The World Affairs Council of Greater Reading

Global Volunteers with Tom McMahon
2019-11-20 07:30 - 09:00 (America/New_York) | Wyomissing Restaurant & Bakery, 1245 Penn Ave, Wyomissing, PA, 19610, United States
VOLUNTEER VACATIONS…WITH “GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS”
Short term (1-3 week) volunteer vacations are becoming increasingly popular among individuals and families who love to travel, experience different cultures, and make a working contribution to improve people’s lives.
Since 1984, more than 33,000 people ranging in age from 10 to 92 have served others through the Global Volunteers program.
Volunteers primarily work with children teaching conversational English, math and life skills….also with seniors in crafts, light tasks in organic gardens, and building maintenance such as painting. Host countries include Cuba, Greece, Portugal, Nepal, St. Lucia, Ecuador, Peru and several others.
Former Reading mayor, Tom McMahon, and fellow Berks Countians, Sherry Cameron and Najma Iqbal, will relate their experiences with the Global Volunteers program.
For reservations: call 610-375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org
Cost: $10.00

First Year Seminar Lecture: David Brooks
2019-11-20 17:00 - 19:00 | Alvernia Physical Education Center, 920 Laverna Dr, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Acclaimed New York Times Columnist, David Brooks, will speak to Alvernia’s First Year Seminar classes on his book, “The Road to Character”, this year’s common read.
David Brooks became an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times in September 2003. His column appears every Tuesday and Friday. He is currently a commentator on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
David Brooks is the author of many books and writes about politics, culture and the social sciences. Mr. Brooks also teaches at Yale University, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
This lecture is free and open to the public. Please contact the Holleran Center at 610-790-1925 or holleran.center@alvernia.edu with any questions.

Penn State Film Series - Shoplifters
2019-12-03 18:15 - 20:15 | Luerssen Building, Room 5, 1801 Broadcasting Rd, Reading, PA, 19610, United States
The fourth and final film in this year’s Global Oscar Film Series is the Japanese movie Shoplifters.
On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family. Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Making Sense of the Iranian Escalation with Behnam Ben Taleblu
2019-12-11 12:00 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
SPONSORED BY WEIK CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues. Behnam previously served as a research fellow and senior Iran analyst at FDD. Prior to his time at FDD, Behnam worked on non-proliferation issues at an arms control think-tank in Washington. Leveraging his subject-matter expertise and native Farsi skills, Behnam has closely tracked a wide range of Iran-related topics including: nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missiles, sanctions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the foreign and security policy of the Islamic Republic, and internal Iranian politics. Frequently called upon to brief journalists, congressional staff, and other Washington-audiences, Behnam has also testified before the U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament.
His analysis has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Fox News, The Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse, among others. Additionally, he has contributed to or co-authored articles for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fox News, The Hill, War on the Rocks, The National Interest, and U.S. News & World Report. Behnam has appeared on a variety of broadcast programs, including BBC News, Fox News, CBS Interactive, C-SPAN, and Defense News. Behnam earned his MA in International Relations from The University of Chicago, and his BA in International Affairs and Middle East Studies from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
To Register:
Call (610) 375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org

Cost to attend:
Members $23
Non-Members $30
Without Meal $10
Ambassadors Included

Venezuela: a tough transition to democracy
2020-01-08 12:00 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
For Video playback, click HERE
Dr. Paul D. Esqueda, Sr. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Penn State Berks and a Professor of Engineering, will discuss Venezuela during the World Affairs Council’s Jan. 8 luncheon program. He will give an update on main events in Venezuela during 2019 and will share his vision of a potential transition to democracy.
Esqueda’s areas of interest are project management, negotiations and operations management. He has a particular interest in developing negotiation case studies. For the last 30 years, Esqueda has been primarily dedicated to administration in academic institutions.
His previous positions include Division Head of Engineering, Business and Computing at Penn State Berks; Dean of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Administration (IESA) in Caracas, Venezuela; and President of the Engineering Research Institute also in Caracas.
Esqueda served as a consultant for the European Union to review the European Union Latin American Scholarship Program from 2003-2008. He was part of a panel of 20 experts (10 from Europe and 10 from Latin America) that met every year in Brussels to audit the program and advise the EU on the development of the program.
He earned an engineering degree from the University of North London, England, and a master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Penn State.
To Register:
Call (610) 375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org

