An Informal Talk by Dr. Christopher Layne

After the Fall: International Politics, U.S. Grand Strategy and the End of the Pax Americana. 
An Informal Talk by Dr.Christopher Layne 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM 
Ferre Building, Room 126 

Dr. Christopher Layne 
Professor at The Bush School Of Government And Public Service, Texas A&M University
and Robert M. Gates Chair in Intelligence and National Security 

His fields of interest are international relations theory, great power politics, U.S. foreign policy, transatlantic security relations, and grand strategy. Professor Layne has written two books: The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present (Cornell University Press, 2006), and (with Bradley A. Thayer) American Empire: A Debate (Routledge, 2006). Additionally, he has contributed extensively to the debates about international relations theory and American foreign policy in numerous scholarly and policy journals.

An Informal Talk by Dr. Gabriela Marin Thornton

"Europe's Romany/Gypsy Community: Identity Construction and Political Mobilization" 
An Informal Talk by Dr.Gabriela Marin Thornton 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM 
University Center, Flamingo Ballroom D 

Dr. Gabriela Marin Thornton 
Lecturer at The Bush School Of Government And Public Service, Texas A&M University 

Gabriela Marin Thornton earned an M.A. in international studies (2002) and a Ph.D. in international studies (2006) from the University of Miami. Presently she teaches classes on the European Union, transatlantic security, and democratization processes. She has published a series of papers and book chapters on transatlantic security, the relationship between the European Union and the United States, and the EU enlargement. Presently she is working on a book entitled European Security in the Post-Cold War Era: Whither Europe?

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice will be Visiting UM!

A CONVERSATION WITH THE HONORABLE CONDOLEEZZA RICE Thurs., Nov. 3 at 1pm.  Free Tickets Available to INS Students! A CONVERSATION WITH THE HONORABLE CONDOLEEZZA RICE No Higher Honor – A Memoir of My Years in Washington Date:     Thursday, November 3, 2011 Time:    1 p.m., Doors open at 12 p.m.               A limited number of student tickets are available.                 You must bring your Cane Card to pick up your ticket. Ticket Distribution: Please email Patrick Thompson (p.thompson3@umiami.edu)  to reserve your ticket to this special event! One of the most respected, high-profile women in global politics, Condoleezza Rice served from 2005 – 2009 as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States.  The second woman and the first African-American woman to hold this post, Rice also is the first woman to serve as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, a title she held from 2001 to 2005 under then-president George W. Bush.       In addition to her distinguished career in Washington, Rice has maintained a strong presence in academia.   She was provost from 1993 – 1999 of Stanford University where she is now the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution and a professor of political economy and political science.

Careers in Community Organizing for Social Justice Available to UM Students and Alums!

The Direct Action & Research Training (DART) Center will be on the UM campus on Wednesday, November 9 at 7:00pm in University Center 233 to discuss careers in the field of community organizing with students interested in empowering their communities and working for social change.

Please RSVP if you are interested by contacting Erica Horton at erica@thedartcenter.org or calling 785.841.2680 with your name, phone #, email address and year in school.

After years of research into best practices, experimentation, evaluation, and refinement, the Organizers Institute has become THE elite field school in the training of grassroots community organizers in the country. 
 
DART is now accepting applications for the 2012 DART Organizers Institute, the paid, four-month field school for people interested in launching a career in community organizing. Participants will undergo a combined classroom and field training covering such topics as:

* Entering a community
* Identifying and training local leaders
* Strategic planning and issue cutting
* Relationship and community building
* Direct Action on community issues
* Fundraising

The DART Center, has built coalitions throughout the country that have won important victories on a broad set of justice issues including:

* Education reform in low-performing public schools
* Job Training
* Drugs and Violence
* Criminal Recidivism
* Living Wage
* Neighborhood Revitalization
* Predatory Lending
* Affordable Housing, etc.

The DART Organizers Institute combines a classroom orientation with on the ground infield training at a local grassroots organization and in-field training site.  Organizers are provided with a cost of living stipend and travel. After successful completion of the program, DART will place graduates into permanent full-time salaried positions earning $32,500/year + benefits.  DART is a 501(c)(3) organization, therefore, employees of the DART Network are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness under the recently enacted College Cost Reduction and Access Act. 

