Tag Archives: PPPA

Understanding Ethnic Conflict at Home and Abroad

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“Understanding Ethnic Conflict at Home and Abroad,” is the topic of our Fall Quarter Global Classroom. Jointly hosted by UW Tacoma’s Institute for Global Engagement (IGE), the SIAS Division of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs (PPPA) and the World Affairs Council Tacoma, Global Classroom is an interactive speaker series on global issues that matter. The flyer is attached, please join us!

The event is free and open to the public. We strongly encourage registration as Global Classroom typically fills quickly:  http://wactacoma.com/event-2719179/Registration

From Perçem village to Tacoma – Professor Turan Kayaoglu

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  • .Associate Professor of International Relations at UW Tacoma
  • Editor-in-Chief, Muslim World of Human Rights.
  • Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs in the School of IAS
  • Author of two books—one of which was just published last month

Turan Kayaoglu’s credentials are impressive, but there is so much more to his story.

A Long and Winding Road…

villageKayaoglu grew up in Istanbul, after moving from his birthplace—Perçem village, in the Erzincan Province of eastern Turkey—when he was just four years old. A massive migration from rural villages to industrial centers was taking place, turning farmers into shopkeepers or factory workers at a dizzying pace.  As a result, he was one of nearly 60 students crowded into an elementary classroom. Yet it was his family’s move to the city that made his presence in that classroom even possible.

Without the access to education that Kayaoglu enjoyed, his father has no formal schoolingparents, but “kind of reads.” His mother’s longing to read—in her 60s—inspired him, and her failure to learn after two years of trying made him more sensitive to the difficulties faced by some of his own students.

Kayaoglu is the fourth of five sons born to Sadullah and Hanim Kayaoglu, with 19 years between the oldest and youngest. He and his younger brother are the only two with a university education, although one of his older brothers did go to a technical college. “But, I was the first to attend a four-year university.” He may have taken it “too seriously,” he said, as a way to compensate for his older brothers’ lack of educational opportunities.

Continue reading →

Annual PPPA Colloquium held in May

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pppa colloquiumThe first weekend of May, PPPA faculty and their families assembled for the 2nd annual PPPA Colloquium. Held at the Red Lion in Port Angeles, the colloquium offered an opportunity for ten PPPA faculty to present their current research and discuss it with their colleagues. Turan Kayaoglu, organizer of last year’s event, stated  “We do not do collaborative work as much as we could. One reason for this is that we don’t know each other’s research. The Research Colloquium helps us identify common research areas.”

Saturday evening, at the conclusion of the event, a colloquium dinner was held, allowing all present to continue the discussion of the day. As you can see by the photo, a good time was had by all!

Faculty presenters and their topics included: Continue reading →

UW Tacoma student and alumni accomplishments

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2015 Rangel Scholar – A UW Tacoma first

Omer AdamHuge congratulations to UW Tacoma student Omer Adam–one of fifteen Rangel Scholars nation-wide. He will be spending his summer in Washington D.C. participating in the Rangel International Affairs Summer Program. There, he will learn about current issues in international affairs and acquire valuable skills to prepare him for a career in the field.Omer is most interested in how religion shapes foreign policy and hopes to improve relationships between the US and Muslim countries. Continue reading →

UW Law/Law societies and justice Rome program

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Study comparative law and politics in Rome – with the UW Law/Law Societies and Justice Rome Program during the early fall start. The Law/LSJ Rome Program is now in its 11th year.

RomeEver wonder why Silvio Berlusconi remained in office after being convicted of crimes?

  • Why Italians are against the death penalty?
  • Whether Europeans have more privacy rights than Americans?