Cost to attend:
Members $23
Non-Members $30
Without Meal $10
Ambassadors Included

East Penn Today, Locally, Nationally, and Internationally
2020-01-15 07:30 - 09:00 | Wyomissing Restaurant & Bakery, 1245 Penn Ave, Wyomissing, PA, 19610, United States
In seven remarkable decades, East Penn Manufacturing, headquartered in Lyons, Pennsylvania, has grown from a one-room shop with a product line of five automobile batteries to one of the world’s leading battery manufacturers with over 10,000 employees, 450 product designs, and hundreds of awards for manufacturing and environmental excellence. East Penn manufactures and distributes throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico and has a growing footprint elsewhere internationally in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Chris Pruitt, President and CEO, will address the history of East Penn and relate its present and future plans and initiatives. He will present his thoughts on the burgeoning arena of stored energy in the transportation and related industries.
Chris joined East Penn in 1994 as the Controller and has assumed ever increasing roles since then to his present position. Chris is the recipient of numerus awards for community service including the prestigious Wilbur H. Doran award from the United Way of Berks County. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Wyomissing Foundation.
To Register:
Call (610) 375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org
Cost to attend:
$10.00

Haiti 10 Years after the Earthquake with Prof. Adam John
2020-02-12 12:00 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Sponsored by the Diversity, Inclusive, Global Committee of the YMCA
Albright University professor Adam John will provide an update on what has happened in Haiti in the 10 years since a devastating earthquake when the World Affairs Council holds its Wednesday, Feb. 12, luncheon program at the Inn at Reading.
More than 200,000 people reportedly died as a result of the magnatude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. About 300,000 were injured and 1.5 million were left homeless.
John holds a Ph.D. in French and Francophone cultures and civilizations from Pennsylvania State University. He is an associate professor of French and Spanish and the director of the interim program in Martinique. His research interests include Haitian literature and culture, French language media and post-colonialism. He teaches courses on the Caribbean, contemporary France and French-speaking Africa.
He received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research for his doctoral dissertation in Martinique in 1993-1994. He has been a member of the Haitian Studies Association for almost 20 years. He also served on the board of directors of the Haitian Studies Association from 2005-2009.
To Register:
Call (610) 375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org

Cost to attend:
Members $23
Non-Members $30
Without Meal $10
Ambassadors Included

Fulbright Scholarship Program with Waldo Alvarado
2020-02-19 07:30 - 09:30 | Wyomissing Restaurant & Bakery, 1245 Penn Ave, Wyomissing, PA, 19610, United States
Fulbright Scholarship
The Fulbright Scholarship program was established in 1946 under the leadership of then Senator J. William Fulbright. Administered by the Department of State, it is one of several United States cultural exchange programs whose goal is to promote intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between citizens of the United States and other countries. The program has awarded approximately 370,000 scholarships to American and foreign students since the inception.
Mr. Waldo Alvarado, Director of Equity and Diversity for the Reading School District, will further review the history of the Fulbright Scholarships. A native of El Salvador, Mr. Alvarado was a Fulbright Scholar in 1989/1990 at the University of Pennsylvania.
Joining Mr. Alvarado to share their experience as Fulbright Scholars are Dr. Michael Masko and Dr. Katherine Lloyd Diaz. Dr. Masko has had a career of more than 40 years in public education. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Germany 1973/1974. Dr. Diaz, a Fulbright Scholar in Peru, is Vice President of Operations for Walk It Out Recovery Services and works also as the Life Skill Coordinator at the Bethany Children’s Home.
Each brings a rich perspective on the value and impact of the Fulbright Scholarship program.
Cost $10.00.
For reserations: call 610-375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org

Half of Heaven: Why Women are Needed in National Security with Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese
2020-03-13 12:00 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Sponsored by Comcast Keystone Region.
International Women’s Month speaker: Joan Johnson-Freese
Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese is a University Professor, holds the Charles F. Bolden, Jr. Chair in Science, Space & Technology, and is former Chair of the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval War College (NWC). In her faculty capacity she teaches Security Studies to US military officers and security practitioners from the United States and over 50 other countries. She has also been part of the Government Department faculty of Harvard Extension School and Harvard Summer School since 2004, where she teaches courses on Women, Peace & Security, Leadership in War and Peace, and Grand Strategy and US National Security.
As a political scientist and educator, her research focuses on space security and Women, Peace & Security. She is the author of seven books on space security, the most recent (2016) Space Warfare in the 21st Century: Arming the Heavens and over 100 published articles, many with a particular focus on the Chinese space program. Dr. Johnson-Freese has also published multiple articles on aspects of Women, Peace & Security and her book, Women, Peace & Security: An Introduction, was released in December 2018. She regularly works with media including CNN, NPR, The New York Times, ABC, CBS, and Time Magazine on these topics.
To Register:
Call (610) 375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org

