Dennis Sullivan

Denis J. Sullivan (PhD, Political Science, University of Michigan) is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Northeastern. Prof. Sullivan is the founding Director of BCARS, the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies, supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.  From 2020 through 2022, while on leave from Northeastern, Professor Sullivan joined Zayed University (Abu Dhabi & Dubai) to serve as Dean of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences (CHSS).

Sullivan is founding Director of the International Affairs Program, one of the most popular majors at Northeastern University. He also is the founding Director of the Dialogue of Civilizations program at Northeastern. Dialogues are faculty-led, intensive experiential learning programs (5-6 weeks in length). For over 25 years, Dr. Sullivan has led students and professionals on intensive study and professional development Dialogues to Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Greece.

Dr. Sullivan is the author of a number of books and dozens of journal articles, book chapters, policy briefs, and encyclopedia entries. Sullivan’s current research and policy focus is on forced migration and refugees, with particular attention to the Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on host societies, especially Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey as well as the Balkans.  

Sullivan has been a consultant to UNHCR, the World Bank, USAID, U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Defense, Council on Foreign Relations, and academic institutions in Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East.

Dr. Sullivan has received and managed grants and awards from Fulbright-Hays, Rotary International, Center for Arabic Study Abroad (Egypt), American Research Center in Egypt, National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright Scholars Program, Social Science Research Council, Institute for International Education, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Institute of Peace, U.S. Department of Defense, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

I have long treasured my relationship with Denis whose knowledge is deep and whose passion for experimental, immersive education we both share.

I had the privilege of having him lead one of our Institutes research trips to Egypt.

Ray Matsumiya

Inspired by a mother from Hiroshima, Ray Matsumiya has devoted his professional career to unofficial diplomacy, cross-cultural exchange and peacebuilding. Over the past twenty years, he has designed and supervised dozens of programs for thousands of participants ranging from politicians, to civil society leaders, and high school students. These programs have been implemented in the US, Japan, Spain, and nine Middle Eastern/ North African countries in partnership with the US Department of State, UNESCO, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others.

His most recent project is the Oleander Initiative which gathers high-impact individuals from around the world to Hiroshima, Japan for life-changing programs, workshops, and study tours.  He is also a Senior Fellow at the War Prevention Initiative, where he works to enhance the effectiveness of Rotary International peacebuilding programs. 

Ray’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Boston Globe, PBS, El Pais, and NHK World. He has been an invited speaker at TEDx, the Massachusetts State House, the Dayton International Peace Museum, the US embassy of Tunis, and universities such as the Sloan School at M.I.T and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. He has also had pieces published in USA Today and Inkstick Media.

Ray received his Master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and his BA with honors from Wesleyan University. He is the immediate past president of the Rotary Club of International Peace and is a certified mediator under M.G.L. ch.233 § 23C. Ray is fluent in English and proficient in Japanese and Levant Arabic.

I was introduced to Ray by Anne Marie Codur. He is an innovative dedicated peace activist who has also been involved in the University of the Middle East Project. At some point, he and I have promised each other a chess game. I will certainly lose.

Saeed Hosein

During my formative years, nothing captivated and stimulated my imagination quite like the art of painting. It soared above all other pursuits, occupying a central place within my being. The act of creating vivid imagery became an all-encompassing intellectual passion, diligently pursued throughout the various stages of my life's journey. I started my artistic education at Karaj fine art school for Diploma. Then I went to Tehran University, earning a bachelor's degree, and subsequently continued to deepen my knowledge by pursuing a master's degree at Tarbiat Modares University, specializing in the profound discipline of painting.

In more recent times, I have broadened the horizons of my artistic repertoire by delving into the realms of graphic design, illustration, and the captivating field of UI and UX design. This diversification has allowed me to expand my creative prowess and enrich my experiences.

In the summer of 2022, my beloved wife and I embarked on a significant life transition, leaving behind the vibrant city of Tehran to establish our new home in the splendid city of Boston. Presently, we reside in Boston, cherishing the opportunities and experiences that await us in this culturally rich and thriving environment.

With great anticipation, I eagerly look forward to forthcoming remarkable moments, such as the prospect of becoming acquainted with Mr. Sherman, our esteemed neighbor.

I met Saeed. a young Iranian artist by happy serendipity, in my neighborhood dog park.  He was walking his host's dog and I was out with Remi - who is responsible for many of my new friends!! We talk politics quite a bit. He unequivocally belongs to the "light side".

Saeed's wife, Mariam, is a researcher on ovarian cancer at MGH. They will be here in Boston for several years. 

I am impressed by Saeed's decency and sensibilities, and I appreciate his artistic talent. His work can be found on his website.

Here is work that Saeed recently presented to the 2023 Boston Printmakers Biennial:

Let the Curses of Hell Rain Down Upon You

Throughout history, a pattern has repeated itself in hierarchical societies where those in power become entangled in the affairs of their lovers and wives while disregarding the needs of the lower class they govern. This behavior ultimately distances the ruler from their own society and blinds them to the oppression they inflict on the people. As a result, the ruling apparatus becomes cursed by the grief-stricken mothers who have lost loved ones due to the inhumane actions of those in power. This curse spreads like wildfire, engulfing the entire governing apparatus and leading to its eventual dissolution.

I will end my discussion with a poem by Ahmed Shamlu, a contemporary Iranian poet.

They passed by, broken and defeated,

Ashamed of their tuneless songs.