 

When: August 20 through September 18 – you can extern or work before studying abroad. Continue reading →

PPPA faculty members leading interfaith conversation on Israel-Palestine

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by Dr. Turan Kayaoglu

Interfaith gathering 1 15On January 25, 2015 about 100 people, many of whom are associated with a religious tradition, gathered at the University of Puget Sound (UPS) for an “Interfaith Conversation on Israel-Palestine.” This conversation–sponsored by UPS, and facilitated by Dave Wright, Director for Spiritual Life and Civic Engagement and UPS chaplain–was initiated by Associated Ministries in collaboration with the Temple Beth El, Mountain View Lutheran Church, and the Muslim Student Association of the University of Washington Tacoma.  PPPA faculty member Turan Kayaoglu was a member of the organizing committee. Continue reading →

Changing format

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Over the last year, PPPA has used this site as more of a newsletter than a blog–but today all that is changing.

Blogs, with their more frequent and timely posts, seem to be more “friendly” and accessible to students and faculty alike, offering more of a glimpse of “what’s happening now,” rather than  “what happened last month.” We feel this new format will keep students and faculty–as well as the larger community–better informed of all that is happening within  PPPA as a division of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Tacoma.

We hope you enjoy our new format! You’ll be hearing from us much more often.

China study abroad- summer 2014

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image-5Beef noodles, Buddhist temples, busy streets, and boats on the Yellow River.  Sixteen students experienced all of these things on the UWT summer study abroad in China last summer, led by UWT’s Dr. Mary Hanneman and Tacoma Community College’s Dr. Yi Li.   For the past eight years, UWT students have had the opportunity to gain (or hone) Mandarin skills while studying Chinese history and culture in China.  The 2014 program took students to the city of Lanzhou, in China’s northwestern region, for three weeks of language study at Lanzhou University and one week of travel to Dunhuang, a site on the ancient Silk Road, finishing up with three days in China’s vibrant capital of Beijing. Continue reading →

2013 Alumna – A Husky once again

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Tacoma native Dee Sonntag, a former PPPA student and UW Tacoma alumni (winter, 2013) is about to begin her last year at the University of Washington School of Law.

Dee SonntagBut that’s not where she started her legal education. She spent the 2013-14 academic year at the University of Idaho College of Law. “I traveled to Moscow, Idaho by myself, while my husband, Joey, and daughter, Jade (8) remained in Tacoma.” Although it wasn’t easy to be separated from her family, Sonntag noted, “I really enjoyed my studies at the COL. My professors and friends made the time away meaningful and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. As the regional mediation champion, I got to travel to Miami to complete in the ABA National Mediation Competition. I was also the Student Bar Association Representative for my section.” Continue reading →

More alumni news:

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Passing an Initiative – As a communications staff member of the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, Tallman Trask worked to pass Initiative 594, one of the few progressive success stories of the 2014 election cycle. Primarily responsible for being the eyes and ears of the communications department, as well as various media and press work, Trask played an important role in taking steps to reduce gun violence in Washington through the passage of common-sense background checks for all gun sales. Trask was a member of the class of 2013, graduating with a degree in Politics, Philosophy & Economics.

Applying for a Fulbright Scholarship – Lizeth Garcia recently submitted her application forLizeth Garcia photo the 2015-2016 Fulbright ETA program. As an advocate for education, Garcia decided to apply to the Fulbright ETA program to empower students in Mexico with the ability to speak English. As a tutor with a local Hispanic organization, she has gained valuable skills that will prepare her for a Fulbright ETA assignment.  She is currently working as a legislative aide for King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer.  Garcia believes the skills she is developing through her employment with KCC and community involvement stand to be useful tools as she pursues a graduate program upon her return from a Fulbright assignment.

Garcia states, “I encourage students who are considering applying for Fulbright to start early. The application process can be quite rigorous and demands a lot of time. It’s a daunting task, but is very rewarding. It’s important to develop strong relationships with professors and gain experience in extracurricular activities. These will be vital parts of your application. Additionally, don’t be discouraged if you don’t have an ideal GPA. Fulbright is interested in students who are passionate about making a change. Lastly, have fun. It was neat to see how much I learned about myself through this process.”

We wish her all the best as she awaits the results of her application.                              (The above photo was taken in Trinidad, Cuba at the Manaca Izuaga Watch Tower.)