Cost to attend:
Members $23
Non-Members $30
Without Meal $10
Ambassadors Included

CANCELLED - Women in Elective Office: Challenges and Opportunities with Judy Schwank, Sandy Graffius, and Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz
2020-03-19 07:30 - 09:00 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
With the ratification of the 19th Amendment, August 20, 1920, women gained the right to vote in the United States. One hundred years later, women are realizing an increasingly stronger presence in elective offices across Pennsylvania and the nation.
A panel of three Berks County elected officials, moderated by Lynn Brown, president, World Affairs Council of Greater Reading, will discuss the challenges and opportunities facing women today in seeking and holding elected office.
State Senator Judy Schwank represents Pennsylvania’s 11th Senatorial District, which includes the City of Reading and many of its surrounding boroughs and townships. Since her appointment in 2011, Senator Schwank has championed issues that directly affect women and children.
Sandy Graffius has served as Berks County Controller since 2004. She brought 25 years of business ownership to the position. The controller supervises the fiscal affairs of the county, including a review of all audits, bills and claims, and reports regularly on the fiscal conditions of the county.
Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz was appointed to a seat to represent District 6 on the Reading City Council in January, 2019, and then elected to a full term in November, 2019. Born to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic, Ms. Cepeda-Freytiz is a Berks County Business owner and community activist.

To Register: Call 610-375-7886 or email: contactus@wacreading.org
Cost To Attend: $10

CANCELLED - Excursion 2020
2020-04-22 08:00 | PA, United States
CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

U.S. relations with the Northern Triangle with Dr. Kirwin Shaffer
2020-04-22 12:00 - 13:30 | PA, United States
For Video replay, click HERE
Dr. Kirwin Shaffer is Professor of Latin American Studies. He teaches courses on Latin American and Caribbean History, Latin American Studies, Global Terrorism and Political Violence, Dissent, and International Literature and Film. When not teaching, he continues research on transnational anarchism in the Americas. In 2005, he published his book Anarchism and Countercultural Politics in Early Twentieth-Century Cuba (University Press of Florida). In 2013, he published his second book Black Flag Boricuas: Anarchism, Antiauthoritarianism, and the Left in Puerto Rico, 1897-1921 (University of Illinois Press). In 2015 he published the book In Defiance of Boundaries: Anarchism in Latin American History (University Press of Florida) which he co-edited with Geoffroy de Laforcade. He is currently working on a new book that looks at anarchist networks that crisscrossed the Caribbean region, including Panama, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the United States. The tentative title for the book is Caribbean Anarchism: Countercultural Politics and Transnational Networks in the Age of US Expansionism, 1890s-1920s.
This event starts at Noon on Wednesday, April 22nd.
Join via Zoom (Full invitation details below)
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Topic: Great Decisions: U.S. Relations with the Northern Triangle with Professor Kirk Shaffer
Time: Apr 22, 2020 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Europe in the Age of Corona - with Ron Granieri
2020-05-06 19:00 - 20:30 | PA, United States
For Video replay, click HERE
Ron Granieri is an FPRI Templeton Fellow, the Executive Director of FPRI’s Center for the Study of America and the West, Editor of the Center’s E-publication The American Review of Books, Blogs, and Bull, and Host of Geopolitics with Granieri, a monthly series of events for FPRI Members. He is a specialist in Contemporary German and International History with degrees from both Harvard and the University of Chicago. He is the recipient of a Federal Chancellor Scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and is a member in the American Council on Germany’s Young Leader Program. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Syracuse University, Furman University, and the University of Tubingen. He is the author of The Ambivalent Alliance: Konrad Adenauer, the CDU/CSU, and the West, 1949-1966 (Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books, 2003), and is currently completing a book entitled: The Fall and Rise of German Christian Democracy, From Detente to Reunification, for Oxford University Press.
Join us Wednesday, May 6th at 7pm on Facebook Live
Members are invited to join live via Zoom
Connection details can be found in your May 1st Member’s Email Newsletter.