The alleys fell silent,

Their footsteps drowned out by the sound of defeat.

The soldiers passed by, broken and defeated,

Weary and desolate on their horses.

Their colorless banners of pride

Tumbled down upon their spears.

What good is your pride in the heavens

When every cursed speck of dust on your path

Curses your name?

What good is your garden and its trees

When you spoke with sorrow to the cypress?

Wherever you set foot,

Plants wither and die.

For you never believed in the sanctity of earth and water.

Our destiny was sung

In the skeptical songs of your soldiers

Returning from the conquest of the Rus castle.

Let the curses of hell rain down upon you,

For the black-clad mothers,

Bearers of the most beautiful children of sun and wind,

Still raise their heads from the prayer mats.

Sanjoy Hazarika

Sanjoy Hazarika is the international director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. Earlier, he was Director of the Centre for Northeast Studies and Policy Research at Jamia Millia Islamia. is the international director of the HOPE He is an award-winning journalist, formerly with the New York Times. His books include Strangers No More: New Narratives from India’s Northeast, Bhopal: The Lessons of a Tragedy, and Strangers of the Mist: Tales of War and Peace from India’s Northeast. As a columnist and specialist commentator on the Northeast and its neighboring regions, Hazarika has written and published extensively on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Eastern Himalaya, and freedom fighters from the Northeast. He is the founder and managing trustee of C-NES, which has pioneered the work of boat clinics on the Brahmaputra River.

Sanjoy is an honorary research professor at CPR and holds the Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew Chair at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, where he also directs the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research. He has been a member of various academic organizations and official committees, including the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee to Review AFSPA, the Society of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, and the North East India Studies Programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Hazarika has also worked as a newspaper correspondent, columnist, and documentary filmmaker.

I first met Sanjoy when he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. He combined a distinguished career in academia, journalism, and political activism in the field of human rights, and Indian civil-military affairs. We called one another “co-conspirators” and I was honored to award him and Institute’s Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizen award.

Sanjoy has been a friend for decades. He is one of the most perceptive and thoughtful people that I know, whose career has transcended many disciplines and activism. He introduced me to Professor Myron Weiner at MIT, a foremost expert in the field of Comparative Politics, which I have a deep respect for, and has unfortunately been sidelined to great negative consequences in the field of policy, particularly when regional expertise is needed desperately to inform decision-makers. This is something I learned early on as a student when I realized at my university Johns Hopkins that Owen Lattimore had been exiled from even faculty dining rooms, during the red scare. Lattimore’s knowledge of Vietnam was ignored, resulting in catastrophic intervention, which we saw again in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Sanjoy and I had many co-conversations about this, and he participated in numerous EPIIC and Institute Programs. Two noteworthy examples that spoke to the unusual nature of what he had to offer were taking our students to work on hospital ships in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra River, and hosting my Chinese students with his Indian students in Dehli. 

Sanjoy most recently lectured for me at Sai University and advises my students. 

Maia Majumder

Dr. Maimuna (Maia) Majumder is a member of the ladder-rank faculty in the Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP) at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital and a recent graduate of the Engineering Systems program at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). In between her graduate studies and her current position at CHIP, Maia spent a year at the Health Policy Data Science lab at Harvard Medical School’s Health Care Policy department as a postdoctoral fellow. During her masters and doctoral studies at MIT, she was funded through a graduate fellowship at HealthMap computational epidemiology group. Prior to Maia’s arrival at MIT, she earned a Bachelors of Science in Engineering Science (with a concentration in Civil and Environmental Engineering) and a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Tufts University. While at Tufts, Maia was a field researcher with the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), where she worked with clinic patients (and their data) to learn how to better tell their stories. Her current research interests involve artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches in the context of public health, with a focus on infectious disease surveillance using digital disease data (e.g., search trends; news and social media). She also enjoys exploring novel techniques for data procurement, writing about data for the general public, and creating meaningful data visualizations. Since January 2020, she and her team have been actively responding to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and she is considered a leading expert in the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2.

This link will provide everyone with the manner in which I adore and admire Maia, a brilliant student of mine for five years, and an extraordinary researcher/mentor (it will also be one of the few occasions you’ll ever see me in a Tuxedo).

This video is a distinct vivid memory for me, as I was asked to present and toast Maia at her wedding by my good friend and Maia’s father, Shafiqul Islam.

As I have indicated in this video, the most distinctive attributes of Maia are her warmth, integrity, and compassion. Moderna and frankly, the world, should e thankful for her contributions to the anti-covid vaccines.

Helen Zhang

Helen Zhang is currently a Master of Science candidate at the University of Oxford studying Clinical and Therapeutic Neuroscience. Her research focus is on utilising transcranial magnetic stimulation to probe the neurological underpinnings of theta-gamma tACS in the motor cortex. She received her Bachelors in Science from Brown University in 2022, studying Biology with a focus in Biotechnology and Physiology. Her Honors Thesis focused on developing monoclonal antibodies as a treatment for P. falciparum malaria.

