In 2019, during Ghana’s “Year of the Return”, a national program of Diaspora Engagement, bearing a letter of recommendation from the Deputy Chair of the African Union, endorsing my work on the “RMDI Project”, I obtained an appointment to meet with HE President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – with the objective of assessing how the RMDI might integrate into the “Year of the Return” framework and objectives.

The RMDI (Retirement Migration Development Intervention) is an Enterprise Systems Engineering construct designed to channel the knowledge, human, and social capital of inbound cohorts of retirees into an agenda of high-leverage development focused entrepreneurial network partnership.

This presentation will provide a high-level walkthrough of the RMDI Enterprise Architecture and provide an overview of my experiences and interactions at the African Union HQ and at the Jubilee House in Ghana. The intention is to share the challenges associated with communicating the design and nuances of a novel and complex development intervention architecture and to share lessons learned and future research.

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMsd-GtqTwiE90v8J_jtnaK3bS9aN…

The Africana Studies & Research Center (ASRC) at Cornell University will host a lecture by Meagan Sylvester: People Power Movements in Caribbean Festival Culture

Meagan Sylvester, - Senior Lecturer, Music Sociologist, Author, Researcher.

Meagan Sylvester is a published author from the Caribbean twin island of Trinidad and Tobago. She is a UWI, St. Augustine graduate and a Caribbean scholar whose doctoral research focused on Narratives of Resistance in Calypso and Ragga Soca music. Her continuing interrogation within the academy centers on Music, Gender, and National Identity in Calypso and Soca, Music of Diasporic Carnivals, Narratives of Resistance in Calypso and Ragga Soca music, Steelpan and kaisoJazz musical identities. Teaching and research interests are Caribbean Music Cultures and African Diaspora Popular Culture.

Registration is required:

https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIvf--hrjwuG9UNU8OxHGrUUBkjqH…

Issues in African Development Seminar Series examines critical concerns in contemporary Africa using a different theme each semester. The seminars provide a forum for participants to explore alternative perspectives and exchange ideas. They are also a focal activity for students and faculty interested in African development. In addition, prepares students for higher level courses on African economic, social and political development. The presentations are designed for students who are interested in development, Africa’s place in global studies, want to know about the peoples, cultures and societies that call Africa home, and explore development theories and alternate viewpoints on development. -

A discussion with CATO's Doug Bandow and Prof. Sarah Kreps.

Afghan refugees have long comprised the largest or second-largest group of refugees in the world, and the number of Afghans seeking safety outside Afghanistan increased dramatically even before the U.S. government's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Betsy Fisher, Director of Strategy at International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), will discuss why U.S. immigration programs and international refugee protection systems failed to achieve their goals, and policy solutions to improve them.

The event will be hosted by Professor Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer.

The event will occur virtually via Zoom. You can register for the event at this link: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dxaGG1BvS3eEQUGAjUBD9Q

Betsy Fisher is the Director of Strategy at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). She coordinates IRAP’s efforts to screen potential clients, represent refugees in UNHCR proceedings, and provide self-help materials to refugees and displaced people. She previously served as IRAP’s policy director, Jordan staff attorney and intake coordinator based in Amman, Jordan. Betsy has published op-eds and academic articles about statelessness and refugee resettlement in publications like the New York Times and the Michigan Law Review.

Betsy is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, and Denison University.

Cornell's Migrations initiative is hosting the Migration as Practice: Pedagogy Workshop. Designed for faculty and instructors, the workshop will focus on specific strategies for designing inclusive and reflective pedagogy with transformative outcomes. It will also provide training on how to codevelop curriculum in partnership with community organizations, with sustainable and mutually beneficial outcomes for all participants involved.

Reflective pedagogy engages in an exercise of dedicating time to evaluate teaching practice, examine curricular choices and underlying beliefs/biases, consider student feedback, and revise in order to improve student learning and belonging. The panelists will lead us to consider how we as faculty make connections between and teach about racism, dispossession, and migration in interdisciplinary, innovative, and impactful ways.

Panelists include:

Melina Ivanchikova, Associate Director, Center for Teaching InnovationAmy K. Somchanhmavong, Associate Director, Service-Learning and Partnership, Public Service CenterModerated by:

Rachel Beatty Riedl, Director, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies; John S. Knight Professor of International Studies