Constitutional Convention

For TPANners in the Bay Area, you might be interested in a conversation to include human rights in the US constitution hosted by Sociologists Without Borders. Registration is $15-30 sliding scale. View the post on my website for more info.

sign petition for secretary of education

Please sign this petition and help us convince Barack Obama to nomintate Linda Darling-Hammond to the position of Secretary of Education so we can finally improve our schools!

To: President-Elect Barack Obama
Given the dreadful direction our public schools are headed under the No Child Left Behind Act and the importance of education to the future of our country, we the undersigned respectfully request that President-Elect Barak Obama nominate Linda Darling-Hammond as the United States Secretary of Education.

Linda Darling-Hammond is Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University where she has launched the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute and the School Redesign Network. She has also served as faculty sponsor for the Stanford Teacher Education Program. She is a former president of the American Educational Research Association and member of the National Academy of Education. Her research, teaching, and policy work focus on issues of school restructuring, teacher quality and educational equity. From 1994-2001, she served as executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, a blue-ribbon panel whose 1996 report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future, led to sweeping policy changes affecting teaching and teacher education. In 2006, this report was named one of the most influential affecting U.S. education and Darling-Hammond was named one of the nation's ten most influential people affecting educational policy over the last decade. Among Darling-Hammond's more than 300 publications are Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers Should Learn and be Able to Do (with John Bransford, for the National Academy of Education, winner of the Pomeroy Award from AACTE), Teaching as the Learning Profession: A Handbook of Policy and Practice (Jossey-Bass: 1999) (co-edited with Gary Sykes), which received the National Staff Development Council's Outstanding Book Award for 2000; and The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Schools that Work, recipient of the American Educational Research Association's Outstanding Book Award for 1998.

-From her Stanford University faculty page http://ed.stanford.edu/suse/faculty/displayRecord.php?suid=ldh

The signatures below will be delivered to President-Elect Obama's administration at a time before his inauguration in order to impart to him the importance of a truly progressive public education system and that Dr. Darling-Hammond is a key ingredient to achieving such a system.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

International Affairs Forum - Student Award Contest

ANNOUNCEMENT:

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FORUM
www.ia-forum.org


STUDENT AWARD CONTEST
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

SPRING 2008 AWARD: THE EU AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The European Union is considered to be at the forefront of addressing
climate change in the international arena. Based on your research,
discuss the EU's influence with regard to changing international
attitudes towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as a global
priority objective.


Essays should be between 750 and 2500 words, excluding footnotes.


PRIZES:

First Prize $1,000
Second Prize $500
Third Prize $250


Prizes will be awarded for the best essays as judged by IA-Forum
Editorial staff and a distinguished panel of judges. Winners and
finalists may also be published on IA-Forum.


Please read additional contest rules before applying. Use award
research tips for links to organizations and books listings that can
help start your paper.

The deadline for this contest is May 31, 2008.

International Affairs Forum (www.ia-forum.org) is a publication of the
Center for International Relations, a nonpartisan nonprofit
organization.

Contact us at editor@ia-forum.org

Center for International Relations
990 N. Quintana St.
Arlington, VA 22206
703-532-6800

Environmental Policy Design MA Program--Lehigh Univ.

We are pleased to announce a new graduate program at Lehigh University in "Environmental Policy Design" and can begin accepting Masters students this coming Fall '08. A short description is attached. For more general information, see the EI web site, or http://www.ei.lehigh.edu/academics/programs/Envma.pdf

The new degree program represents a new, forward-looking approach to environmental policy and should begin to prepare the next generation of scholars and professionals to develop and implement more effective environmental policy than has existed to date.

Please post and/or forward to any current students or practicing professionals who may be interested in this graduate program.

