IPDGC – Page 2 – The Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication

December 5, 2023December 5, 2023

Supporting Public Diplomacy

December 2023

Dear Friend,
The Walter Roberts Endowment was established by Dr. Walter R. Roberts and his family with the
goal to educate students, recognize leadership, disseminate best practices and to promote appreciation
of the importance of public diplomacy.

Thanks to the generous support of donors like you, the Endowment has supported dozens of students
seeking careers in public diplomacy and has assisted in funding related activities and outreach of the
Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC) at the George Washington
University (GW).

Every year, we host the Walter Roberts Annual Lecture featuring renowned leaders in public
diplomacy, global media and communications, and international affairs. Last year, our speaker was
Jodie Ginsberg of the Committee to Protect Journalists speaking on the challenges faced by
international media.

On December 12, 2023, we will have H.E. Ambassador Bergdis Ellertsdottir, Iceland’s Ambassador to the United States who will give this year’s Walter Roberts Annual
Lecture on Climate Diplomacy: Communicating with Urgency.

The Endowment also funds IPDGC’s Award for Congressional Leadership in Public Diplomacy, which
honors members of Congress who have been consistently supportive of public diplomacy in their careers. Last year’s recipient was Sen. James Risch of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In addition to the award, a grant is given to a public diplomacy nonprofit in the recipient’s constituency. Global Ties Idaho was able to create a public diplomacy program to further mutual understanding between Idahoans and international visitors from Latin American countries.

Some new initiatives such as the IPDGC Graduate Fellow and a recent Cultural Diplomacy Workshop, teaching GW students the mechanics of cultural programming, have also received support from the Endowment.

As the year ends, we hope to count on your assistance so that the Endowment and IPDGC can continue with our events, programs and support of undergraduate and graduate students pursuing public diplomacy studies at GW. This was especially important during the pandemic, but moving forward, these funds have also benefited students from diverse socio-economic and international backgrounds.

The success of our work continues with Your Donation Now to the Endowment.

Patricia Kabra
Walter R. Roberts Endowment
Advisory Committee Chair

Dr. William Youmans
Director of IPDGC and Associate Professor, School of Media and Public Affairs

DONATE TO SUPPORT PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

November 16, 2023November 30, 2023

Communicating climate change

Iceland’s ambassador speaks at the 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture

The 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture will feature HE Ambassador Bergdis Ellertsdottir, Iceland’s ambassador to the U.S.

Ambassador Ellertsdottir (left) will speak on the topic of “Climate Diplomacy: Communicating with Urgency”. In this talk, she will discuss the unique position of Iceland in global debates about climate change, particularly the Arctic region. She will discuss the communication challenges and her country’s advocacy on what scientists recognize as the most pressing global issue.

It is no surprise that Arctic affairs are a top priority for the country. Iceland lies completely within the Arctic, with the Arctic Circle passing through its northernmost community, Grimsey Island (circled), 40 kilometers off its north coast. The effects of climate change are very evident in the receding of Iceland’s glaciers and ocean acidification impacting the surrounding marine environment.

Following Amb. Ellertsdottir ‘s lecture, SMPA Professor Frank Sesno will host a conversation and moderate the Q&A session. Sesno is the Founding Director of Planet Forward, a project of the Center for Innovative Media that teaches environmental storytelling to GW students. The Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC) and the Walter Roberts Endowment are collaborating with Planet Forward for the Annual Lecture.

Dr. William Youmans, Director of IPDGC, will deliver welcoming remarks at the start of the event.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET(A light reception will be provided at 5:15pm)

Venue: Lehman Auditorium, Science & Engineering Hall, B1220, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20052

RSVP for the event

November 13, 2023November 13, 2023

Cybersecuring Democracy

First Monday Forum on election cybersecurity as a PD Focus

By Alexis Posel, IPDGC Communications Assistant

Adam Clayton Powell III and Judy Kang, Executive Director and Program Manager respectively of the USC Initiative on Cybersecurity (pictured with Joel Fischman, PDCA President), spoke on the challenges of election cybersecurity in the digital age. Powell and Kang spoke as a part of November’s First Monday Forum, a recurring collaboration between IPDGC and the Public Diplomacy Council of America (PDCA).