The DART Organizers Institute will occur twice in 2012, with the first training beginning in January 2012, the second in July 2012.  Training locations will include placements in several states around the country.

Although it may be helpful, no direct experience is necessary. Participants in the DART Organizers Institute must demonstrate a desire to pursue community organizing as a long-term professional career. A master's degree, JD, or similar life experience is preferred though not necessary. Candidates must have a college degree or be graduating prior to January 2012. Also, candidates must display a workmanlike diligence, be driven to produce sustained results, have proven capacity to build relationships of trust, create and execute a plan, act professionally, feel comfortable working with religious institutions, be accountable and willing to hold others accountable, demonstrate disciplined thought and action, and work in a team setting.  Community Organizers must also have access to a car during their training and be flexible regarding relocation. Fluency in Spanish/English is a plus and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

Low-moderate income communities across the country are feeling the bite of the recession that began in December 2007. Cutbacks in human services and education, layoffs and persistent unemployment, home foreclosures, increased youth violence, predatory lending, and other serious issues are day-to-day realities for many. Now is the time for a new generation of community organizers to step up, unite people, and transform our communities. DART is recruiting and training that new generation. 

To find out more about DART or to apply, we encourage you to contact Erica Horton at erica@thedartcenter.org or (785) 841-2680. You can download applications or view profiles of DART Organizers Institute alumni at the DART website: www.thedartcenter.org.   

The Demobilization of the Colombian Paramilitaries: Between Skepticism and Hope

Dear all,

The Department of International Studies, University of Miami, Coral Gables campus, cordially invites you to a book launching:

La desmovilización de los paramilitares en Colombia: entre el escepticismo y la esperanza

The Demobilization of the Colombian Paramilitaries: Between Skepticism and Hope

edited by ELVIRA MARÍA RESTREPO and BRUCE BAGLEY

 Wednesday, November 2^nd, 2011
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Whitten Learning Center, room 190
Coral Gables campus 

Between 2003 and 2009, Colombia went through the largest demobilization of ex combatants in its history. Unlike previous peace processes characterized by unconditional amnesties and impunity, this process was carried out within the framework of the relatively recent field of transitional. The relevance of this ongoing process for peace building in Colombia still remains an open question. This volume presents a systematic analysis, involving 21 experts, academics, and journalists, of the demobilization process and its regulatory legal framework. Between skepticism and hope, the authors provide the readers with in-depth analyses in an attempt to understand, criticize and contribute to the search for a long-awaited and illusive peace in Colombia. The volume is grounded in the conviction that contributions to the success of the current peace process in Colombia will be possible only through a systematic study of the entire process in all its complexity and scope. The analysis presented here, in turn, should prove valuable for future peace negotiations with the FARC, the ELN and other armed non-state actors active in Colombia.

Elvira Maria Restrepo, Ph.D., holds a Doctorate in Politics from Oxford University and an LLM from Harvard University Law School. Her current research interests include comparative studies in justice, crime and conflict -- both at the level of individual case-studies and at the level of aggregated statistics. She has a book titled "The Colombian Criminal Justice in Crisis: Fear and Distrust" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and has research papers published in a variety of international, peer-reviewed journals. From 2003-2007, she was Assistant Professor in the Economics Department at the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) where she taught courses on the interplay between crime and conflict. She has been a member of CEDE (Universidad de los Andes) and Fedesarrollo (the economics think-tank), where she worked mainly in topics related to crime, terrorism, criminal justice and conflict. Member of the Board of Directors, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

Bruce Michael Bagley, Ph.D., holds a PhD. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is Professor of International Studies and Chair of the Department of International Studies at the University of Miami (UM) in Coral Gables, FL. Prior to his arrival at UM, Dr. Bagley was an Associate Professor of Comparative and International Politics at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C. (1978-1987). He had previously taught in the Department of Political Science at the University of Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia (1973-1978) and has subsequently been a visiting professor at various other Latin American universities including CIDE in Mexico City, FLACSO in Quito, Ecuador, CEBEM in La Paz, Bolivia, and the National University in Bogota, ICESI University in Cali, and EAFIT University in Medellin, Colombia, among others. His research interests are in U.S.-Latin American relations, with an emphasis on drug trafficking and security issues. From 1991 to 1995 he served as associate dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Miami. Prior to his appointment at UM, he was assistant professor of Comparative Politics and Latin American Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University.