Empirical Research Training Opportunity for Graduate Students Studying Sexual Orientation

Training and Career Development Opportunity for Graduate Students
Studying Sexual Orientation


What: A Primer on Empirical Research on Sexual Orientation
Where: Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA
When: Thursday and Friday, February 21-22, 2008
Who: Graduate students pursuing research on sexual minorities
Cost: Free

About the training:
The Williams Institute is sponsoring a two-day training session for graduate students pursuing research on sexual orientation called "A Primer on Empirical Research on Sexual orientation." The broad goal of this training will be to enable scholars to find and appropriately use existing empirical data that permits the identification of sexual orientation. Sessions will also include strategies for pursuing a career with a focus on sexual orientation research. The broad topics of this two-day training include:
· Issues to consider regarding the measurement of sexual orientation
· Availability of data that include identification of sexual minorities and the measurement of sexual orientation, behavior, and attraction
· Appropriate use of data sources that measure sexual orientation
· Details on how to access and appropriately use U.S. Census data to study same-sex "unmarried partners"
· Possible research topics using available data
· Strategies for pursuing both academic and policy-focused careers that include sexual orientation research

Williams Institute’s 7th Annual Update
Participants will be invited to attend the Williams Institute’s 7th Annual Update on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy on Friday, February 22nd. This event features panels exploring recent developments in sexual orientation law, policy, and advocacy and concludes with a cocktail reception.

Cost and Stipends
The training is free of charge and space is limited. Travel stipends to cover costs of transportation and overnight accommodation are available for students outside the Los Angeles area.

Application procedure:
Training is open to graduate students in a variety of disciplines, including Sociology, Social Psychology, Economics, Demography, and Political Science.

Applicants must be currently pursuing or interested in pursuing empirical research on sexual orientation.

Priority will be given to students who can demonstrate an active research agenda, especially if the research has clear public policy relevance.

Applications should include the following:
1. Cover letter briefly describing the applicant’s research interests and background
2. Curriculum Vitae or resume including applicant contact information
3. Description of current or proposed research on sexual orientation (abstract or paper).

Applications are due by Wednesday, January 2, 2008 and can be submitted either by mail or email to:

williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu

or

The Williams Institute
UCLA School of Law
405 Hilgard Avenue, Box 951476
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Accepted participants will be notified by Monday, January 14, 2008.

This information can also be found on our website at:
http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/programs/EmpiricalResearchTraining.html

A Graduate Program for Activists

From the Alliance of Radical Academic/Intellectual Organizations:

You already know it in your bones. Real democracy is not a spectator sport. Don't you want to build a well-organized social movement that can challenge the downsizing of democracy and promote the common good? If so, check out Antioch University New England's master's program in Environmental Advocacy and Organizing--where we train students for activist careers as public interest advocates and grassroots organizers working for ecological sustainability, social justice, and democratic control of corporations.

This groundbreaking graduate program might be right for you, or it might be right for someone you know. Please help us spread the word to all your friends, colleagues, and contacts that you think might be interested. We still have some openings left for the Fall 2007 cohort of the Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program and will be
accepting applications until the end of July. Check us out at:
http://www.antiochne.edu/es/eao/default.cfm.

As Eli Pariser, the Executive Director of MoveOn.Org, says about us:

There are just too few institutions that help inspire, train, and nurture progressive activists. That's why I'm so excited about Antioch University New England's Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program. It's a graduate program that offers in-depth activist training and even connects its graduates into an ongoing support network. I encourage everyone seeking to work as a public interest advocate or a grassroots organizer to check out Antioch's Environmental Advocacy and Organizing program.

If you like, I can send you a PDF our curriculum plan. Also, please
let me know if you have any questions.

All my best,
Steve

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Steve Chase
Director, Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program
Department of Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England
40 Avon Street, Keene, NH 03431
603-283-2336; 603-357-0618 (fax); Steven_Chase@antiochne.edu

* EAOP's Main Website: http://www.antiochne.edu/es/eao/default.cfm
* EAOP's "The Well-Trained Activist" Blog: http://eaop-blog.blogspot.com
* EAOP's Online Bookstore: http://www.antiochne.edu/es/eao/bookstore.cfm
(7.5% of your purchase price will be donated to the EAOP Scholarship
Fund at not extra cost to you.)