Helen resonates with the iden=ty of a global citizen as she comes from a multicultural background. She was born in Vancouver, Canada to first-generation immigrants, moving back to her parents’ hometown of Shanghai, China at the age of six. She studied in Shanghai until her high school graduation, existing in a metropolitan world that blended her traditional Chinese family and heritage with values from her international school education. Helen was heavily involved in global leadership and international affairs in many different avenues of her life. She was part of the leadership team at Huge Grace Orphanage, starting a dental program that provided free fluoride treatments to the children that resided there. She was also involved in Model United Nations for 16 years of her life, culminating in her election as Secretary-General for Brown University Simulation of the United Nations, one of the largest and most prestigious conferences in the global high school circuit. At Brown, Helen was also involved in Global Brigades, volunteering over 600+ hours to spearhead medical brigades to Tegucigalpa, Honduras that provided free consultations and medication to local villages. Lastly, Helen held the Lead Coordinator role for Brown’s Women in Science and Engineering club, promoting female empowerment in male dominated fields and creating networks of mentorship and support for professional development in the scientific fields.

Working in Rhode Island Hospital’s Emergency Department during COVID solidified Helen’s desire to enter medicine. Her experiences interacting with a diverse patient population sparked a passion to emphasize the importance of intersectionality and the social determinants of health when interacting with patients. She hopes to eventually work within the public health system to create educational curriculums and residency trainings that specifically spotlight how social and cultural experiences impact one’s perception and interactions with the medical system, with a belief that re-emphasizing this human connection will strengthen physician- patient relationships and immensely improve quality of care.

Helen has plans to move back to the States in September 2023 and is eager to continue her educational journey to medical school. She is excited to create interdisciplinary connections at the Trebuchet that will strengthen her holistic outlooks to inform her role as a future physician.

Léo Stern

After a career as a saxophone soloist and orchestra conductor, I recently completed a master's degree in international business and diplomacy in Paris. Here’s a brief recap of how I connected the dots. 

I am extremely grateful for what music instilled in me. The value of mentorship, of trust and collaboration, the beauty of cultural inclusion and the pursuit of harmony are pillars I have carried within me ever since.

In this regard, Sherman’s work and community resonated deeply with me. I have the firm intention to push myself and others to do their best, and if I can touch one soul with half the warmth and care some people have had for me along the way, I’ll have much to be proud of.

I started playing the saxophone in a rock band when I was 8 years old and entered the conservatory aged 13. Music made me evolve early in diversity and showed me what it takes to bring heterogeneity into symbiosis. There, I gained a better grasp on the notion of differences – cultural, social, philosophical, physical. I also realized that harmony is a process, as opposed to a static state. It is a joint pursuit based on a shared intention. 

My time as an orchestra conductor was fundamental in my evolution. It was during my life in Vienna that I had my first contact with this profession. At that time, my professor and friend Theodor Guschlbauer challenged me in remarkable ways. Theodor was born in Austria in 1939 and absorbed the entire Viennese musical heritage and savoir-faire/know-how. One of the few students of Herbert von Karajan, Theodor showed me what true craftsmanship and dedication to art is. He played a fundamental role in pushing me to seek more accountability in everything I did. At that time, I created my own orchestra, which convinced me even further of how powerful human bonds can be. While music developed me in the ways described above, I also gradually realized that I had undernourished/neglected certain aspects of myself. 

While still being a conductor, I educated myself on subjects that always fascinated me. I took online classes and in person courses – while making my way into schools I was not officially affiliated with – and devoured books. This adventure led me to enter a master’s degree in international business and diplomacy in Paris. 

The program was excellent at combining finance and economics with international relations, topics I am equally fascinated by. It was an ideal blend of my aspiration to seek cultural diversity and my desire to create, be it a business, an institution, etc. 

Since the beginning of my master’s degree, I have been working for the France committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), chaired by Pascal Lamy, former director of the World Trade Organization. The PECC aims to bring together diplomats, entrepreneurs and researchers to foster economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. I assist the Secretary General in defining the overall committee’s strategy. I also organize conferences - e.g., on the blue economy, sustainable tourism, IT supply chain restructuring, deep-sea mining - and provide financial and geopolitical analysis that feed into high stake negotiations.

More recently, I have started work as a consultant at Volentia, a strategy consulting firm that tackles topics as diverse as geopolitics, business, and public affairs. Shifting between these subjects is a challenge I enjoy a lot.

Personally and professionally, I am intrigued to understand how things and people work, and why. Juggling multiple perspectives simultaneously, I like to imagine how to enhance structures and systems.        

I want to thank Sandenna McMaster, my fiancée, for introducing me to Sherman. Her insights as to how naturally we would bond proved to be true beyond any expectations.

As noted, I met Léo via his wonderful fiancé, Sandenna, who has been a wonderful Trebuchet team member. My initial conversation with Léo extended for nearly three hours. He is intelligent, intriguing, talented, and as thoughtful and compelling a young man I have met in many years. An original composition by Léo, Japanese Wind, can be found here.  His video is accompanied by photos taken by Léo on his ascent of Mount Fuji. 

Mauricio Artiñano

Mauricio Artiñano graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University in 2006, with a major in International Relations, and has a Masters in Public Policy from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.  At Tufts, he was actively involved with the Institute for Global Leadership, the Tisch College of Civic Life, the International Club, and the International Relations Program (as co-founder of the Director's Leadership Council). 

As recipient of the Wendell Phillips Memorial Award, he was the Class of 2006 Baccalaureate speaker at graduation, when he spoke about the various levels of impact that one can have when trying to change the world, and about how love is the most revolutionary and impactful force to do so. 