CANCELLED: Turkey - West Relations with Dr. Oya Dursun Ozkanca
2020-05-13 12:00 - 14:00 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
CANCELLED DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Dr. Oya Dursun-Ozkanca is the College Professor of International Studies (Endowed Chair) and Professor of Political Science at Elizabethtown College. A native of Turkey, she received her BA in Political Science and International Relations at Bosphorus University in Istanbul, and MA and PhD in Government at the Univesity of Texas in Austin. Her research interests include Turkish foreign policy, tranatlantic security, European politics, the Balkans, and peacebuilding missions.
Dr. Dursun-Ozkanca is the author of a number of scholarly articles in leading peer -reviewed journals. In Summer 2013, she served as a LSEE Research on South Eastern Europe Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, and conducted fieldwork in Serbia and Bosnia on Turkish foreign policy in the Balkans. Her first co-authored book, External Interventions in Civil Wars: The Role of Impact on Regional and International Organizations, was published by Routledge in July 2013. She is author of the forthcoming book, Turkey-West Relations: The Politics of Intra-alliance Opposition by Cambridge University Press.
To Register:
Call (610) 375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org
Cost to attend:
Members $23
Non-Members $30
Without Meal $10
Ambassadors Included

China's Road into Latin America with Dr. John Stanley
2020-05-14 12:00 - 13:30 | PA, United States
For Video replay, click HERE
Dr. John Stanley is originally from the Philadelphia area. He earned his BA from Moravian College in 1994 and later earned his Masters and PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) where he focused on China’s history and politics. He currently holds the position of Professor in the History Department of Kutztown University where he teaches classes in World History, general East Asia, and more focused classes on Chinese history with a focus on the late-19th and early-20th century. The focus of Dr. Stanley’s research work is on the secular activities of missionaries in China. He has published articles on mission schools and medical work of the American Presbyterians in Shandong from the late-19th to the early-20th century. His more recent research has turned to the role the local population had in mission work with a particular focus on areas of Shandong outside of the larger treaty port cities.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Thursday, May 14th.

Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
The public is invited to watch the meeting via Facebook Live.
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/3878699878838266

CANCELLED: Ground Level in China: 27 Years of Change with Tom Wessner
2020-05-20 07:30 - 09:00 | Wyomissing Family Restaurant and Bakery, PA, United States
CANCELLED DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Mr. Wessner will be presenting his personal account of the impact of China’s entry into the world economy and, possibly, challenge some of the conventional views that most Americans have about China. His presentation will focus on the history and governance of China, recent evolution of business and what this has meant for the people living in China – – and the rest of the world.
Originally from Kutztown Pennsylvania, Tom Wessner has had a broad international career in Finance, Supply Chain and Business Development. Tom joined Ford Motor Company in 1986 after achieving his Master’s in Business from Penn State University. Since then he has lived and worked around the world for Ford, Mazda, Tesla and Hawaiian Airlines. His last two business ventures were in Chinese-funded electric car startups as one of the founding executives. Besides living in Japan and Mexico, each for over 6 years, Mr. Wessner was part of the Ford team that made the first entries into China in 1993. Tom has seen, first-hand, the transformation of China from a third world developing nation to the high-tech global economic power that China is today.
To Register:
Call (610) 375-7880 or email contactus@wacreading.org
Cost to attend: $10.00

Climate Change with Dr. Spencer Stober
2020-05-20 12:00 - 13:00 | PA, United States
Dr. Spencer S. Stober is a Professor of Biology at Alvernia University, Reading, PA, USA. He has taught Biology for 30 years including undergraduate courses in genetics, botany, and environmental science. Since earning his doctorate at Temple University, with a specialization in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, he teaches graduate courses in leadership and supervises dissertations. In 2005 he received Alvernia’s Christian R. & Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching, and he was awarded the Neag Professorship in 2011. He has also served in a number of key administrative positions at Alvernia University, including Department Chairperson, Ph.D. Program Director, Dean of Arts and Sciences, and Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies. Dr. Stober currently serves on the international Advisory Board for the “On Sustainability Research Network” sponsored by Common Ground Publishing. His work on environmental, cultural and socio-economic sustainability has enabled him to travel, frequently with students, to universities in countries such as Japan, Croatia, Malaysia, India, Ecuador, Mauritius, Denmark, and New Zealand. Dr. Stober recently served as a co-editor with Dr. David Humphreys for a volume entitled Transitions to Sustainability: Theoretical Debates for a Changing Planet, and he co-authored Nature-centered Leadership: An Aspirational Narrative, with two Ph.D. students (Tracey L. Brown and Sean J. Cullen); both volumes were published by Common Ground in 2014 and 2013 respectively. Dr. Stober also co-authored a book with Dr. Donna Yarri, Associate Professor of Theology at Alvernia University, entitled God, Science, and Designer Genes: An Exploration of Emerging Issues in Genetic Technologies, published by Praeger in 2009; they are currently working on a new book entitled God, Darwin, and the Origins of Life.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, May 20th.

Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/3887573281284259

India and Pakistan with Dr. Sudip Ghosh
2020-05-27 12:00 - 13:30 | PA, United States
Dr. Sudip Ghosh is an associate professor of business at Penn State Berks. His scholarly and teaching interests include corporate finance, banking and financial regulations, macro-monetary economics, and corporate social responsibility. He has presented pre-conference workshops and conference sessions at international conferences. Dissertation Topic: “Risk Based Capital Requirements and the U. S. Loan Market”
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, May 27th.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
Join via www.wacreading.org/live!
Please join a few minutes early so you don’t miss anything!
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/3926112307430356

Red Sea Security with Dr. Randall Fegley
2020-06-03 19:00 - 20:30 | PA, United States
A political historian at Penn State Berks College, Randall Fegley teaches courses in African, European and Middle Eastern history, ethnic conflict in Africa and international law. Joining the Penn State system in 1988, he specializes in the study of mass trauma, especially long-term conflicts, gross human rights violations and prolonged disasters in Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan. He lived, taught and completed Ph.D. research in Sudan from 1980 to 1984 and has returned to work there and in other African countries numerous times. In November 2003, he received Penn State Berks’ Beaver Community Service Award for restoring schools in war-torn Kajo Keji County as part of a program of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem. He has been particularly active in the Sudan Studies Association, the leading scholarly organization on Sudan. Host of the SSA’s 22nd annual conference in May 2002 and a member of the association’s board from 2003 to 2007, he has also served as the organization’s president and executive director. As the coordinator of Penn State’s four-year degree program in Global Studies, he set up internship programs in Rwanda and India. His published works have examined Rwandan, Sudanese, Belgian and Equatorial Guinean political history, genocide, the mythologies that perpetuate conflicts, elections and governance in post-trauma societies; and the rehabilitation of former slaves and child soldiers.

This event starts at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, June 3rd.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
Please join a few minutes early so you don’t miss anything!
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/3951727394868847

Infectious Disease Including COVID-19 (Coronavirus) with Marie Keim
2020-06-10 11:30 - 14:00 | PA, United States
Marie Keim, BS, MT, CIC:Director Epidemiology, Infection Control and Prevention Reading Hospital
Ms. Keim has more than 30 years of healthcare experience, with over 20 years in infection prevention and includes clinical microbiology. She is currently the director of the epidemiology, infection control and prevention department at Reading Health System. Ms. Keim has expertise in all scopes of healthcare encompassing hospitals, clinics, ambulatory centers and physician offices. She assists clients in all aspects of project design and construction through occupancy to proactively minimize risks for patients and a staff from both the microbiology and infection prevention perspective. She has successful incorporated work flow, instrument/equipment and product selection to improve patient outcomes.

This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, June 10th.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
Join via www.wacreading.org/live
Please join a few minutes early so you don’t miss anything!
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/3980766611964925

Artificial Intelligence and Data with Abdullah Konak
2020-06-17 12:00 - 13:30 | PA, United States
Abdullah Konak is a Professor of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University, Berks. Dr. Konak received his degrees in Industrial Engineering, B.S. from Yildiz Technical University, Turkey, M.S. from Bradley University, and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to his current position, he taught at Auburn University. Dr. Konak also held visiting positions at Lehigh University, Cornell University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Konak’s primary research interest is in the modeling, analysis, and optimization of complex systems using computational intelligence combined with techniques from probability and statistics and from Operations Research. He has studied a broad range of topics including network design, reliable system design, cybersecurity, facilities design, green logistics, production management, and data sciences. Dr. Konak has published papers in leading journals such as Operations Research Letters, Informs Journal on Computing, Europan Journal of Operations Research, Computers and Operations Research, IIE Transactions, IEEE Transactions on Reliability, International Journal of Production Research, and Production Economics. He has been a principal investigator in sponsored projects from the National Science Foundation, the National Security Agency, the US Department of Labor, and Venture Well.
Dr. Konak currently teaches courses on Database Management Systems, Cybersecurity, Agent Based Modelling, and Entrepreneurship. He is a member of INFORMS and IEEE.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, June 17th.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
Join via www.wacreading.org/live
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/3997391866969066
Please join a few minutes early so you don’t miss anything!

