New UNESCO Chair at GWU

The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development will soon host a UNESCO Chair for International Education for Development.

The inauguration of the Chair is to be held on Friday, September 19th, with the keynote address by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova. 

Another U.S. UNESCO Chair!

UNESCO, has established a UNESCO Chair in Rural Community, Leadership, and Youth Development in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Co-hosted by the college's Center for Economic and Community Development and its Office of International Programs, the chair will be held by Mark Brennan, associate professor of rural community and leadership development.

According to Penn State President Rodney Erickson, the opportunity to establish a UNESCO chair is a rare and prestigious honor.

Read more!

The network of UNESCO chairs in the U.S. continues to grow.  In fact, just a few weeks ago, Pennsylvania State University was granted a UNESCO chair in Rural Community Leadership and Youth Development.  There are now 22 active UNESCO chairs in the U.S. and the 23rd is already in the works. 
Ambassador Killion at the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO meeting in November

Director-General to give keynote address on literacy at the University of Pennsylvania

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova will inaugurate the UNESCO Chair on Literacy and Learning and address a symposium on “Global Literacy in the 21st century: Problems and Prospects” at the University of Pennsylvania on 15 March 2012.

She will highlight positive experiences and lessons learned, stress the need for strong partnerships and innovative alliances, and underline that “we must go where the gaps are widest and where we are needed most.”

Other speakers at the symposium include the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs, a senior education advisor at USAID, the Vice-Provost of the University and the Dean of the Graduate School of Education.

The UNESCO Chair on Literacy and Learning is held by Dan Wagner, a professor at the Graduate School of Education and Director of the International Literacy Institute at University of Pennsylvania. A special feature of the Chair is the Penn Graduate School of Education-UNESCO Chair International Fellowship initiative. A first of its kind in the United States, this initiative supports promising professionals at Masters’ level from the developing world with a special interest in international education.

The newly established Chair is the 18th in the United States. Overall, some 600 Chairs operate in 128 countries.

Shankman Elected to Second Term

Professor Steven Shankman

Professor Steven Shankman

Professor Steven Shankman

Professor Steven Shankman, who serves as Director of the University of Oregon's Center for Intercultural Dialogue and UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace, recently helped convene a meeting at UNESCO in Paris entitled, Before Dialogue: Fear, Responsibility, and the Path to the New Humanism." Dr. Shankman led this symposium as Chair of theUNITWIN Network on Interreligious Dialogue for Intercultural Understanding. At the conclusion of this most recent meeting he was unanimously elected to serve a second three year term. Congratulations Professor Shankman and thank you for your leadership!

Profile: Dr. Amii Omara-Otunnu

Dr. Amii Omara-Otunnu is the UNESCO Chair in Comparative Human Rights and Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. In addition to his UNESCO chairmanship, he is also the Executive Director of the Institute of Comparative Human Rights at the University of Connecticut. From his days as the first Secretary-General of Harvard University’s African Students’ Association to his current service as UNESCO Chair, Dr. Omara-Otunnu has long championed the cause of human rights, both in the United States and Uganda.

Read:

• more about Professor Omara-Otunnu from the University of Connecticut website
• his featured profile from the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network

To better understand the influence that Dr. Omara-Otunnu is having read this article about one of his former students, graphic poet/artist Sreyashi Ghosh, who has launched a project to achieve World Peace through art forms called ‘Peace Mode 365'

Learned Articles About UNESCO

These two articles can be downloaded from JSTOR:

International Organizations as Teachers of Norms: The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cutural Organization and Science Policy
Martha Finnemore
International Organization, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Autumn, 1993), pp. 565-597

Abstract: Most explanations for the creation of new state institutions locate the cause of change in the conditions or characteristics of the states themselves. Some aspect of a state's economic, social, political, or military situation is said to create a functional need for the new bureaucracy which then is taken up by one or more domestic groups who succeed in changing the state apparatus. However, changes in state structure may be prompted not only by changing conditions of individual states but also by socialization and conformance with international norms. In the case of one organizational innovation recently adopted by states across the international system, namely, science policy bureaucracies, indicators of state conditions and functional need for these entities are not correlated with the pattern for their adoption. Instead, adoption was prompted by the activities of an international organization which "taught" states the value of science policy organizations and established the coordination of science as an appropriate, and even a necessary, role for states. This finding lends support to constructivist or reflective theories that treat states as social entities shaped by international social action, as opposed to more conventional treatments of states as autonomous international agents.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Report of the Special Committee of Experts on the Definition of UNESCO's Responsibilities in the Field of Population
Studies in Family Planning, Vol. 1, No. 28 (Apr., 1968), pp. 12-15
doi:10.2307/1965365

Our bibliography on UNESCO has lots more materials on the organization.

Apply Now to Become a UNESCO Chair

The deadline to apply is March 30, 2007.

UNESCO Chairs are awarded each year to individual colleges, universities and research institutions to initiate programs that further research and training in one of UNESCO's fields of competence. A Chair may be established by reinforcing an existing teaching or research program and giving it an international dimension, or one may be established as a new teaching and research unit.U.S. organizations wishing to apply.

Upon the recommendation by the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, UNESCO recently has approved two UNESCO Chairs at U.S. universities. The University of Oregon proposal for a chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace was approved, as well as, a Georgetown University proposal for a chair in Achieving the Promise of EFA: A Focus on Literacy and Sustainable Development.

Obtain more information on how to submit your application through the Department of States Secretariat to the United States National Commission for UNESCO at this website.