International Studies Rounds Out Year with Lecture and Awards

The International Studies program capped off the 2016-2017 academic year with awards for faculty, staff and students who live SLU’s mission at home and abroad. It also welcomed human rights activist Thor Halvorssen as the speaker at its annual Garcia Lecture for a talk titled “Dictatorship: The Root of All Evil.”

The 11th Annual Paul Garcia Lecture in International Studies was held April 18 at the Center for Global Citizenship. The Center for International Studies, Center for Intercultural Studies, the Center for Global Citizenship, the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the Film Studies program and the Department of Political Science co-sponsored the talk.

Halvorssen, a Venezuelan-born human rights advocate and film producer, began his activist career by organizing opposition to South African apartheid while growing up in London. He became a full-time advocate for due process and individual rights after his father became a political prisoner in Venezuela. Following his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, he would go on to found the Human Rights Foundation after his mother was shot and wounded during a peaceful protest, also in Venezuela, in 2004. In 2009, Halvorssen founded the Oslo Freedom Forum which meets annually in Oslo, Norway, to become an internationally known support for human rights activists.

In addition to his organizing work, Halvorssen is an award-winning film producer. His credits include Hammer & Tickle, Freedom’s Fury, Indoctrinate U, The Singing Revolution, The Sugar Babies, and 2081.

Following the lecture, SLU students had the opportunity to ask Halvorssen questions about his work and current international human rights issues.

Prior to Halvorssen’s lecture, the International Studies program honored members of the SLU community who share in the innovative and daring spirit of Johann Grueber, an early Jesuit, who made and recorded the first overland trek from China to India by a European, and for advancing the international and global mission of Saint Louis University.

The 2017 Grueber Award winners included:

• Ajlina Karamehic-Muratovic, Ph.D., assistant professor of Sociology. A native of Bosnia, she has been making outstanding contributions to internationalization through her work with the over 70,000 strong local Bosnian community – most of them refugees or their children. Her research has focused on mental health care systems in immigrant communities and the consequences of multi-generational trauma. Karamehic-Muratovic is an affiliate faculty member of the Center for International Studies, has helped teach globalization courses and traveled to Mumbai, India to lecture and conduct research.
• Lori Turner Corzine, administrative secretary in the Center for International Studies. Corzine has been a key to the success of International Studies at SLU since she came on board over two years ago. A talented singer, she has become a favorite at Atlas Week concerts. Corzine has supported hundreds of students, faculty and visitors to campus behind the scenes. She is a member of the SLU Bicentennial committee and Staff Advisory Committee. Corzine has helped bring many of the program’s events, including conferences, together.
• Rosemary Bornstein, undergraduate student. Bornstein arrived on SLU’s campus already internationally-oriented and speaking Romanian – courtesy of a gap year abroad.  She will graduate summa cum laude with triple majors in Public Health, French, and International Studies.  After spending a full year in Lyon, France, she was placed in a competitive summer internship program administered by the U.S. State Department. Bornstein’s internship was in the US Embassy in Luxembourg, where she staffed a visit by Secretary of State John Kerry on his visit. She is the co-president of Sigma Iota Rho, the International Studies honor society, winner of the Spirit of the Billiken Award and the James Collins Award.  Bornstein will soon start work at the Saint Louis Art Museum following graduation.
• Samuel Shreve, undergraduate student. Shreve is an International Studies major in combination with majors in Public Health and Italian. He studied in Bologna, Italy, and has traveled to Cuba to study the health care system. Shreve has also participated in an international youth leadership congress in Thailand. He completed an internship in his native Kansas City working with urban immigrant farming communities and food security.  On campus, he is co-president of Sigma Iota Rho and is one of SLU’s four Fulbright Award winners this year. He plans to study in Italy following graduation.

In addition to the Garcia Lecture and Grueber Award presentations, the department’s honor society, Sigma Iota Rho, inducted new students as members April 25 during a ceremony at the Center for Global Citizenship.

"This ceremony is a really nice way to recognize the outstanding achievements of the impressively diverse and talented students in the International Studies program," David Borgmeyer, Ph.D., said. Borgmeyer is the SLU chapter's advisor as well as director and assistant professor in the Center for International Studies.

The students inducted into the SLU chapter were:

• Hannah Gilroy
• Erin Morris
• Shelby Zima
• Tiffany Light
• Rachel Harper
• Molly Meer
• Rebecca Swick
• Melissa Danly
• Carly Spurlock

The students inducted from SLU Madrid were:

• Anna Castellanos
• Susana Fernandez
• Mary Kate Fitzpatrick
• Izabel Trizlova

Sigma Iota Rho was founded in 1984 to "promote and reward scholarship and service among students and practitioners of international studies," and "to foster integrity and creative performance in the conduct of world affairs." The SLU chapter was launched by the students and faculty of the Center for International Studies in March 2013, joining more than 110 chapters worldwide.

To learn more about the International Studies program at SLU, visit the Center for International Studies.