Mauricio has spent most of his career with the United Nations. From 2008 to 2009, he served as a diplomat for Costa Rica during the country's two-year term on the UN Security Council. Following his Masters degree in public policy from Princeton University, he was served in the UN peace operations in South Sudan (UNMISS), Somalia (UNSOM) and for seven years with the special political mission in Colombia supporting the peace process between the former FARC-EP guerrilla group and the Colombian state. Among his various accomplishments with the Mission in Colombia, Mauricio designed the mission's first youth engagement strategy, created a network to support former combatants' reintegration projects related to tourism, and led an innovative project to train former combatants and community members as whitewater rafting guides (Rafting for Peace).

 Following his HIV+ diagnosis in 2015, Mauricio has also been active in HIV/AIDS activism, including founding two initiatives for HIV awareness and anti-discrimination, in Colombia and Costa Rica.

Mau was one of the more significant human and intellectual members of  my EPIIC and Institute years - and subsequently, unsurprisingly, one of the most caring, empathetic and beloved alumni of our many ensuing years.

While enrolled in the EPIIC 2003-04 colloquium, then sophomore Mauricio Artinano explored  the idea of bringing together the people who had been involved in the Central American peace process to look at lessons learned 20 years later. They were advised by INSPIRE practitioner-in-residence and IGL Executive Advisory Board Member, Timothy Philips the cofounder of the Project on Justice in Times of Transition (the founding of which was inspired by the Institute’s EPIIC program in 1991), 

Two years later, then a senior, with Mau's and others, including Sebatian Chaskel, Pedro Echavarria, Cynthia Medina, Andrea Petersen, and Molly Runyon, unstinting effort, that idea came to amazing fruition. The conference, “Lessons Learned from Regional Peace-Building: The Experience of the Central American Peace Process,” was held in March at Spain's Toledo Center for Peace 

The students had traveled through Central America over a summer to interview some of the main protagonists in the Central American peace process of the late 80s and early 90s in preparation for the conference. The students used their research, both bibliographical and interviews, to craft and structure the agenda and discussion questions for the conference. The student group also worked on the logistics, planning and organization of the summit. More than 40 distinguished individuals who participated in the peace process -- including three former heads of state, formers guerillas, and former ministers of defense -- were in attendance at the conference, which generated thoughtful and productive discussions on the future of Central America and on the lessons that Central America’s peace-building experience can provide for the international community. 

The remarkable participants included: 

Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, former President of Guatemala (1986 – 1991); 

Rodrigo Madrigal Nieto, former Foreign Minister of Costa Rica under former President Arias; 

General Joaquín Cuadra Lacayo, former Commander in Chief of the Nicaraguan Army; 

Joaquín Villalobos, former El Salvadoran FMLN comandante; 

José María Figueres, former President of Costa Rica; 

Pierre Schori, member of the Sanford Commission on Central America; 

Sir Marrack Goulding, former UN Under Secretary-general for Peacekeeping (1986 – 1993) and Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs (1993 – 1997); 

Javier Pérez de Cuellar, former Secretary-General of the United Nations; 

Oscar Santamaría, former El Salvadoran government negotiator and former 28 Secretary-General of the Central American Integration System (SICA)

Of his experience with EPIIC, Mauricio told the Tufts Journal that it was “the most challenging and rewarding academic experience of my life.” Recognized for this conference, along with his overall excellence in academics, Mauricio was named to the USA Today All-Academic First Team.

But far beyond his academic prowess, whether taking on Michael Hardt's challenging work, or challenging his EPIIC symposium program committee, what remains with me most, is Mau's deep passionate concern for humanity, his emotional intelligence and maturity, demonstrated in his galvanizing reaction to one of the most tragic incidents of my life at director of the Institute, the passing of a beloved student, his classmate Bory Damyanova.  LINK

Mau, a young man of personal courage and conviction, had early on understood that EPIIC's incontrovertible strength and value was as a deep connective intellectual and caring human community. He summoned his peers even prior to Bory's accident, to mount a supporting  'Revolution of Love." 

It stimulated a powerful rush to excel, to challenge one another to be the best each of us, and collectively we could be, and to support one another in meeting the rigors we demanded of a leadership challenge, that often mystified and perplexed other faculty and students,  who at times cynically understood us a cult. 

Together his classmates created the Bory Damyanova Award.  I have tried to honor Bory, and assuredly Mau, and Bory's other friends, this way within Trebuchet. https://www.the-trebuchet.org/ibo

Anya Parks

Anya Parks is a Ph.D. student studying the evolution of social communication in dogs and humans at George Washington University. She has a specific interest in the cognitive requirements for language, joint attention, teaching, and imitation learning. Anya explores these questions using interdisciplinary approaches that combine ecology and developmental, comparative psychology. 

Her favorite part of her work is helping her students. As an early career researcher, she is currently developing skills in R and Python coding languages, in addition to her extensive background in evolutionary, and behavioral ecology. She also has experience in website design and copywriting. In her free time, you’ll find her running, drawing, reading, or working with her furry friend, Stella.

I actually owe this new friendship to Remi, who first encountered Stella, Anya’s pup, in our Coolidge Park dog run. Remi is responsible for many lovely conversations with Anya, whose intelligence, warmth, and always fascinating conversations about human-dog relationships and dog-dog relationships reminded me of my encounters decades ago with Professor Michael Fox at Washington University St. Louis, an expert in behavioral and developmental animal studies. I reached out to him as the author of Understanding Your Dog, when I spent several wonderful years working with Bianca, my Samoyed rescue dog. 

