School News AGS

IMF Economist and Senior External Relations Officer Michaela Schrader was a guest speaker at AGS on April 1st, in Professor Anand's class on International Organizations. She talked to the students about the role that the International Monetary Fund seeks to play in promoting global monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitating international trade, and fostering sustainable economic growth. She also explained the inner workings of the organization and answered the students' questions. Michaela Schrader's presentation was the second of a series of five guest lectures including speakers from OECD, Human Rights Watch, UNEP, and WAN-IFRA,

On this photo: AGS students with Professor Ruchi Anand (top, 6th from the left) and Michaela Schrader (top, 7th from the left)

On March 28^th 2011, the American Graduate School in Paris signed a partnership agreement with the American University in the Emirates (www.aue.ae). This agreement provides that the two institutions will engage in academic cooperation at various levels: joint degree programs, student and faculty exchange, joint research projects and publications, sharing of academic resources and expertise, and collaboration on strategic and academic planning.

This new partnership extends to the disciplines of business, finance, economics, international relations, and diplomacy. The various parts of the plan will be put in place progressively between May and December 2011. A biannual seminar and symposium will punctuate this collaboration and ensure its sustained development overtime.

Following preliminary discussions in Dubai in December, Alexis Delabre, Chairman of the Board of the American Graduate School in Paris, and Professor Ali Fatemi, President of its school of Business and Economics, met with Muthanna G. Abdul Razzaq, President of the American University in the Emirates, on March 28 in Paris, to finalize and sign the agreement.

“This partnership assumes full meaning not only in the emphasis that our respective institutions both place on academic excellence, but also in our shared values of cultural diversity, and in our common vision of preparing students for careers in a global and diverse world. This has always been at the very heart of the mission of the American Graduate School in Paris and will form the basis for collaborative projects with our new partner”, says Alexis Delabre of AGS.

The American University in the Emirates is an institution licensed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the United Arab Emirates. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs modeled on the American system of liberal education and accredited in the UAE. It is located in Dubai International Academic City.

On this picture: Dr. Muthanna G. Abdul Razzaq (left), President of the American University in the Emirates, and Dr. Ali Fatemi (right), President of the School of Business and Economics at AGS.

On March 25, Mary Crane-Charef of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) was a guest speaker in Dr. Anand's International Organizations class at the School of in International Relations and Diplomacy at AGS. Mary Crane-Charef is Communications Officer at the Anti-Corruption Division, Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs of the OECD. Her presentation focused mainly on the implementation and enforcement of the Anti-Bribery Convention. "Too few realise that the bribery of foreign public officials in international business is a serious crime with serious consequences. Foreign bribery distorts competitive markets and undermines governments and sustainable economic development. The OECD confronts this problem with the Anti-Bribery Convention, which entered into force in 1999. Since then, thirty-eight countries have recognised the risks foreign bribery presents and criminalized this behavior." says Crane-Charef. She also shared a few career tips with students wishing to work in international organizations such as OECD.

Two AGS students are organizing a bake sale to raise funds in favor of an international humanitarian organization dedicated to children in need. The sale will take place on March 28-29 in the AGS library, and all members and friends of the AGS community are invited to participate by bringing cakes to be sold or buying those that will be there. All proceeds will go directly to the Christina Noble's Children Foundation.

The Christina Noble Children's Foundation is a non-governmental organization devoted to helping underprivileged children in Vietnam and Mongolia. It seeks to protect them from economic or sexual exploitation and give them access to basic rights such as a shelter, food, education and healthcare. The organization was started in 1990 by Irish woman Christina Noble. Today it has offices in 16 countries around the world including Australia, France, Holland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Mongolia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA, and Vietnam.

Adriana Barillas (class of 2011) and Rachel Minor (class of 2012) are at the origin of this initiative. They both have interned or are interning with the Christina Noble Foundation as part of their Master's program in International Relations and Diplomacy at AGS.

Adriana Barillas says: "What amazes me is that this one woman alone was able to start this foundation and do so much to help children and make a difference. She went to Vietnam and saw the extreme poverty, and she decided she could not go back to her normal life knowing that she was leaving this behind. She browbeated the authorities there and was able to pull off the creation of a first school; the organization grew from there." Rachel Minor continues: "Interning with this foundation inspires me to not only help this organization and but hopefully accomplish more in the future to serve those in need. Even though the bake sale at AGS is just one small piece of the larger purpose, we are happy to contribute."

In the next coming weeks, guest speakers from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), the IMF (International Monetary Fund), UNEP (United Nations Environment Program), Human Rights Watch, and WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers) will come to AGS to give a talk and answer students' questions in Dr. Anand's class on International Organizations.

• March 25: Mary Crane-Charef, Communications Officer at the OECD's Anti-Corrpution Division, Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs

• April 1: Michaela Schrader, economist and Senior External Relations Officer at the IMF

• April 8: Jean-Marie Fardeau, Director of Human Rights Watch's Paris office

• April 15: James Vener, Program Manager of the Energy and Carbon Finance Units at the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry Economics (UNEP DTIE)

• May 20: Larry Kilman, Deputy CEO, Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

On February 19, a group of AGS students and alumni gathered for a volunteer day to help sort books in support of the "Books for Haiti" initiative, conducted by the Biblion Project Association in partnership with the NGO Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (Libraries Without Borders). They were able to sort and prepare approximately 2,000 books to be sent to Haiti, out of which half will go to Haiti State University, and the other half to the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for further distribution to Haitian libraries.

Bibliothèques Sans Frontières is a non-governmental organization founded in 2007 to foster access to knowledge and culture through reading in developing countries (see website). Biblion Project is an association founded by AGS students Brandon Roddey and Joseph Mangarella (School of International Relations, Class of 2011) along with other international students in Paris. The Biblion Project's mission is to support humanitarian initiatives in the domains of education and culture (see website). 

