Sunday, August 23, 2009

Students Find Positions


Four ONU Social Studies majors graduated this past spring, and all have found positions for the fall. Joy Kessler (far right) will be teaching Social Studies at Lima Central Catholic High School. Matt Fox (second from left) will be teaching History at Lima Senior High School, and is also the Head Football Coach at Arcadia Middle School. Brian Hoefel (second from right) will be attending Akron University, working on his Masters Degree in History. Aaron Stiger (far left) will be attending Ashland University, where he will work for Residence Life and pursue a Masters Degree in Administration. Not pictured is Ross Spencer who will be teaching Social Studies in Arizona next year.

Well done to all of them, and we wish them the best of luck as they start their new careers!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Professor Smith Receives Fulbright


David R. Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of geography, has been awarded a Fulbright/Irex Embassy Policy Specialist (EPS) grant to serve as an advisor to the U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Turkmenistan and conduct research on water conflict issues in Central Asia. He will be meeting regularly with, and advising, the U.S. ambassador to Turkmenistan on the potential for conflict over water
in Central Asia.

The U.S. Embassy Policy Specialist (EPS) Program was established in 2005 to support U.S. embassies and consulates overseas by providing policy specialists-in-residence. While serving at the embassy, the specialists also conduct their own research. EPS is funded by the U.S. Department of State. Smith expects to serve as an advisor in Turkmenistan from May through July, 2010.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Professor Nsia-Pepra Presents in Ghana


While visiting home this summer, Dr. Kofi Nsia-Pepra was invited to present at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. Nsia-Pepra’s talk entitled “Robust Peacekeeping? Confronting the Failures of the United Nations’ Traditional Peacekeeping in Preventing Human Rights Violations,” was part of the Reflections on Security Series hosted by the Centre.

Nsia-Pepra, introduced as a U.S. based security expert, addressed a large audience made up of diplomats, military professionals, governmental officials, and the mass media. He discussed the failures of traditional United Nations’ peacekeeping efforts in places such as Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Bosnia. In these situations, relatively small UN peacekeeping forces proved unable to prevent intra-state violence against civilians.

He recommended what he has termed the "Formidable Barrier Model" to prevent future civilian mass killings. This model calls for a large force, with rules of engagement that include protecting civilians, as well as self defense, and armed with heavy weapons (e.g. tanks and artillery). Such a force is necessary, because Nsia-Pepra argued that the decision to kill civilians is the result of a rational process that involves a cost-benefit calculation. Therefore, to stave off civilian killings, the force tasked with peacekeeping must present the afore-mentioned formidable barrier that would reduce the benefits and increase the costs to governmental and other forces who wish to target civilians. He also argued that this force should include elements from major powers such as the United States, which would give it the stamp of legitimacy and demonstrate global concern about ongoing atrocities.

He also argued that the composition of peacekeeping forces was crucial to reducing civilian casualties. Forces made up of culturally diverse elements, those with cultural similarities to the host are less effective as peacekeepers.

In addition, conflicts that involve democratic nations that lack strong institutions, which often leads to corrupt practices, tend to result in more civilian fatalities, according to his research.

Nsia-Pepra concluded his talk by addressing upcoming elections in Ghana. He argued that several steps were necessary to strengthen democratic institutions in the country in order to avoid violence. He argued that the nation must take steps to protect the integrity of the ballot box in the next election, including setting up a system for electronic voter registration, an electronic voting system, and making the government responsible for the registration of all voters over the age of 18. These steps would prevent underage voters, and foreigners, as well as multiple registration and voting from altering the electoral results, and solidify confidence in election returns. He also urged the Ghanain government to foster the creation of a strong civil society and to take steps to de-personalize and de-tribalize politics and public policy.

Essentially Ghana would need to develop strong, independent, detribalized, depoliticized, and incorruptible democratic institutions. These steps would help Ghana to build a sustainable democracy, develop the human capacity of the nation, and to avoid violence that often arises when election results are not trusted by the people.

After the conference, Nsia-Pepra gave interviews to various media outlets, including Sky TV and City FM.