Russia and the 2020 Elections-what is Putin's game plan? with Christopher Miller
2020-06-24 12:00 - 13:30 | PA, United States
Chris Miller is assistant professor of international history at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and co-director of the school’s Russia and Eurasia Program. He is author of Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia (2018) and The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy (2016).
He has previously served as the associate director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale, a lecturer at the New Economic School in Moscow, a visiting researcher at the Carnegie Moscow Center, a research associate at the Brookings Institution, and as a fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Transatlantic Academy. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Yale University and his B.A. in history from Harvard University.
ARTICLES
“The Bureaucratic Bourgeoisie: How the Soviet Union Lost Faith in State-led Economic Development,” History of Political Economy (2019)
“Georgii Mirskii and Soviet Theories of Authoritarian Modernization,” International History Review (2017)
“Economic Take-Off or Great Leap Forward: Soviet Assessments of Chinese Economic Reforms during Perestroika,” Soviet and Post-Soviet Review (2016)
“Gorbachev’s Agricultural Reforms and the Politics of Perestroika,” Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History (2016)
BOOKS
“Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia,” The University of North Carolina Press, 2018.
“The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR,” The University of North Carolina Press, 2016

This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, June 24th.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
Join via www.wacreading.org/live
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/[REDACTED]
Please join a few minutes early so you don’t miss anything

Recent Developments in the China/Hong Kong Relationship with Dr. Victoria Tin-bor Hui
2020-07-08 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Faculty Fellow, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies
Faculty Fellow, The Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Faculty Fellow, The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Civil and Human Rights
Victoria Tin-bor Hui received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University and her B.SSc. in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Hui’s core research examines the centrality of war in the formation and transformation of “China” in the long span of history. She is the author of War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2005). She has also published “Toward a Dynamic Theory of International Politics” in International Organization, “Testing Balance of Power Theory in World History” in the European Journal of International Relations, “The Emergence and Demise of Nascent Constitutional Rights” in The Journal of Political Philosophy, “Building Castles in the Sand” in the Chinese Journal of International Politics, “History and Thought in China’s Traditions” in the Journal of Chinese Political Science, and book chapters “How Tilly’s Warfare Paradigm Is Revolutionizing the Study of Chinese State-Making,” “Cultural Diversity and Coercive Cultural Homogenization in Chinese History,” “The China Dream: Revival of What Historical Greatness?”, “Confucian Pacifism or Confucian Confusion?”, “The Triumph of Domination in the Ancient Chinese System” and “Problematizing Sovereignty.”
Hui also studies contentious politics. As a native from Hong Kong, she has written “Will China Crush the Protests in Hong Kong? Why Beijing Doesn’t Need to Send in the Troops” in Foreign Affairs and “Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement: The Protest and Beyond” in the Journal of Democracy. She also maintains a blog on Hong Kong https://victoriatbhui.wordpress.com. She has extensively commented on Hong Kong politics in the media including the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, ChinaFile, ABC, the BBC, the New York Times, the Guardian, Bloomberg, Sky News, NPR, Vox, and the Christian Science Monitor.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, July 8th.
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/[REDACTED]
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.

