In the months right after the February 1st military coup in Myanmar, a PhD student initiated a conversation with Cornell’s Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) faculty and staff about how they could help at-risk scholars come to Cornell for safety, and to participate in SEAP. Drawing on Title VI, National Resource Center funding from the Department of Education, SEAP, and other Cornell academic programs, assisted four at-risk, scholars, activists, and artists, along with their families, to find visiting fellow positions at Cornell. Thamora Fishel, Associate Director of SEAP, described this process in an interview with East-West Center Young Professional Drake Avila. One of these dissidents is May Sabe Phyu, co-founder of the Gender Equality Network (GEN), and prominent human and women's rights activist.

Eswar Prasad, a trade professor at Cornell who studies the digitization of currencies, said Treasury’s report “takes a positive view about how a digital dollar might play a useful role in increasing payment options for individuals and businesses” while acknowledging the risks of its development.

September 15–17: Kaushik Basu, Einaudi, and Cornell's Department of Economics welcome economists from around the world. Find out how to attend.

“The Bitcoin experiment is working as well as one might have expected – which is not too well,” said Eswar Prasad, senior professor of trade policy. 

Eswar Prasad, senior professor of trade policy, appears on this podcast to discuss the evolution of money. 

“The short answer to the question of debt forgiveness is that it all comes down to politics: which groups are favored by elite lawmakers, and which groups are less favored,” says Bob Hockett, professor of law, who supports Biden’s policy. “Student debt forgiveness is a relatively rare instance where we are getting debt forgiveness for average people.”

Eswar Prasad, professor of applied economics and policy, says, “It’s a market for certain U.S. exports, such as agricultural products, but also, consumer goods that actually come through China do have technology from Taiwan. Taiwan also exports directly to the U.S.” 

“People in emerging markets have always found ways to move their capital out of the country to seek a more stable currency,” says Sarah Krepps, professor of government and public policy. 

The ideas of “giving up on fighting tooth and nail” for an increasingly elusive reward has grown in appeal for young Chinese citizens, says Eli Friedman, associate professor in the ILR School.

The consortium for Graduate Education and Training in Southeast Asian Studies (GETSEA) is offering one free and virtual mini-courses this fall, open to all graduate students studying Southeast Asia!

The Geography of Disease and Health in Southeast Asia

Taught by James Wilson, Northern Illinois University

Offered virtually from October 10 to November 14, 2022, Mondays, 8:00pm-10:00pm Eastern Time.

Full syllabus available here.

Apply here.

Application deadline: September 16

This course does not offer credit, though students are encouraged to work with a faculty member at their own institution to count a course as independent study credit. Priority will be given to M.A. and PhD students from GETSEA member institutions but students from all institutions are welcome to apply. These courses entail a workload of equivalent to roughly one credit. Only those committed to completing all aspects of courses should apply. 

Note that all classes will be conducted synchronously via videoconference. Please take your local time zone into consideration.

We do not offer an option to audit GETSEA mini-courses. Whether or not you seek credit at your own institution, we expect all participants to complete all readings, complete all assignments, and attend all classes.