Daniel Sonder

Daniel is married to Fabiana Sonder, an entrepreneur in the healthy food industry in Brazil. They live in HK with their 3 kids, Gabriela (15, volleyball), Andre (13, basketball) and Alice (9, gymnastics). The family moved to Hong Kong in 2022, when Daniel joined the Hong Kong Exchange as Chief Strategy Officer. This followed a nine year period at B3 (Brazilian Stock and Futures Exchange), where he was CFO and Investor Relations Officer. He joined B3 in 2013, and, in addition to his role as CFO, Daniel was responsible for overseeing its corporate philanthropy efforts. Previously, Daniel worked for seven years at Credit Suisse in Brazil, where his last position was as managing director in their asset management division. He has also worked for the Brazilian Development Bank and the Brazilian government in infrastructure finance and state-owned companies management. Daniel started his career at J.P.Morgan in 1999. He holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations from Tufts University as well as a master's degree in International Relations from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. As a sophomore at Tufts, Daniel was part of EPIIC 95/96 (Religion, Politics and Society), and later (2021) joined the IGL Advisory Board.

Daniel was a superb student in EPIIC. His clarity of thinking and intelligence was self-evident. Obviously not only in my class, but across the board in his academic career, to enter the Fletcher 5 year program was a distinct honor afforded to only two students a year. 

What was particularly delightful about him was his affect, which was at once modest and confident. Daniel’s initiative and competence was evident in his taking on one of the more responsible committees in our efforts, the Inquiry Secondary School Simulation Program, which hosted hundreds of highschool students who were prepared for a dynamic interaction over the course of three days.

His characteristic smile was always a reassuring one to his peers, from whom he easily won great respect. I gave Daniel the assignment to liaison with a very controversial speaker of that year, Leonardo Boff, the Brazilian liberation theologian who had been silenced by the Vatican for his criticism of the Catholic church. It was an obvious choice given both their Brazilian backgrounds, but really because I knew I could trust Daniel thoroughly. The campus was embroiled in the decision to bring Leonardo, which was endorsed by the University Chaplain Scotty McLennan. 

Daniel sat on the board of advisors at IGL and in April 2023 was invited to join the board of trustees of the Fletcher School by its chair and good friend, Leslie Puth.

Mahmood Attal

I am a twenty-eight-year-old Jordanian who has dedicated and invested the last 10 years of my life to become a successful licensed Tour and Adventure Guide in Jordan.   It all started when I was inspired to better my circumstances by a stranger who befriended me when I was working in a restaurant in Amman. It was Mike Niconchuk, your former student, something we learned in casual conversation. Sherman, you described this as Serendipity. 

I decided to study Tourism Management at The Hashemite University and graduated with a 3.33 GPA, placing me among the top 10 highest GPAs that year. 

To date, my academic background has concentrated on history, geology, politics, tourism development, sustainable tourism, and the natural world. A little bit about everything! But I’m very proud to say that I am the person today that I am because of all the self-education I’ve done to gain the proper knowledge and skills so I can prosper in my career, especially when it comes to my English language. It’s all self-taught.  

My passion for the natural world and the outdoors pushed me to take the extra mile, So I started to deepen my knowledge about the environment and geology, which led me eventually to have the urge and the motivation to join the forces mobilized against the negative impact of climate change.  

I am particularly very concerned about the critical water crisis in my country, Jordan. We have to be part of regional and global sustainability.  

I might not yet be a formally educated environmentalist, but I have the will and the motivation to commit to taking that curve in my career. 

I’ve begun by doing research about the academic organizations and experts in Jordan who are trying to make a change related to hydrology, sustainable development or climate change. 

Dr. Hussam Hussein is” Executive Director of partnerships for development at the Royal Scientific Society; a researcher and lecturer in water diplomacy, hydroponics, and management of water resources. The Royal Scientific Society works on many projects that are associated with renewable energy, climate change, and water sustainability in Jordan. 

WANA Institute is one of RSS's partners, they do excellent workshops and training in social justice, sustainable development, and human security. 

 Safa’ Al Jayoussi: She is a climate change expert, campaign adviser and Environmental Advocate, she also does some workshops and training for the public about climate change in the Arab World.  

I met Mahmood in Jordan. He was my assigned guide to explore Petra and Wadi Rum. He impressed me with his thorough knowledge of the region and the politics and society of Jordan. I had just crossed over from Israel, and it occasioned a number of candid conversations with him about the region and existing conflicts. When serendipity works, it really works. In one of my dinner conversations with him, I learned that he had been inspired, as he has written, by one of my wonderful former students to enroll in university as he did. That student was Mike Nikonchuk. Both of us in different periods of Mahmoods life were impressed by this young man, and what I learned of his real passion was to help his country solve its critical water dilemma, in pursuit of a sustainable future for his country, I checked with Peter Droege to confirm my desire to have him enter as a LEAP fellow to begin to pursue his investigations and further education on the matter. 

He is a thoughtful, non-polemical thinker whoI have agreed to directly mentor and will be introducing him to other members of Convisero’s network, including Boaz Wachtel, they both have common passions and interests about the future of the dead sea and regional water collaboration. I informed him of the work we have done previously with LISD and the Arava institute on alternative energy. 

