Following graduation, Verity Norman started working as the Program Development Manager at Boston University's African Presidential Center. The Center was founded by former U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, Charles R. Stith, and is a research and archive hub that tracks, documents, and supports democracy and development in 16 African countries, including Verity's home of South Africa. Amongst the various Center programs, most notable are (i) annual publication of the African Leaders State of Africa Report, which includes submissions from all current Presidents of the 16 countries tracked by the Center, and (ii) the annual African Presidential Roundtable, a policy meeting of 200+ former heads of state, students, faculty, and public- and private-sector leaders. This year's Roundtable will be hosted in Johannesburg from May 23-25.
Another major program at the Center is the BU President-in-Residence. President Rupiah Banda, former president of Zambia, recently accepted this position for 2012 and will lecture at universities across the U.S. and Africa. On the left is a photo of Verity with President Banda on his first day in the U.S. Verity brought President Banda to UMass in early May where he made a public presentation and visited Jacqi Mosselson's Cultural Studies class at CIE. Please check out the African Presidential Center's Facebook page. [5-12]
After graduating from CIE in February 2012 I returned to my former position at the Office of the European Union Representative West Bank and Gaza Strip, where I am currently working on the design of a basic infrastructure and land rehabilitation and development program. In this place on Earth development is inextricably interwoven with politics. This makes the work interesting but also very challenging.
I was thrilled to discover when I came back that there is a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program offered in Jerusalem. I had focused my thesis on the use of contemplative techniques in education and was keen to learn and experience a set of different mindfulness practices. Contemplative education is a new field of research with a growing body of evidence that suggests that teaching contemplative practices in schools is an immensely valuable development for education. Those practices are improving learning by developing resilience to stress, enhancing attention and awareness, supporting emotional regulation and increasing wellbeing. The MBSR program proves to be very useful for my research interest and I am currently exploring the paths to become a Mindfulness trainer. [3-12]
After completing her dissertation, Lauren accepted a position with World Learning as Executive Director of the International Honors Program and Custom Programs for SIT. She will be based in Brattleboro, and will lead an initiative to integrate the comparative (multi-country) programs of IHP with SIT study abroad, as well as design immersive programs with specific curricular content for U.S. universities. Lauren will be working with Phil Mangis, another recent CIE graduate, and looks forward to calling on fellow alumni for their in-country expertise and impromptu reunions during site visits! [9-11]
After completing my doctorate, I worked at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts as an adjunct faculty in the fall of 2010, teaching a graduate course in development theory. I continued at Clark in spring 2011 and facilitated a graduate seminar on project management for social change. During this time (spring) I also returned briefly to CIE for a second stint to work on an extension to the Afghanistan Higher Education project. For the academic year 2011/2012, I will be working full-time as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of International Development, Community and Environment at Clark University. I often see David Bell who is now a faculty colleague at Clark. I continue my research interest in Caribbean development issues and recently published a paper on "Jamaica’s Policy Discourse in the Age of Globalization: Framing Education as (Private) Investment." [10-11]
Following graduation, Verity Norman started working as the Program Development Manager at Boston University's African Presidential Center. The Center was founded by former U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, Charles R. Stith, and is a research and archive hub that tracks, documents, and supports democracy and development in 16 African countries, including Verity's home of South Africa. Amongst the various Center programs, most notable are (i) annual publication of the African Leaders State of Africa Report, which includes submissions from all current Presidents of the 16 count
ries tracked by the Center, and (ii) the annual African Presidential Roundtable, a policy meeting of 200+ former heads of state, students, faculty, and public- and private-sector leaders. This year's Roundtable will be hosted in Johannesburg from May 23-25.
rehabilitation and development program. In this place on Earth development is inextricably interwoven with politics. This makes the work interesting but also very challenging.
After completing her dissertation, Lauren accepted a position with World Learning as Executive Director of the International Honors Program and Custom Programs for SIT. She will be based in Brattleboro, and will lead an initiative to integrate the comparative (multi-country) programs of IHP with SIT study abroad, as well as design immersive programs with specific curricular content for U.S. universities. Lauren will be working with Phil Mangis, another recent CIE graduate, and looks forward to calling on fellow alumni for their in-country expertise and impromptu reunions during site visits! [9-11]
2010, teaching a graduate course in development theory. I continued at Clark in spring 2011 and facilitated a graduate seminar on project management for social change. During this time (spring) I also returned briefly to CIE for a second stint to work on an extension to the Afghanistan Higher Education project. For the academic year 2011/2012, I will be working full-time as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of International Development, Community and Environment at Clark University. I often see David Bell who is now a faculty colleague at Clark. I continue my research interest in Caribbean development issues and recently published a paper on "Jamaica’s Policy Discourse in the Age of Globalization: Framing Education as (Private) Investment." [10-11]