Join us for a special program to help sharpen your networking and business etiquette skills!
Special Briefing by Her Excellency Renée Jones-Bos
International Student House
is pleased to invite you to a
Special Briefing by
Her Excellency
Renée Jones-Bos
The Ambassador of the
Netherlands to the US
on international human rights
and US–Dutch Bilateral Relations
Monday,
February 13, 2012
at 7:00 pm
1825 R Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Ambassador Jones-Bos has served as the Dutch Ambassador to Washington since 2008. Prior to her appointment, she held several prominent positions with her country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs including Director-General for Regional Policy & Consular Affairs,and Ambassador-At-Large for Human Rights. This is Ambassador Jones-Bos’ second posting to Washington, having previously served as a First Secretary with the Embassy from 1987 to 1990. This program is presented as part of ISH’s ongoing effort to provide our residents and supporters with opportunities to participate in a wide variety of educational and cultural activities designed to foster a sense of community and stimulate substantive dialogue.
Democracy in Egypt? A special presentation by Tom Garrett of the International Republican Institute
Thursday, January 26 at 7pm in Ella Burling Hall – ISH is pleased to feature a special briefing by Tom Garrett, from the International Republican Institute. If you would like to attend this event, please RSVP to [email protected].
Topic of discussion: Is democracy possible in Egypt and what is the role of U.S. democracy promotion organizations in helping to bring that about?
Bio
Tom Garrett joined IRI in November 1994 and currently serves as Vice President for Programs. Prior to being named Vice President, Garrett served as IRI’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Garrett first served as IRI’s Resident Program Director for Ukraine; he later oversaw political party programs in Belarus and Moldova as well. He left the Ukraine program in January 2000, to serve as IRI’s Resident Advisor to the Ikh Hural, Mongolia’s parliament, based in Ulaanbaatar. In addition to his Mongolia assignments, Garrett conducted training for IRI programs in Cambodia and in Thailand for the Burmese democratic opposition in exile.
In October 2000, Garrett moved to Jakarta as IRI’s Resident Program Director and oversaw a program of political party building, public opinion research and support to local government. While posted to Indonesia, he conducted program assessment missions for IRI in Fiji, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and provided training on campaign finance reform in East Timor.
Over the past 15 years, Garrett has worked on election observation missions in Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, the Solomon Islands, Tunisia and Ukraine.
Prior to joining IRI, Garrett served as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and at the Department of the Interior as Director of Congressional and Legislative Affairs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
He holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma and a master’s degree in international relations from Norwich University.
Amir Kamergi Brings Arab Spring to ISH
ISH resident Amir Kamergi has been surprised at the level of curiosity residents have about each other’s countries and cultures, how open everyone is to other perspectives at the House. For him, this is a special and invaluable quality of the environment of the International Student House. And he has had much to share with fellow residents and others.
Amir is in the U.S. this year, 2011-12, on a Fulbright cultural exchange program, working as a teaching assistant at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). There he teaches Arabic and Tunisian cultural history and this year, especially, that subject has been of particular interest to SAIS graduate students. Tunisia lit the spark that generated this year’s extraordinary events in the Middle East, now known as the Arab Spring. At the beginning of each of his classes, he shows videos of the latest news from Tunisia, exposing students to the most current news while practicing their Arabic at the same time.
Amir, who earned his license in English literature and civilization at the Institute of Languages in Tunis, was the only member of his family to be involved in the protests and street fighting that brought down the repressive Tunisian government last January. He was one of thousands of young people who, inspired by social media, rose up in protest against corruption and poor living conditions under the previous government. And he has burn scars on his shoulders to prove it. Now, he says, the general population of Tunisia is very involved in the country’s politics. “Now that there is a new president, constitutional assembly, and president of parliament, Tunisia is more stable,” he says. He is pleased to tell Tunisia’s story to friends at ISH, and he has even made a documentary on the subject with another resident, Ani ?? from Armenia.
In addition to teaching at SAIS, Amir is taking a course on internet interaction, in preparation for his return to Tunis in May. There he hopes to teach English and technology, first in high schools and later at the university level. Meanwhile, while he is still here, he will continue to participate in his other favorite aspect of life at ISH – a richly talented musical community. He and fellow residents often play in Burling Hall on Sunday afternoons. A self-taught (left-handed!) guitarist, Amir particularly likes to play Flamenco music.
ISH Celebrates75th in Style
More than 150 people attended the International Student House’s 75th Anniversary Gala in October, dining and dancing and wishing ourselves a happy 75th in a glittering hall at the National Geographic Society’s headquarters in Washington DC. From its beginnings in 1936 as an inspiration of the Washington Quaker Meeting, ISH has provided hospitality and community to over 10,000 graduate students, interns, and visiting scholars from more than 130 countries – and that’s worth celebrating!
The evening began with cocktails in the exhibit hall, where guests enjoyed photographer Brian Skerry’s exhibit “Ocean Soul.” Some guests were treated to a special exhibit of historic photographs from the National Geographic archives, narrated by the evening’s honoree, Gilbert “Gil” Grosvenor, chairman emeritus of the Society. Mr. Grosvenor was presented with the 2011 ISH Global Leadership Award, in appreciation of his distinguished work as a member of the international community, to promote intercultural dialogue and global citizenship. Mr. Grosvenor’s award was presented by J. Willard Marriott, honorary patron of the event. Special thanks go to the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation for their generous sponsorship of the evening.
Also honored was Jane S. Hart, past president and longtime board member of ISH, who received the ISH Lifetime Service Award, recognizing her 40 years of dedicated service to ISH and her leadership of the board from 1987 to 1990. Honorees are shown in the above photo: from left to right, Executive Director Tom O’Coin, Jane Hart, Bill Marriott, Gil Grosvenor, and Board Chair Put Ebinger.
