February, short on days, big on events
Join me, if you will, for a walk back in time. To February! Month of only 28 days, but a zillion Fletcher activities. So many activities, in fact, that although I started pulling this post together in February, I’m only finishing it now, with April clearly in front of me. (Just collecting the talks offered during the “free” blocks on Monday and Wednesday is exhausting. No one is ever “free” during those blocks.) With no further introduction, let’s look back at what was happening in February 2017.
Conferences — several of them!
February 11: Tufts Energy Conference: Innovation for Global Energy Access
February 12-16: Innovate Tufts Week 2017: Fletcher Disrupts!
February 17-18: Fletcher Arctic VI: Exploring Paths to Sustainable Development in the Arctic
February 23-25: EPIIC International Symposium, The World of Tomorrow: Order and Chaos in the 21st Century. Though organized by the Tufts Institute for Global Leadership, the agenda featured several members of the Fletcher community.
Lectures, with or without meals included
February 2: Putting Sustainability at the Heart of Business, Sunny Verghese, Co-Founder & Group CEO, Olam
February 6: Media and the Presidential Election with David Rhodes, President of CBS News (followed by a reception)
February 6: Pakistan: Knowns & Unknowns: A South Asian Security Perspective, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
February 7: The Limits of Cyber Deterrence, and What Trump Can Do About It, Dr. Michael Sulmeyer, director, Cyber Security Project Director at the Harvard Kennedy School.
February 8: The Final Frontier: The Convergence of Economics, Geopolitics, & Cyber, Siobhan MacDermott, Global Cyber Security Public Policy Executive
February 8: Visuals for Awareness and Hope, Saskia Keeley, photo-activist
February 13: The Changing Order in the Middle East: Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, and Forced Migration, Nadim Shehadi, Fares Center director and Ibrahim Warde, Fletcher professor
February 13: News, Fake News and Propaganda: Prospects for the Press in a Post-Truth Era, Patricia E. Bauer, journalist, editor, pundit, and bureau chief
February 13: Energy Policy: Should Costs Be Hidden?, Ed Muller, Vice-Chairman, NRG
February 14: Army’s Role in Stability Operations: Foreign Humanitarian Aide (FHA) and Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA), Major General Ricky Waddell, United States Army Commanding General, 76th Operational Response Command
February 17: Expansion of China’s Force in South and East China Seas, Vice Admiral Umio Otsuka, President of the Staff College Japan Maritime Self Defense Force
February 19: Panel Dialogue among Science and Technology Advisors to Foreign Ministers, sponsored by the Fletcher Science Diplomacy Club
February 21: Military Role in Cyberspace, Brigadier General Jennifer G. Buckner, Deputy Commander of Operations, Cyber National Mission Force
February 27: Post Davos Debrief: Top 5 Global Risks and How World Leaders are Responding, Partha Bose, Partner & Chief Marketing Officer, Oliver Wyman
February 27: Chinese Maritime Hybrid Warfare Based on Sun Tsu, by Admiral (retired) Fumio Ota of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force
February 27: Global Trends — The Paradox of Progress, Jay Okey, Deputy Director of the National Intelligence, Council’s Strategic Futures Group
February 28: Syria’s Civil War and the Post-American Middle East, Dr. Christopher Phillips, Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London and Associate Fellow at Chatham House
Talks by current Fletcher students
February 7: The Tripoli Project Presentation, with Claire Wilson and Nathan Cohen-Fournier, second year students who visited Tripoli to help build a relationship between the School and the city
February 8: Fletcher Seminar on International Conflict Presents: Shooting and Talking: Negotiation and U.S. Marine Infantry Battalian Commanders in Helmand, Afghanistan 2008-2013, with Michael Baskin, PhD candidate
February 27: Challenges of Fieldwork, with Jean-Louis Romanet Perroux, 2017 PhD graduate. (This was an invitation-only event for members of the PhD community.)
February 27: Viruses & Venus Fly Traps: The design and effects of national climate funds, a research seminar led by PhD candidate Rishikesh Bhandary
Career-oriented presentations
February 7: Careers in Public Affairs: A Talk with Victoria Esser, F99, former Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Public Affairs at the Treasury Department
February 13: Working for the UN: A conversation with Fati Ziai, Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General
February 13: Information Session on Department of State Internships, Fellowships, and Careers, Jon Danilowicz, Diplomat in Residence for New England
February 15: Conversations with MIB Alumni: Darius Hyworon, F10, Proctor & Gamble
February 15: Practicing Leadership as a Woman in Patriarchal Cultures, Lunch Discussion with U.S. Ambassador Prudence Bushnell
Etc.
February 11: Fiesta Latina, an annual student-organized event
February 13: Productive Procrastination: Becoming a Mindful Student; How Doing Less Can Help You Do More, Dr. Christopher Willard
February 14: A student performance of “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and a Prayer; Writings to End Violence Against Women & Girls,” an anthology edited by Eve Ensler and Mollie Doyle
February 15: Book launch and panel discussion of Indefensible: Seven Myths that Sustain the Global Arms Trade
February 16: The Changing Political Climate: Perspectives on the Changing Policies toward Immigration and Refugees under the Trump Administration, a Tufts University event with a faculty panel
February 27: Community Book Talk by Graeme Wood, author of The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State
Multiple dates: Throughout the month, the community was invited to attend public job talks by candidates for a faculty position in public international law.
Multiple dates: Starting Your Research, a workshop designed and offered by library staff to help students refine search strategies, determine which databases to use, and learn more about access to library resources.
And that, more or less, sums up February. Naturally, I haven’t captured the student organization meetings or other events that are directed at a specific segment of the community. But even without those extras, you can get a sense of what Fletcher’s like when it’s humming along mid-semester. Will any of these particular events be offered again in a future year? Hard to say — although some of the conferences have been offered annually — but you can be sure that there are more activities than any student can pursue in every month and in every year. Click on the calendar below for a listing that includes even more details.