Critical Language Scholarships for Intensive Summer Institutes Info Session

2011 Critical Language Scholarship Representative to Visit UM Campus

Monday, October 25 at 4 pm
Allen Hall, Room 101

CLS Program Representative, Malaika Serrano, will be on campus to answer questions about the program and talk about selection committees look for in a winning application. The United States Department of State is pleased to announce the upcoming scholarship competition for overseas intensive summer language institutes in thirteen critical need foreign languages for summer 2011.  Critical Language Scholarships (CLS) provide group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for seven to ten weeks each summer. 

Application deadline is November 15, 2010.

Levels available for each language are as follows:

• Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Punjabi, Turkish, or Urdu: Beginning, intermediate or advanced level;
• Arabic or Persian: Advanced beginning, intermediate or advanced level;
• Chinese, Japanese, or Russian: Intermediate or advanced level.

Students of diverse disciplines and majors are encouraged to apply. Participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period, and later apply critical language skills in future professional careers.

For more information visit http://www.CLScholarship.org or e-mail prestigiousawards@miami.edu.

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IJHSS)

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IJHSS) is an open access, peer-reviewed and refereed international journal published by Centre for Promoting Ideas, USA. The main objective of IJHSS is to provide an intellectual platform for the international scholars. IJHSS aims to promote interdisciplinary studies in humanities and social science and become the leading journal in humanities and social science in the world.

The journal publishes research papers in the fields of humanities and social science such as anthropology, business studies, communication studies, corporate governance ,criminology, cross-cultural studies ,demography, development studies, economics, education, ethics, geography, history, industrial relations, information science, international relations, law, linguistics, library science, media studies, methodology, philosophy, political science, population Studies, psychology, public administration, sociology, social welfare, linguistics ,literature, paralegal, performing arts (music, theatre & dance), religious studies ,visual arts, women studies and so on.

The journal is published in both print and online versions.

The journal is now indexed with and included in Cabell’s, Ulrich’s, DOAJ, Index Copernicus International, EBSCO and Gale. Moreover the journal is under the indexing process with ISI, ERIC, Econlit, Scopus and Journalseek.

IJHSS publishes original papers, review papers, conceptual framework, analytical and simulation models, case studies, empirical research, technical notes, and book reviews. 

IJHSS is inviting papers for Vol. 1 No. 17 which is scheduled to be published on November 30, 2011. 

Send your manuscript to the editor at editor@ijhssnet.com, or editor.ijhss@hotmail.com

For more information, visit the official website of the journal www.ijhssnet.com 

Plazas DEI CIDE 2012 -Jobs DEI CIDE

The Department of International Studies at CIDE (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas/Center for Research and Teaching in Economics) in Mexico City seeks to fill two tenure-track positions in International Relations, and one Visiting Professor position (pending confirmation), to start in August of 2012. One tenure-track position is slated for a specialist in US Politics and US Foreign Policy. The other tenure track position and the position for a Visiting Professor are open to all IR subfields, although special consideration will be given to applicants whose research agenda includes international security, international organization, international trade, or human rights. 

Candidates should have obtained a doctoral degree by the date of appointment. Proficiency in Spanish is not required at the time of hire, but candidates are expected to become fluent within a reasonable period of time. The normal teaching load for tenure-track positions is one course per semester, while Visiting Professors are expected to teach one course during the year in the area of their expertise and contribute one article to the CIDE Working Papers Series. 

CIDE is a public social science research institute with small, elite graduate and undergraduate teaching programs. 