Ron Rubin

Ron Rubin, Ph.D., has two driving philosophies that underlie his social and business efforts: first, to  help those underserved and “left-behind” by local and global governments and economies second to utilize technology to benefit as many people as possible. Dr. Rubin has founded or co-founded several companies and organizations, including the University of the Middle East Project, Rubin Anders Scientific, Boston Manufacturing Group, Therapy Gardens, and SeniorU. When he has time, he adjunct teaches graduate physics and math courses at universities in the Boston area. Formerly full-time on the mathematics faculty at MIT, Dr. Rubin received his PhD in physics from Harvard and his BA with highest honors in physics from Princeton. His work in science and education has been published in leading science journals and covered in The New York Times, the Boston Globe, Die Zeit, and El Pais. He is former Massachusetts State Squash Champion, and is now head coach of the Brookline High School Varsity Boys Squash Team, which won its division national championship in 2023.

I have begun a unique relationship with Ron. I had met him decades ago when he was a graduate student in physics at Harvard, when he was a founding member of the University of the Middle East- a truly innovative and unique concept of education that was disturbed by 9/11. 

Decades later, I have the privilege of working with one of his wonderful sons, David Rubin, and have begun to create a familiar familial relationship with the Rubins- fun interactions ranging from Shabbat dinner to watching David and Ron compete in the Parent-Child Massachusetts squash state championships. Ron played at Princeton. David now captains the squash team at Dartmouth. It is a nascent, intellectually stimulating conversation that has begun, ranging from middle eastern politics to an invitation to review Ron’s work of fiction, Unification, an epistolary correspondence between Einstein and his long-lost daughter. Ron has intriguingly offered the possibility to co-author a doomed romance embedded in contemporary Israeli and Iranian nuclear history intrigue. 

In Convisero fashion, I have asked Ron to potentially collaborate with Amir Grinstein on his 50:50 project given Ron’s entrepreneurial instinct and his prior initiatives.

The more we talk, the more we have found common ground. We both knew, admired, and cared deeply about Henry Rosovsky, and I have asked Ron to help me write his memoriam in the Trebuchet.

JJ Zhou

Zhuangchen Zhou, better known as "JJ", is a Community Manager at Ledger, a French cryptocurrency hardware wallet company. Prior to his venture into the world of technology, JJ was a rowing coach at the Chinese Olympic Rowing team, working with Western coaches such as Steve Redgrave and Paul Thompson to help Chinese rowers win Olympic gold medals.

JJ received his Certificate of Rowing Leadership from Community Rowing Inc. in 2017 after receiving his BA in International Relations from Tufts University in 2013. At Tufts, JJ was part of the Tufts University Rowing Team and joked that his full-time degree was in rowing, and his university major was his minor. 

JJ's intellectual interest is twofold - to connect with people and understand how the world works. His first curiosity brought him around the world - Russia, Kenya, Brazil, and Northwestern China to work on documentary photography projects under the guidance of Gary Knight,

 Samuel James, Heather Barry, and Sherman Teichman from the Institute of Global Leadership at Tufts University. His second curiosity pushed him to dive nose deep into political philosophy and studied the traditions of western political philosophy under professor

 Robert Devine. It was in this intense period that JJ sharpened his skill to understand complex ideas, see the world in thousand shades of gray, and formed a post-Christian, anti-nihilistic worldview heavily influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche. 

The combination of his interest and skills in storytelling and philosophy (and political economy to a certain extent) led JJ to Bitcoin, which he considers to be the soundest money in the world and could be part of the solution to economic issues caused by the domination of Keynesian Economics of the 20th century. 

I met JJ as a freshman who wanted to do a video documentary on the veterans of the Great March, uniquely both the Communists and the Nationalists.  I was struck by his intelligence, determination, and began a four year mentorship which culminated in his strong collaborations with the programs of The Program on Narrative Documentary Practice.  My last encounter with him at Tufts was a fun one, as we had many conversations as he helped me pack up the greater portion of the 10,000 volumes of my “Labyrinth,” dominantly my collection of personal books within the Institute Library. 

Then I came across this stunning and unusual accomplishment of endurance, which shocked me, but given his tenacity and powerful persona, did not surprise me. It's been my pleasure to introduce him to Convisero member, Alex Gladstein, who given his interest in Bitcoin, Alex had sent on this provoking article. 

Tamar Miller

Tamar Miller holds the distinction of creating and operating Out-of-the-Box portfolios for  social benefit organizations and institutions of higher learning. She is Project Lead for curriculum development for the Abdelkader Education Project and Project Lead for the Goldziher Prize for Journalists.. She teaches civic engagement and the politics of diversity. Her consulting practice ranges from working with the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, introducing Harvard and MIT faculty to meditation as a pedagogic practice; to crafting a parliamentary campaign in Kuwait; to strategic evaluations for the Fetzer Institute’s science and spirituality unit. Tamar was VP Education and one of three founders of American Higher Education, Inc. based in Cambridge, MA. She was also a Partner in Middle East Holdings, a business development firm in Boston and Dubai.

Beginning as Director of Leadership Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School, she then held the position of Executive Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East.  Tamar is advisor to Track Two: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy; on the board of directors of Combatants for Peace, the Parents’ Circle for Bereaved Israeli and Palestinian Families;  President of an organization dedicated to public art campaigns called “I Am Your Protector” and was on the founding board of the Alliance for Middle East Peace.  Tamar holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Judaic Studies, Master of Social Work from Yeshiva University, and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.  Just today, she found  inspiration from activists, academics, and peacemakers, thanks to Tova Hartman, Marshall Ganz, Malcolm Sparrow, Louise and Yahya Michot, Ari Goldman, Amitai Abouzaglo, Huda Abu Arqoub, Dulce and Michael Murphy, Baker Roshi, Dani Varadi, Aziz Abu Sarah, her three daughters and of course, Sherman Teichman.  

