PREEA Update

[Kellen Moriarty]

Dear PREEA XCOM,

Congrats to all on a series of excellent events over the past few weeks!  Everything came together really nicely thanks to all of you and the time and effort that you put in.  Before we all enter turkey coma over the next few days, here are a few items on our December agenda:

1.  Tuesday, Dec. 2-Friday, Dec. 6 - PREEA Election
Thanks to those who have submitted applications and/or expressed interest in running for XCOM slots in next week's election.  Whether you would like to keep your current spot on the XCOM or switch to a new role, please take a few moments to send in an email to pr...@georgetown.edu.  The paragraph doesn't have to be artful or lengthy - just a little blurb about yourself and why you're running so the PREEA voters know who you are.  And no one should be afraid of losing - if last year's election is any measure, there will only be one person running for any given role (and nobody running for some roles).  In the event that there are two candidates for a role, PREEA has enough to do that even second place can get you a role.  If you know anyone out there who might be good for the XCOM and isn't involved yet, please actively recruit them!

Side note: At some point after the election, either during finals or early in January, we should organize a time for the newly elected PREEA officers to meet with Dr. Stent and Ben in CERES and Amb. Lagon in MSFS.

2.  Monday, Dec. 9 at 5:30 PM (to be confirmed) - Happy Hour

We had talked about doing an end-of-semester happy hour, and in the emails it sounded like Dec. 9 might work for many of you.  Are there any serious objections to that date?  Does 5:30 PM work?  In terms of location, we had talked about Dupont - any particular spots that anyone wants to recommend?  Once we decide the details, we can announce to all PREEA members, and maybe we can invite PEERS, too.

3.  Events for Next Semester

Below is a list of things that will need attention for the spring semester, some sooner rather than later.

A.  LGBT Rights in Russia/Eastern Europe - Despite Risa and Henry's best efforts, speakers were not responding quickly or solidly enough for this to come together for December.  However, GSO has no problem with us rolling our funding over to next semester.  We are aiming to do this in January, although we may also want to consider early February to give ourselves plenty of lead time.  If new speaker ideas are needed, we might consider meeting with Amb. Lagon in MSFS because of his interest and connections in the human rights sphere.

B.  Regional Studies Career Event - As mentioned before, Anne Steen in the Graduate Career Development Center and Ben Loring in CERES are trying to organize a career event in January focused on leveraging area studies degrees for career development.  Given their limited capacity due to small staffs, they have asked us to help with room reservations and logistics.  I will email Anne and Ben to coordinate on this now that our other events have passed.

C.  IMF/World Bank Networking Event - Vera Zolotarskaya (IMF) and Alina Tourkova (World Bank) have expressed interest in hosting an event sometime in the spring (probably in the February-April range) with us and possibly with PEERS at GW.  This would be a networking event for IMF/World Bank Eurasia Staff Association members to meet DC university students with an interest in the Eurasia region.  Specifics beyond that haven't been hammered out yet.

D.  PEERS Event - We have talked to Paul Maeser and Eric Hansson at PEERS about jointly hosting an event at GW.  This could be the same as the IMF/World Bank event, or it could be a separate event.  Paul indicated that he would invite PREEA to a big networking event that PEERS does every year in February (I think it was February).  Not sure if that would be something we'd collaborate on, or if we'd just be invited. 

E.  Romania / Natural Resources Event - As Jess suggested, one speaker event we might consider for the spring would focus on the Rosia Montana mining debate in Romania, with the possibility of also bringing in speakers on similar natural resource issues in Ukraine, Poland, and elsewhere.

Ok, I think that's all for now.  Let me know if there's anything else to be addressed that I left out.  Meanwhile, everybody have a very happy Thanksgiving!  See you next week for the last few days of classes.

--

Kellen Moriarty
President, Professionals in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Affairs (PREEA)

Candidate, Master of Science in Foreign Service, 2014

Georgetown University

Phone: 908-723-5298

Email: kj...@georgetown.edu