This May, PPPA held its first annual research colloquium retreat.  Organized by Prof. Turan Kayaoglu, the event took place over a long weekend where eight faculty members participated in sessions discussing six different research papers.  Chaired by Profs. Turan Kayaoglu and Brad McHose, the sessions included papers presented by Mary Hanneman (“Surrender, Society and National Identity: Implications of Japan’s WWII Surrender“); Rob Crawford (“The Politics of Accountability for U.S. Torture“);  Jane Compson (“The CARE Protocol: A model for introducing healthcare professionals to self-care literacy“); Will McGuire, (“Institutional Barriers to Creative Destruction and the Future of China’s Economic Development“); Etga Ugur (“Contextualizing Islamist Politics: Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey in Comparative Perspective“); and Katie Baird (“Financial Crises and Transfers to the Poor: A comparison of social policies in eight European nations”).  The colloquium took place in Silverdale, and in addition to the scholarly sessions, faculty also enjoyed meals together (above) and a game of disco bowling (no picture included).   It was a very successful retreat, and we are now planning for next year’s second annual colloquium.