Dear students and members of the Munk School community,

I’m writing to welcome you back to the Munk School for the 2017-2018 academic year. I am always impressed with the range of exciting activities our students take on over the summer, some of whom researched mother-to-child HIV transmission in Thailand, others explored cyber-crime in Estonia, and one of our students even interned at the White House Press Corps these past few months.

For my part, I am just back from a few weeks in Berlin where I was conducting research on both the history of forced migration in the 1930s and refugee policy today. It has been particularly poignant for me to study arguably the world’s greatest historical failure to respond to a refugee crisis in the context of its current failure, all in a city that was and is central to both.

I am looking forward to an engaging year ahead. Responding to student feedback, we will establish a Global Migration Lab, which will eventually support both research on and teaching of migration at the School. We will continue to support our Islam and Global Affairs Initiative, with an exciting late September event examining sexuality, gender and feminism in Islam. And we will both deepen existing international partnerships and develop new ones in Europe, Asia, and possibly Latin America, creating new opportunities for internships, exchange, and employment.

Also this year, we will hold a series of Munk School Distinguished Lectures – with reserved places for our students – featuring world-class thinkers such as Timothy Garton Ash, Margaret Macmillan, Joseph Stiglitz, and Baroness Falkner of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. I encourage you all to take advantage of these unique opportunities and to get involved.

The Munk School of Global Affairs is renowned for its education, research and public engagement that tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time. As we together begin this exciting academic year, I look forward to working with all members of our remarkable community to advance the School’s mission. Good luck in the year ahead and I look forward to engaging with you in the months to come.

 

Warm regards,
Randall Hansen
Interim Director, Munk School of Global Affairs

September 5, 2017