Stanford’s reach has always been global, and last week it really flexed its international muscle. On Aug. 4, just after American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were pardoned by the North Korean government with the help of former President (and former Stanford dad) Bill Clinton, the Korean Central News Agency released this photo via the Korean News Service and the Associated Press of Clinton seated next to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Also in the photo were former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta and several “unidentified” individuals. One of those unnamed members of the delegation (standing next to the lone woman in the photo) was DAVID STRAUB, associate director of the Korean Studies Program in the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center (APARC).
Former President Bill Clinton, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il seated. Standing behind, second from the right is David Straub, associate director of the Korean Studies Program in the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center. (Photograph: Korean News Service via the Associated Press)
… And while Straub, SIEGFRIED HECKER, co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and DANIEL SNEIDER, associate director for research at APARC, were weighing in on North Korea, PRIYA SATIA, assistant professor of history and an expert on modern British history, was calling for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in an op-ed published by the Financial Times, her third opinion piece in the FT since May. Satia also was quoted last week in the Toronto National Post on the significance of the death of Harry Patch, the last surviving First World War veteran, who died last month at the age of 111. Earlier this year, Satia participated in a workshop given by The OpEd Project and hosted on campus by the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research.
… In a ceremony last Thursday at the Hoover Institution, Director JOHN RAISIAN and historian ROBERT CONQUEST, a Hoover research fellow, were honored by the Republic of Poland for their contributions to that country. Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s minister of foreign affairs, presented Raisian with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit and Conquest with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit. RICHARD SOUSA, director of the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, was presented with the plaque of Amicus Poloniae (Friend of Poland) in recognition of his commitment to Polish concerns in the United States. “The Hoover Institution is deeply touched to receive such a distinguished honor and we’re proud to have the largest research collection on 20th-century Poland outside the country,” said Raisian, who is marking his 20th anniversary as director of the Hoover Institution this year.
… UMRAN INAN, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford, has been named the fourth president of Koç University in Turkey. Inan, who is director of the Space, Telecommunications and Radioscience (STAR) Laboratory and heads the Very Low Frequency Group, will take a leave from Stanford and begin his appointment in Istanbul this fall.
… Developing a new generation of global citizens is the theme of a two-day conference over which the Dalai Lama will preside in Washington, D.C., this fall. School of Education Professor LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND and Professors Emeriti NEL NODDINGS and LEE SHULMAN will be among the featured speakers at the event, titled Educating World Citizens for the 21st Century.