The State of the State Department with Lawrence Cohen
2020-07-29 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Lawrence Cohen is a retired diplomat with the U.S. Department of State. During his Foreign Service career, Mr. Cohen served in Mexico, Honduras, India, Hungary, Nigeria, Brazil, and Afghanistan. His Washington, D.C., assignments included stints in the Office of Environmental Policy working on bilateral U.S.-Mexico and NAFTA issues, and as State Department Desk Officer to the Inter-American Development Bank. Mr. Cohen has also served on short-term Foreign Service assignments in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan Region; Tunis; Jeddah; and Kuwait.
Mr. Cohen created the Foreign Service Institute’s Afghanistan pre-deployment training program, facilitated Afghan training for USAID personnel, and developed diplomatic tradecraft training for the South Sudanese Foreign Ministry in Juba. Mr. Cohen served as the Retiree Vice President on the Governing Board of the American Foreign Service Association (2013-15). He delivered a presentation on Afghanistan to the Reading World Affairs Council in September 2008.
Mr. Cohen earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and Mideast Studies from Dickinson College and his Masters of Arts degree in International Relations, specializing in Middle East Affairs from the University of Chicago. He resides in Schwenksville, Montgomery County.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, July 29th.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
The public is invited to watch the meeting via Facebook Live. The link will be posted one week prior to the event.
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/4196727813702136

Ukraine/Russia with Amb. John Herbst
2020-08-05 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Ambassador Herbst joined the United States Foreign Service in 1979. He has worked as a political counselor at the U.S. embassies in Tel Aviv, Israel, Moscow, Russia, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has also worked as the Director of Regional Affairs in the Near East Bureau of the United States State Department, as Director of the Office of Independent States and Commonwealth Affairs, as Principal Deputy to the Ambassador-at-large for the Newly Independent States, and as U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem. He was appointed Ambassador to Uzbekistan in 2000, and to Ukraine in 2003. In 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appointed Ambassador Herbst as Coordinator for the Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization. He assumed the new position in the summer of that year.
Ambassador Herbst assumed the position of Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization in the summer of 2006. During his tenure, Ambassador Herbst launched the Civilian Response Corps, grew its ranks to over 1,000, and oversaw their missions in countries that include Sudan, Chad, Haiti, Lebanon, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Under Ambassador Herbst’s direction the Civilian Response Corps and the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization supported over 20 U.S. Embassies. His responsibilities included planning and coordinating to prevent conflict and deliver sustainable stabilization solutions to countries in danger of, emerging from or in conflict.
Ambassador Herbst was particularly successful in building interagency support and using the concept of smart power through policy committees and coordination teams that include persons from the United States Agency for International Development and the departments of Justice, Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Treasury.
During the period that became known as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, Ambassador Herbst was involved in the events which led up to and defined Viktor Yushchenko‘s presidency. Ambassador Herbst was described by Pakistan’s Daily Times as “an erudite, charming and linguistically gifted diplomat” whose accomplishments “conveyed Bush policy that Ukraine should not join the Common Economic Space with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan because ‘it is not in [its] interests to have this integration complicated’.”
In 2005, Ambassador Herbst, serving as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, called the reputation of Mykola Bilokin, Minister of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2003 to 2005, “unacceptable.” Later in the month Ambassador Herbst worked with newly appointed Minister of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Yuri Lutsenko, to reform the ministry. The new ministry was restructured to meet the changing political and socio-economic environment in Ukraine. During the meeting Ambassador Herbst offered the support of American law enforcement officers and noted that the U.S. is willing to provide aid to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Following the Orange Revolution, Ambassador Herbst facilitated funding of objective sources of news in Ukraine. His efforts led to the United States Agency of International Development funding $2.4 million to be spent towards the development of mass media in the country. Ambassador Herbst implemented his strategy by focusing on readying trainers and educators in the communications discipline, including Ukraine‘s Center for Ukrainian Reform Education and Kiev non-governmental organization Telekritika. Ambassador Herbst oversaw tertiary funding including the Open Media Fund, sponsored by the International Renaissance Foundation and worked with his associates at the U.S. Embassy, including press attaché Brent Byers, to allocate $750,000 in 2005. Ambassador Herbst oversaw funding in support of independent media in Ukraine. Ambassador Herbst coordinated with the European Commission to Ukraine and effectively secured an additional 3.5 million Euros between 2003 and 2005.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, August 5th.
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/4231811840193733
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.

Clash of Cultures: China's Expansion and the Steppe People of Central Asia with Nicholas Millward
2020-08-19 10:00 - 11:00 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Nick Millward is the president of the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies. In his talk, Nick will draw on his research, his travel experiences in the area and his work to improve the conditions for the people living there.
Nick graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies. While living in Japan, Nick joined the executive committee of Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS), a non-governmental organization that promotes the study of strategic, diplomatic and legal issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region. Nick has conducted extensive research on the subversion of ethnic minority groups in Central Asia and looks forward to authoring works in this field of study.
When discussing Central Asian cultural subversion, Nick is speaking in his private capacity only, not as a representative of the United States Marine Corps.
This event starts at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, August 19th.
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/4277410692300514
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.

