, O’Fallon, Mo.)

Learn more about the sessions.

Sign up online.

University of Hawaii’s Maxine Burkett to Speak on ‘The Nation Ex-Situ’ on Feb. 19

Maxine Burkett

Maxine Burkett

Maxine Burkett, associate professor of law, University of Hawaii, will present a lecture titled “The Nation Ex-Situ: On Climate Change, Deterritorialized Nationhood, and the Post-Climate Era” at noon Tuesday, Feb. 19, in Room 253, EAB.

Rising ocean levels due to climate change threaten the very existence of island nation-states like Antigua, the Maldives, and Tuvalu. What will happen to these countries and their citizens when their physical territories become uninhabitable? Professor Burkett argues that statehood and international law should evolve to accommodate a new category of international actors: the Nation Ex-Situ.

Co-sponsored by the Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies, Sustainability Studies Committee, Center for Ethics, and Philosophy Department.

For more information, contact Professor Karla Armbruster, armbruka@webster.edu.

Global MA Spotlight: Carrie Shoultz

Carrie Shoultz plants a kiss on Jokia.

Carrie Shoultz plants a kiss on Jokia,  a blind resident of Thailand’s Elephant Nature Park sanctuary.

Global Thinking periodically spotlights a current Global MA in International Relations student.  This time we present Carrie Shoultz. (See the November profile of Betsmara Nye Cruz Lebrón.)

Carrie Shoultz was born in Long Beach, Calif., grew up in Albuquerque, spent six years in Minneapolis, where her family originated, and has spent the last five years living in Augusta, Ga. She graduated from Augusta State University with degrees in political science with a concentration in international studies and Spanish. Carrie was a participant in the inaugural year of the Augusta State University National Model United Nations team and served as president of the Political Science Club. She loves to travel. Fortunately, her mother works for an airline, which afforded her the opportunity to travel often while she was growing up. During her undergraduate days, Carrie studied abroad in India, El Salvador, and Spain. She loves photography, which combines well with her love of traveling. She worked for Ritz/Wolf Camera for seven years, through high school and college.

Our questions for Carrie:

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