Applicants interested in the Visiting Professor position should submit the following documents electronically (to kimberly.nolan@cide.edu): 

• Cover letter 
• Curriculum Vitae 
• Statement of purpose, including future teaching and research agenda 

Applicants for the tenure-track positions should additionally include: 

• Writing sample not exceeding 50 pages (i.e. recently published article, dissertation chapter or working paper) 
• Teaching evaluations (if available) 
• Three reference letters. These should be sent directly by the referee and should state the name of the applicant. 

Complete applications received by Thursday, December 15, 2011, are guaranteed full consideration. Interviews will begin in February of 2012.

For more information, please visit the Department webpage (http://www.cide.edu/div_estudios_internacionales.htm) or contact: 

Dr. Kimberly A. Nolan Garcia 

Chair, International Relations Search Committee, 

División de Estudios Internacionales 

Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) 

Carretera México – Toluca 3655 

Col. Lomas de Santa Fe, México, D.F., 01210 México 

Tel. (+55 52) 5727-9800, ext. 2163 

Kriloff Funding Announcement

In order to better serve the graduate student community, a major change has taken place with regard to the Max and Peggy Kriloff Student Travel Scholarship.

This year, the decision has been made to award a portion of the funds to applicants in both the fall and spring semesters.  As many of you know, in the past, applications for this source of travel funding would be accepted at the very start of the fall semester, meaning all of the funds from the endowment would be distributed almost immediately.

Since endowment distributions have changed to a semester basis and many departments have complained

that students who present in March-May often do not have access to Krilloff funds, this year a change in the timing

of awarding Krilloff Award funds will be made.   

Once the necessary application criteria are met, money will be awarded for students presenting only in Fall 2011, 

until the current fall 2011 endowment allocation runs out. 

Our office will begin accepting applications in January 2012 for students presenting in Spring 2012. 

Again the awards will be made only until the spring allocation funds are expended.

For more information and the application for the Kriloff Student Travel Scholarship click here.

Drugs, Democracy, and Security Fellowship Program

The Drugs, Security and Democracy (DSD) fellowship program supports research on organized crime, drug policy, issues of governance, and associated topics across the social sciences and related disciplines. The fellowship seeks to develop a concentration of researchers who are interested in policy-relevant outcomes and membership in a global interdisciplinary network.

The online application is now available here.

Applications are due January 20, 2012.

FELLOWSHIP RESEARCH AGENDA

DSD-funded research must address the relationship among at least two of the following three themes:

1.    Drugs — Potential topics include, but are not limited to, international and regional drug policy, drug trafficking, organized crime, drug production, and impact on communities, including youth delinquency and gangs.

2.   Security — Potential topics include, but are not limited to, issues of traditional and non-traditional security, public safety, the pluralization of security actors, the role of law enforcement, the accountability of police forces, formal and informal strategies to increase security, violence, instability, immigration, and border security.

3.   Democracy — Potential topics include, but are not limited to, issues of governance, state responses to organized violence, civil society networks and how they mobilize against organized crime and drugs, the framing of incentives to develop appropriate policies, freedom of the press, impunity, corruption, and the relationship between state and non-state actors.

Examples of possible research topics that address the relationship among two of the three themes include: substance control in border regions, violence and electoral campaigns, human rights and security policy, and media and violence and global drug flows.

The program encourages interdisciplinary projects and those that address transnational and trans-regional issues.

ELIGIBILITY

The DSD program features two competitions:

·      Dissertation Fellowship — This competition is open to PhD candidates worldwide who have an approved dissertation prospectus by July 1, 2012, but have not completed writing for final submission.

·      Research Fellowship — Applications are accepted from PhD recipients worldwide who have completed their PhD within seven years of the application deadline and from researchers in Latin America or the Caribbean without a PhD but with a master’s or the terminal degree in their field or equivalent professional experience. Applications from researchers in professions outside of academia are welcome.

For both competitions, applications are encouraged from citizens and residents of Latin America and the Caribbean.

For more information, please visit the program website at http://www.ssrc.org/programs/dsd or contact:

Jessica Mack

Tel. 718-517-3656

dsd@ssrc.org

http://www.ssrc.org/programs/dsd