India in the COVID-19 Era - Can Modi Turn the Tide with Milan Vaishnav
2020-09-10 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary research focus is the political economy of India, and he examines issues such as corruption and governance, state capacity, distributive politics, and electoral behavior.
He is the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics (Yale University Press and HarperCollins India, 2017), which was awarded the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation book prize for the best non-fiction book on contemporary India published in 2017. He is also co-editor (with Devesh Kapur) of Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India (Oxford University Press, 2018) and (with Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Devesh Kapur) of Rethinking Public Institutions in India (Oxford University Press, 2017). His work has been published in scholarly journals such as Asian Survey, Governance, India Review, India Policy Forum, Studies in Indian Politics, and PS: Political Science and Politics. He is a regular contributor to several Indian publications.
Previously, he worked at the Center for Global Development, where he served as a postdoctoral research fellow, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an adjunct professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and has previously taught at Columbia and George Washington Universities. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Thursday, September 10th.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/4381915085183407

NATO from the American Perspective with Ron Granieri
2020-09-30 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Ron Granieri is an FPRI Templeton Fellow, the Executive Director of FPRI’s Center for the Study of America and the West, Editor of the Center’s E-publication The American Review of Books, Blogs, and Bull, and Host of Geopolitics with Granieri, a monthly series of events for FPRI Members. He is a specialist in Contemporary German and International History with degrees from both Harvard and the University of Chicago. He is the recipient of a Federal Chancellor Scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and is a member in the American Council on Germany’s Young Leader Program. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Syracuse University, Furman University, and the University of Tubingen. He is the author of The Ambivalent Alliance: Konrad Adenauer, the CDU/CSU, and the West, 1949-1966 (Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books, 2003), and is currently completing a book entitled: The Fall and Rise of German Christian Democracy, From Detente to Reunification, for Oxford University Press.
Click here to join via Zoom at Noon on September 30th
Or dial in to listen by phone
(646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 862 3251 5478
Passcode: [REDACTED]

https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/4485492901492291

Foreign Interference in Democracies: What to Watch in 2020 with Jessica Brandt
2020-10-14 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Jessica Brandt is the Head of Research and Policy at the Alliance for Securing Democracy and a Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Her research interests include international security, multilateral institutions, and the geopolitical consequences of state fragility. Jessica previously served as special adviser to the president in the Executive Office and as an associate fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, an International and Global Affairs fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, and as the director of Foreign Relations for the Geneva Accord in Tel Aviv. She earned a BA in international relations with a concentration in conflict and security studies from Johns Hopkins University and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the American Ditchley Foundation, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a David Rockefeller Fellow of the Trilateral Commission.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, October 14th.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
Click here to join via Zoom at Noon on October 14th.
Or dial in to listen by phone
(646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 862 3251 5478
Passcode: [REDACTED]
https://www.facebook.com/wacreading/posts/4569411023100478

Inspired: Stories of triumph and tragedy from the Congo with Sasha Lezhnev
2020-10-22 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Sasha Lezhnev is Deputy Director of Policy at The Sentry, where he focuses on conflict, governance, corruption, and corporate accountability issues in central Africa. He is also Founding Director of the Grassroots Reconciliation Group, an organization that works to reintegrate former child soldiers and refugees in northern Uganda. Sasha is a founding member of the Public-Private Alliance on Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA). He previously worked at Global Witness, the International Crisis Group, and the U.S. Institute of Peace on U.S. policy and conflict resources, extractive industries transparency, and peace processes in Africa. He was based in Uganda for 2 1/2 years as Senior Program Officer with the Northern Uganda Peace Initiative and advisor to the chief mediator of the peace process with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
He is the author of the book Crafting Peace: Strategies to Deal with Warlords in Collapsing States. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Cambridge University and a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
This event starts at 12:00 PM on Thursday, October 22th.
Members are invited to join by Zoom and participate in the live Q&A. Zoom details will be emailed in our weekly email newsletter. If you are a member and have not received this email, please send a message to contactus@wacreading.org.
The public is invited to watch the meeting via Facebook Live. The link will be posted one week prior to the event.
