2004 Global Studies Summer Institute

The Center for International Education’s three day Global Studies Summer Institute was at UWM’s Hefter Center July 26-28, 2004. The conference focused on 21st Century Conflict and Strategies for Peace.  Teachers from across Wisconsin and Illinois gathered to discuss various aspects of this well-timed subject matter. 

After introductions from the Center’s director Patrice Petro and welcome from Dean Richard Meadows it was down to business.  UWM faculty Rob Ricigliano, Mark Schug, Robert Beck and Anne Hansen presented various aspects on international issues, such as conflict resolution, peace through trade, global governance and the peaceful settlement of disputes as well as the history of religion and conflict.

Guest speaker Richard Kagan from Hamline University brought a wonderful energy and the passion he holds for the topic of Asian history that could not be contained.  Teachers found his presentation very informative and wished he had more time to spend with us. 

Through videoconferencing the teacher were able to hear from and question former Ambassador and Dean of the University of Florida’s International Center Dennis Jett.  He spoke on “Why Peacekeeping Fails”.  Dennis gained vast amounts of knowledge through his extensive experience overseas in Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Peru during times of civil war and crisis.  Michael Shipler impressed everyone with his worldwide experiences working with youth as part of the Search for Common Ground organization.  Michael was inspirational, knowledgeable and visibly driven in his mission.  Jim White from Mercy Corps continued by discussing “Rebuilding in a Post-Conflict Environment”; the immense overseas experience and passion of all our videoconference speakers was reflected in their presentations.  The Institute of World Affairs will be bringing Jim to Milwaukee October 12th for their Iraq and Afghanistan: A view from the Field.

Melinda Redlinger, of Greenfield High School, shared her knowledge of teaching international topics in the classroom using Potential Peace in Israel/Palestine as her topic.  Teachers were delighted by the information Melinda contributed to the conference.  After her presentation Melinda remained to help teachers with their lesson plans.

Tina Maz brought the issue of how conflict on the other side of the world can impact students’ right here in Wisconsin with her presentation on Somali Bantu: History and Culture and Their Resettlement in our Community.   Like so many of our presenters the audience wished we had more time with her.  We will take that as a suggestion for next year and extend the conference to four or possibly five days. 

The evenings were filled with festive dancing and marvelous cuisine.  The Barika Bellydance Company gave us an enlightening background on belly dancing before our lesson began.  Everyone enjoyed learned the basics and was energized by the session.  That evening we went to Shahrazad Middle Eastern Restaurant where we were treated to outstanding service and a menu selection that treated our taste buds.  The second evening we had a lesson in African Dance from the dance troupe sponsored by the YWCA.   Tamara Key, their instructor explained the meanings behind the different movements, the connections between dancing, celebrating and storytelling.  Afterward she took us through sequence by sequence until we could do the entire dance.  At that point we sat down to watch the girls perform.  Youth and experience were evident in the difference between our attempt and their mastery.  That evening we were delighted by the African Hut’s authentic fare.  As part of the conference, Al Liu from Alterra Coffee Roaster discussed areas of conflict and the impact on fair trade coffee.  Al’s knowledge of the coffee, its origin, how it was traded, traveled even smuggled was fascinating. 

This program would not have been possible without the sponsorship of UW-System Institute for Global Studies in conjunction with the International Studies Resource Network, Milwaukee Public Schools Central Services and Professional Development Center, and UW-Milwaukee Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.