Welcome to the School of Policy and International Affairs

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you, whether you are a student, staff, faculty or visitor, and to invite you to browse our web site for programs and offerings of our School.  This website aims to give you an overview of activities sponsored and initiated by SPIA, including conference programs and special events.  SPIA also brings together faculty across campus in interdisciplinary mode to advance research and education on issues of critical importance in today’s global society.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

February 6, 2012
Topic: Lessons From the “Reconstruction” of Iraq
Speaker: Mr. Peter Van Buren, Fmr. State Department Iraq PRT leader; Author, ‘We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People‘
Location: D.P. Corbett Business Building, Rm. 107
Time: 4:00 PM
[Disclaimer: Mr. Van Buren's views will be  solely expressed in his capacity as a private citizen and will not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense, or any other entity of the U.S. Government. His remarks will not have been approved, endorsed, or authorized by The Department of State.]

April 19, 2012
Topic: Developments in Egypt
Speaker: Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Founder, Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies
Location: Little Hall, Rm. 140
Time: 4:00 PM

RECENT EVENTS:

December 5, 2011
Topic: Careers with the U.S. Department of State
Speaker: Mr. Kenneth MacLean Hillas, Jr., Senior Foreign Service Officer

November 17, 2011
The 2011 Cohen Lecture: “The Arab Spring”
Speaker: General James L. Jones, USMC (Ret), Former National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama

November 7, 2011 – “The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class”
Speaker: Dr Guy Standing, Professor of Economic Security, University of Bath (UK); and Co-President, Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN)

October 3, 2011 – “The Arab Spring as Seen from Israel”
Speaker: Mr. Yossi Alpher, Co-editor of the bitterlemons family of internet publications, and former Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel concentrating on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process

October 2, 2011 – “A View from Abu Dhabi: Challenging Perceptions”
An exhibition of photographs presented by several SPIA students.  Opening Talks by Ms. Jenan Jondy, Outreach Coordinator, Islamic Center of Maine; and Mr. Mohamed Al-Ansari, Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR).  Discussion and reception to follow.

May 16-17, 2011 “Islam and the West: a Civilized Dialogue”
Conference sponsored by the The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), in cooperation with SPIA and the University of Maine.
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE   (Program)
Media Coverage: – ‘Work needed’ to extend dialogue between Islam and the West (The National, 18 May 2011)
- Palestine can bridge cultures, experts say (Gulfnews.com, 19 May 2011)

Going Global offers access to international career resources including world-wide job openings, internship listings, industry profiles, and country-specific career information.

Students and alumni may access Going Global through CareerLink!

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT:
- Professor Jonathan Rubin, a SPIA Co-operating Faculty member, to Work in Africa as Fulbright Scholar. See here for article.

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP by Cooperating Faculty:

Aria Amirbahman (In Press), and I.J. Fernandez, “The Role of Soils in Storage and Cycling of Mercury,” in M.S. Bank (Ed.), Mercury in the Environment: Pattern and Process,University of California Press, Berkeley.

Elizabeth DePoy and Stephen Gilson (In Press).  ”Designing University Techscapes: An Inter-organizational Universal Design Collaboration to Advance Equality of Participation in University Organizations.”   In J. Salmons and L. Wilson (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Electronic Collaboration and Organizational Synergy.

Teresa Johnson (2010).  ”Cooperative Research and Knowledge Flow in the Marine Commons: Lessons from the Northeast United States.” International Journal of the Commons, 4(1):251-272.

Laura Lindenfeld (2010).  ”Can documentary food films like Food Inc. achieve their promise? Environmental Communication.” A Journal of Nature and Culture, Vol. 4, Issue 3, 378 – 386.

Ivan Manev & Manolova, T. S. (2010).  ”Entrepreneurship in Transitional Economies: Review and Integration of Two Decades of Research.”  Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 15(1): 69-99.

Mahowald, N., Kloster, S., Engelstaedter, S., Moore, J.K., Mukhopadhyay, S., McConnell, J., A;bani, S., Doney, S., Bhattacharya, A., Curran, M., Flanner, M., Hoffman, Lawrence, F., Lindsay, K., Paul Mayewski, Neff, J., Rothenberg, D., Thomas, E., Thornton, P., and Zender, C., (2010).  ”Observed 20th Century Desert Dust Changes: Implications for Climate and Biogeochemistry,” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions 10, 12585-12628.

Henry Munson (2010).  ”Fundamentalism.”  In The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion, revised edition, ed. John Hinnells (London: Routledge).

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP by Cooperating Scholars:

Ken Conca and Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Eds. 2010.  Green Planet Blues: Four Decades of Global Environmental Politics. (Boulder, CO: Westview).

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP by Advisory Board:

Bruce Riedel, 2011.  Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad. (Washington, D.C.: Brookings).