• promote knowledge and understanding of both topical, and enduring, international and global issues amongst students, staff and the community served by UMD;
• provide accessible seminars, public lectures and conferences on international issues in ways likely to promote international understanding, enhance democratic discussion, negotiation and reconciliation;
• articulate international issues and any domestic implications in ways that help further discussion nationally and locally;
• act as a shared community resource, on issues relating to international studies, with the wider community served by UMD.

 "The role of the Alworth Institute is to create an academic and social space for the public discussion of a whole range of international issues currently under-reported in the media. We supply the information and the opportunities to discuss; you make up your own mind on where you stand."

Dr. W. Henderson
Director of the Alworth Institute

Latest News :

Some Alworth Institute International Lectures may now be heard on KUMD radio at 7:00 p.m. on every other Monday evening, opposite the Duluth City Council meetings. Listen on November 2, 2009 for "The Declining Prestige of Fiction in the United Kingdom," presented by Dr. John Constable, Director of Policy and Research, The Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), London & former Professor of English Literature, Magdalene College; and, on November 16, 2009 for "Humanitarian Intervention in Darfur & Gaza", by Dr. Ramon Das, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. On November 30, 2009, "Extremist Rehabilitation in Saudi Arabia"
by Dr. Christopher Boucek, Associate, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, will air. Check the list of Alworth Institute programs for information on these broadcasts or go to - www.kumd.org.

WorldQuest (an international trivia competition) took place on the night of the February 26, 2009.  Thirteen teams registered and took part in the competition.  Teams were varied in composition and included members of community groups, the business community, students and international students at UMD, a team from the College of St. Scholastica and a team that traveled from Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada.   The event, run in cooperation with the Minnesota International Center, was a great success. 

Recent web logs: Most recent web logs include "The UK political crisis" and "David Hume, the 18th century Scottish philosopher, and Iran" by Dr. William Henderson, Alworth Insitute Director. Also, Dr. Khalil Dokhanchi, Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin Superior, has written a guest web log entitled, "Making Sense of the 2009 Iranian Elections."

Staff Activities:

Dr. Henderson's research paper on the early 19th century French political economist, Charles Ganilh, who was influenced by Adam Smith, was published in the Journal of the History of Economic Thought Volume 30, Number 4, December 2008.

On Wednesday 11th. March, Dr. Henderson joined a Ph.D. jury in Lisbon, Portugal, for his student Luis Francisco Carvalho. The jury was held at the Instituto Superior De Ciencias Trabalho E Da Empresa (ISCTE), a distinguished social science institute. The thesis, on John Ruskin's social and economic thought and social criticism, was successfully defended in English before a significant committee of distinguished Portuguese academics.

On Monday 16th. March, Drs. Henderson and Carvalho gave a well-attended joint seminar at the University of Coimbra (Portugal's oldest University) on John Ruskin's notions of economic and social sustainability.

Fellowship Fund: Two scholars from the Institute for International Studies at the University of Wroclaw have completed their visits to the University of Minnesota Duluth as Alworth Institute International Fellows. Dr. Elżbieta Stadtmüller was the first fellow and during the month of April 2008 she gave three very-well attended and well-received public lectures (summaries of these lectures are available on the web log) and made twelve class visits as guest lecturer. The 2009 fellow was Dr. Marek Wróblewski. Dr. Wróblewski also gave three successful lectures, wrote web log summaries of those lectures (see web log), and was a guest lecturer in many classes.

The 2010 fellow is Dr. Oktay Tanrisever, an expert on Turkey's relations with Russia and Central Asia, from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He will give three public lectures throughout the month of April 2010.

For more information about the Fellowship go to Fellowship Registration.

A Fellowship Fund to provide ongoing support for the Alworth Institute's International Fellow has been established. If you wish to contribute in order to sustain this program, please contact Adam S. Meyer at 218-726-6708.

 

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