Workshops

I'm doing a blog for my department, and I'm going to move a few things over. It's kind of weird, because I have to change it a bit, either way. For them, because it's kind of a marketing tool, I keep the venting as professional as I can... I try not to complain too much here, too, but even more so there, esp because I presume my department will read it. Also, I try to give my cohort some useful links and stuff. Whereas here, I keep a minimum effort on keeping my location anonymous. I mean, you could figure it out, but I keep it a bit circumspect. So I have a couple of entries to move here, and some of my entries from here get moved there, but either way it needs a bit of censNew Postoring. :-S

So, first, I did this great workshop.

Sept 25th Taiwan Papers Workshop Saturday

One of my concerns about coming here included a perceived emphasis on domestic angles in the Institute of Public Policy. While in some of my classes such as the Issues and Debates in NGOs focus almost primarily on organizations outside of the U.S., some of my other classes do seem to be heavily focused on the United States. However, the 50% international students in the department goes a long way towards opening the doors to discussions and opportunities are there on campus for those who seek.

I signed up to be on the East Asia's listserv, and in one of these email newsletters I found out about something on Cross-Strait Relations.

It was a workshop and paper presentation for several authors in the greater Chinese studies community, several were invited from other universities, and I found the topics intriguing, enlightening, and the contacts that I made there were even better. I was a bit chagrined to find myself committing 8 hours of potential study time on a weekend to this, but all in all I found the time spent worthwhile.

I must say, I feel that this is one of the most valuable aspects of an Ivy education: the extra-curricular events, workshops, lectures and such that are offered. The brand name definitely attracts an impressive selection of speakers to our campus, and I am taking full advantage of these opportunities. Most weeks I try to peruse the Events calendar to check out if there are topics in my field and if there are lectures I should try and carve time out for. As much as possible I do this every evening to remind myself. I haven't figured out a fast way to download these onto a universal calendar that syncs with my class schedules and group meetings, without having to input all the details individually. Let me know if you know one!