"By helping Bibliothèques Sans Frontières and Biblion Project to provide books to Haitian libraries, all of the volunteers who joined that day contributed to the long-term goal of enabling individuals to not only take charge of their communities, but to set out on their own paths of intellectual and social development." says Brandon Roddey, the president of Biblion Project.

On May 26-27, AGS will hold its 6th Annual International Graduate Student Conference. This conference is organized by AGS students under the coordination of Professor Ruchi Anand and is open to student and faculty participants from around the world. The theme this year is: The Politics of Disaster: The Mitigation, Management and International Response to Environmental Crises.

Environmental disasters have been afflicting mankind for millennia. Earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, drought, and in modern times, industrial calamities number only a few of the destructive forces that have continually plagued life on Earth. In the ensuing months and years following these crises communities, governments, aid agencies and NGOs have banded together to assist in the relief and recovery process. As a result, questions arise as to the efficacy and frequency of the fiscal, environmental and social responses to these disasters. As the world's population continues to grow exponentially, the instances of natural and man-made disasters are increasing in both size and scope.

The goal of this conference is to explore the myriad of historical responses, as well as the potential theoretical solutions to future crises. The impacts of these crises are broad, as are the disciplines that explore their consequences. The organizers seek a wide range of topics and faculties that will contribute to this discourse. Topics may include, but are not limited to legal/ arbitrative responses, environmental/ ecological impacts, state and non-state relief efforts and the development movements present during these events.

See the full Call for Papers here.

A limited number of scholarships for participation in the conference are available:
Download the Scholarship Application here.

Serge Schemann from the International Herald Tribune will animate a discussion about "Wikileaks and the Old Media" at the next AGS Wine and Cheese Evening on Wednesday, February 16. These gatherings held at AGS twice a semester bring together professors, students, and outside guests to discuss around a theme of international affairs in a convivial atmosphere. On this occasion, Serge Schemann will bring on the recent Wikileaks issue his perspective as a veteran of international news journalism.

A winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, Serge Schemann has been a news reporter since 1971, a foreign correspondent since 1977 and editorial page editor of the International Herald Tribune since June 2003. "It has been my fortune to cover some of the major events of our times, most notably the decline and collapse of the Communist system. Other events I covered include the transition to majority rule in Zimbabwe; the last years of the Soviet Union and the rise of the new Russia; the nuclear catastrophe of Chernobyl; the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany; the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the struggle for peace in Israel." Serge Schemann wrote several books, including Echoes of a Native Land: Two Centuries of a Russian Village (New York: Knopf, 1997), When the Wall Came Down: The Berlin Wall and the Fall of Communism (Kingfisher, 2006), and Israel: The Historical Atlas: The Story of Israel from Ancient Times to the Modern Nation (New York: Macmillan, 1997). Parallel to his work as a journalist, Serge Schemann has taught courses at Princeton and the Columbia School of Journalism, and delivered numerous lectures and talks. He serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the American Graduate School in Paris.

If you are interested in attending this event, please contact Matthew Delabre at info@ags.edu.

A group of AGS students teamed up with several international students in Paris to form a nonprofit association named Biblion Project, which seeks to promote better education and quality of learning at both the local and international levels by supporting student-run projects.

AGS Master of International Relations and Diplomacy students Brandon Roddey, as president and co-founder, and Joseph Mangarella, as treasurer (both Class of 2011), along with Elodie Gérôme from AGS's partner university Paris Sud 11, who also attends courses at AGS through a dual degree program, together engaged in this humanitarian initiative. They have also had the support of other students in Paris including AGSers Lisa Albright, Michael Durkin, and Kelly Archambeault (Class of 2012) who helped with the organization’s collective efforts to design and select student projects to undertake.

Biblion started in Spring 2010 and currently supports two projects: the first, "Books for Haiti", consists of collecting textbooks from the student community in France, sorting them, and sending them to Haitian libaries according to their respective needs. It is run in partnership with French NGO Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (Libraries Without Borders).

The second, "Cultural Awareness in the Classroom", consists of conducting workshops in primary school classrooms in Paris to promote tolerance and cultural diversity. The goal is, through non-formal and recreational methods such as song, dance, and games, to have the young "écoliers" begin to incorporate into their worldviews the values of respect, tolerance, solidarity, and friendship that accompany an understanding and appreciation of cultural difference.

See Biblion Project website

Biblion Project wishes to engage other volunteers in this enterprise. If you are interested, you may contact the association directly at: biblionproject@gmail.com.

On December 10, Professor Anand's IO class welcomed guest speakers from UNESCO and UNEP who presented the inner workings of these two United Nations organizations and their role in global governance.

James Vener of UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) described the increasingly important role that UNEP plays in helping to manage environmental issues worldwide. His presentation included personal experiences from his work, as well as insight into the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun (COP 16). Mr. Vener is the Program Manager of the Energy Finance and Carbon Finance Units at the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry Economics (UNEP DTIE) office in Paris. His work examines investment and financing schemes for energy services with a focus of sustainable development policies. James Vener holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from Columbia University, a Master in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida, and a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from Cornell University.

Clinton Robinson of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) works as a Senior Program Specialist in the Education sector of the organization. Based in paris, he supports the coordination of the UN Literacy Decade and has worked with the coordination team for the "Education for All" project. He previously worked for NGOs (SIL International) and as an independent consultant in education and development, undertaking studies, evaluations, strategic planning and capacity development across Asia and Africa, and at a global level. He holds Master's degrees from Oxford University (Modern Languages), Université de Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle (Linguistics) and Reading University (Rural Social Development) as well as a Ph.D. from Reading University.