Mladen Mrdalj

Mladen Mrdalj received his PhD in Political Science at Northeastern University in 2015. He

taught Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Research Methods. His dissertation investigated significance of external factors in the dynamics of domestic political violence in the Yugoslav civil wars. The dissertation also attempted to deal with more theoretical questions, such as: how domestic actors differentiate between the official and actual positions of international actors, how are they trying to manipulate international actors, and what can we learn about conflict management by answering these questions.

Mladen earned his LLB and MA in Security Studies from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. He is an alumnus of The Fund for American Studies and Georgetown University’s summer programs in Prague as well as in Washington D.C., where he also interned at the Institute of World Politics.

Since 2010, Mladen has been actively involved in designing and leading the Dialogue of Civilizations program which introduces Northeastern students to the Western Balkans. In this Balkans Dialogue, students visit important institutions, sites, politicians and activists in the former Yugoslavia, and learn firsthand about ethno-nationalism, post-conflict reconstruction and EU accession. In addition to these activities, Mladen lectures on various aspects of conflict and politics in the post-Yugoslav space. In 2022, Mladen expanded his Dialogue of Civilizations work to Central Asia, taking Northeastern students to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Upon returning to Serbia in 2016, he worked at the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development, a think-tank ran by the former Serbian foreign affairs minister who

also served as the president of the UN General Assembly. In this capacity Mladen worked on studying Syrian migrants to Europe along the Balkan Route. Later on, he also worked on campaigns for the UN Secretary General and in presidential elections in Serbia.

Mladen returned to full time teaching in 2019, when he joined the International Burch University in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but already in the fall of 2020 he moved to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he joined Webster University. In parallel, Mladen is developing a full year study abroad opportunity in Belgrade (Serbia) for international students interested in Balkan politics and societies (www.balkansemester.org).

Since 2020 Mladen has regularly appeared in Serbian and regional TV and printed media, commenting on Serbian, regional, and international politics. You can find him on twitter @mladen_mrdalj

Join RefugePoint in celebrating World Refugee Day 2023 with a virtual 5K fundraiser!

Join RefugePoint in celebrating World Refugee Day 2023 with a virtual 5K fundraiser! Walk, run, swim, row, or bike—you can choose your own adventure while supporting refugees.

This event will take place between June 19 - 25, 2023, and you can participate from anywhere. By signing up today and starting a personal fundraiser, you can help us expand access to resettlement and self-reliance for refugees around the world.

Since 2005, RefugePoint has assisted over 120,000 refugees with a focus on those that are chronically underserved by traditional humanitarian responses. In the last year alone, we've advanced programs for unaccompanied children, those stuck indefinitely in limbo, and launched a Traineeship Program to train new experts in refugee resettlement casework around the world. 

Register for our virtual 5K today to support the necessary programs that assist refugees facing extreme vulnerabilities and amplify their stories. Want to donate instead? You can still do so by clicking below!

Register Today

Are you interested in gaining complimentary entry? Donate or fundraise $250 or more, and we'll waive your entrance fee! All U.S. participants who register by May 25th will also receive a RefugePoint T-shirt. Rock your awesome new gear and tag us on social media while doing so.

Sincerely,
Sarah Hidey
Chief Development Officer

The VII Foundation has acquired VII Photo Agency

The VII Foundation has acquired VII Photo Agency, making it one of the pillars of the foundation instead of being a separate entity. In addition to VII Photo, The VII Foundation comprises VII Academy, VII Insider, and VII Community. Our new website now hosts the entire non-profit VII ecosystem.
 
With The VII Foundation becoming the guardian of VII Photo’s rich legacy, the veracity and authenticity inherent in the work of the VII photographers will have broader reach, accessibility, and impact through the foundation’s advocacy and educational programming. As we confront a new age of image artifice when the line between fiction and non-fiction is being eroded, this need has never been greater. 
 
The VII Foundation’s mission is to transform visual journalism by empowering new voices and creating stories that advocate change. In a world where beliefs and actions are increasingly out-of-sync with facts and realities, transforming visual journalism is an urgent task. Our work begins with the programs of VII Academy, the educational wing of the foundation that provides tuition-free courses in visual journalism to practitioners in the Majority World and underrepresented communities in G20 countries. VII Academy aims to democratize the information narrative and give communities the tools to narrate their own stories in regions where media education is poorly resourced.
 
Complementing our core educational programs are two platforms: VII Insider, a free online space for public debate and discussion of visual journalism, and VII Community, designed to further tuition-free media education and foster exciting opportunities for our VII Academy alumni. 
 
The VII name is synonymous with courageous and impactful photojournalism. In 2001 the dawn of the digital era enabled the creation of VII. It allowed it to innovate and thrive during the aftermath of 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, and the chaos that followed as the narrative of a new century was written.
 
VII was created to enhance the careers of its members, to allow them to work on stories that mattered, have an impact in partnership with the world’s leading press, and create new opportunities they could not imagine alone. 
 
The digital revolution that enabled the photographers to build VII Photo also precipitated an undeniable loss in revenue for their media clients. Out of this anticipation, the VII Foundation was created at the same time to innovate and lead in the non-profit space. With its inception came more opportunities for the VII Photo photographers to work on ambitious stories in partnership with writers, filmmakers, and other leading practitioners and advance their efforts to mentor and educate younger photographers. 

Photo agencies and the press have less impact and influence on the production of visual journalism and a decreasing capacity to support the ambition of photographers than they used to. Photojournalism means taking risks; it requires initiative, resourcefulness, empathy, and courage. It also requires collaboration, trust, imagination, and partnership. Independent photo agencies and editors in the leading press were once essential to the life of a photojournalist. Today, the press has fewer resources to deploy independent photographers, and photo agencies survive by selling photographs by the kilogram.  

Through this acquisition, The VII Foundation will preserve the values the VII Photo founders laid out twenty years ago. Collectively and unanimously, the VII photographers believe the work of The VII Foundation and its ecosystem embodies what VII Photo set out to achieve – focusing on stories that matter and training and mentoring the next generation - and is now the appropriate structure for the future. We will continue to innovate, educate, and transform visual journalism as we embrace the next chapter in our development. 
 
Arles, France,
3rd May, 2023

The VII Foundation

Refugee Point Bulletin - April

A monthly bulletin featuring RefugePoint news, client and staff updates, and events.

New Look: Same RefugePoint

You might have noticed that RefugePoint looks a little different. While there were a variety of reasons that we wanted to update our logo and branding, the driving force was that our previous logo featured an image shaped like a life preserver, which aligned with our former tagline, “A Lifeline For Forgotten Refugees.”

RefugePoint recognizes that colonialism and systemic racism are embedded in the field of refugee response, and in recent years we have recommitted to active anti-racist and anti-colonialist practices and efforts. Over time, it became clear that this tagline no longer accurately represented RefugePoint. In an effort to fully respect the dignity, autonomy, and agency of the refugees we serve, we phased out the old tagline in 2021. With our updated logo, we have now eliminated that visual representation of the former tagline. Visit our website to see more.

Client Story: Mohamed

At the age of two, Mohamed’s family was forced to flee their home in Somalia due to political instability and famine. Mohamed grew up in Dadaab Ifo Refugee Camp in Kenya, where he went to school and began dreaming of a career in health care. After years of studying, he became a Clinical Officer, working in private hospitals throughout Kenya. 

In 2019, Mohamed learned about the Economic Mobility Pathways Project through RefugePoint, which connects refugees with the right skills, education, and language abilities with employers looking to fill job vacancies in Canada. Last year, he was offered a job through the program, and in September, Mohamed traveled to Canada to begin working in a long-term care facility in Nova Scotia. Read the rest of Mohamed’s story here.

Mohamed at RefugePoint’s Nairobi office before departing for Canada.

Conversations: Discussing Refugee Issues with Senator Cory Booker

From Sasha Chanoff, RefugePoint CEO: It was great to spend time with Senator Cory Booker on Friday and his Chief of Staff Veronica Duron and State Director Hanna Mori and talk to them about refugee issues. I appreciated hearing Senator Booker's thoughts on how to build bridges in America.

He has visited Afghan evacuees on military bases in the U.S., and also called on President Biden to increase the refugee resettlement ceiling from 15K during the Trump administration to 125K. He was interested in hearing about refugee issues broadly, including the new Welcome Corps private sponsorship program that enables Americans to form groups and sponsor refugees from overseas to resettle in the U.S.

I shared that private sponsorship of refugees increases Democratic and Republican interest in refugee resettlement significantly and helps to reaffirm a badly eroded sense of common purpose in America. I came away from the meeting feeling grateful for Senator Booker's support for refugees and inspired by his ideas around unifying messages.

Senator Cory Booker (left) with RefugePoint CEO Sasha Chanoff (right).

Spin the Globe: RP Staff in Bangladesh 

Last month, RefugePoint staff visited Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh with ICMC and Danish Refugee Council to learn more about the work our Experts are doing to support Rohingya refugees.

There are about one million Rohingya refugees and persons of concern living in Cox’s Bazar, many of whom have been there for decades. As Myanmar’s political situation remains tumultuous, and Rohingyas continue to be persecuted in Myanmar, there continues to be a need for long-term solutions. Our staff there are working to identify refugees and submit their cases for resettlement. See where else we're working across the globe.

Staff from RefugePoint, Danish Refugee Council, and ICMC in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

Recommended Reading: The roots of the refugee protection system are colonial and racist

“We need a movement where refugees lead the way, while true allies ensure that they are not taking power and agency away from people in the name of empowering them.”

Sana Mustafa, CEO of Asylum Access, has experienced colonialism and white supremacy firrst-hand, both as a displaced person in the U.S. and as a leading executive in our field. In her powerful article, Sana explains how colonialism and white supremacy are deeply embedded in the global refugee protection system and steps those working in the system must take to move forward. Read Sana's piece here.

Graphic: Ramiro Zardoya / Cartoon Movement

Recent Events: Skoll World Forum

Over $30 billion/year is spent on humanitarian aid, yet recipients have virtually no say in its use— a fact that perpetuates inequality. Last week, RefugePoint’s CEO Sasha Chanoff led a conversation at the Skoll World Forum, which explored how we can build systems of support that are more equitable, informed and led by people with lived experience. 

Each year, the Forum brings together thought leaders, development practitioners, and philanthropists to address major challenges confronting the world. As forced displacement increases globally, centering refugee and community voices is vital, and we must ensure these conversations lead to action.

We’re Hiring!

RefugePoint is seeking experienced and passionate individuals for a number of positions across the globe. Take a look at our open positions:

Deputy Country Director, Kenya

Locum Community Navigator, Kenya

Technical Consultant - Market Systems Development Task Team, Boston

See our full list of open positions here.