The message was simple: adversaries are attacking democratic elections. Powell explained that non-governmental entities access information such as donor lists and contacts to gain entrance into defense facilities that can disrupt campaign operations. After doing so, these entities, mainly from Russia and China, cause chaos and insecurity in election freedom in democratic nations worldwide.

Powell underscored that “ the reality is that we’re in a race with no finish line,” when it comes to solving cybersecurity challenges for democracies around the world. He expressed concern that the upcoming 2024 election may be more vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks than any other election cycle.

The reason, Powell stated, is that there are more common attack vectors worldwide such as weak passwords, multi-factor authentication, social engineering such as phishing, and unprotected data on electronic devices.

The main concern in 2024? Artificial intelligence flooding campaigns and voters with fake videos and misinformation that could falsely sway the electorate.

The USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative began as a non-partisan project to help educate and protect US campaigns and elections, with support from Google. The initiative expanded in 2022 to include democracies in Europe, Asia, and Africa to exchange best practices in election security.

November 1, 2023April 23, 2024

Bringing the world to Boise

Global Ties Idaho promotes mutual understanding between Idahoans and visitors from across the globe

By Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator

In May this year, IPDGC and the Walter Roberts Endowment recognized Idaho Senator James Risch for his contributions to U.S. global engagement. As part of that recognition, nonprofit Global Ties Idaho was awarded a small grant of $5000 to organize public diplomacy programs that serve the Idahoan community.

Recently, Global Ties Idaho participated in the Idaho State Museum Hispanic Heritage Day celebration, ¡Fiesta! The museum event was a celebration of Idaho’s Hispanic heritage and diverse cultures that featured music, art, food, and performances.

Global Ties Idaho organized a booth to introduce participants in a U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) who were from Latin America. Maya Duratovic, a member of the board, said that “while Idahoans are familiar with Hispanic Mexican culture, this was an opportunity to meet people from other countries in Latin America – El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Guatemala”.

The IVLP participants were law enforcement professionals visiting the U.S. to learn about Community Policing and were in Boise for a week.

From left: Jaime Enrique Carballo Castro (El Salvador), Capt. Francisco Perea Fuentes (Panama), Maya Duratovic (Global Ties Idaho), Patricia Fernanda Feijoo Gallo (Ecuador), Ariel Fabrizio Ojeda Aguilera (Paraguay), Carole Schroeder (Global Ties Idaho), Jorge Luis Cartejena Nunez (Honduras)

By creating this opportunity at the museum, over 1000 visitors were able to meet the IVLP participants and learn more about their country’s diverse cultures, people, and histories.

IPDGC has been able to support nonprofits in other states in creating programs for their community; thanks in part to their Congressional representative’s understanding of U.S. public diplomacy and efforts to support that engagement. Read more about past programs supported by these microgrants.

October 31, 2023April 23, 2024

Global connections begin in class

GW students learn how their academic work contributes to cultural exchange

By Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator

IPDGC’s “Connecting Cultures: Cultural Diplomacy and Engagement Workshop” concluded with final presentations by GW students interested in cultural diplomacy and how this engagement brings US citizens and people from other countries closer. The workshop was a collaboration with the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design.

John Ferguson and Amr Selim, acclaimed musicians with the non-profit American Voices, shared their experiences in creating cultural programs and engagement with international audiences. American Voices is the implementing partner for the U.S. Department of State’s American Music Abroad Program and the Arts Envoy Program.

The students who come from different fields of study, had the opportunity to learn the mechanics of cultural programming as John and Amr led discussions about designing relevant cultural programs, navigating foreign environments, developing networks, and exploring different avenues for funding.

The final presentations were creative and combined cultural exchange with education, health and hygiene, and other development needs, as well as knowledge-sharing to promote equality, inclusivity, and tolerance.

Connecting Cultures: Cultural Diplomacy and Engagement Workshop aims to encourage GW students to know more about cultural diplomacy and learn how their studies and professional aspirations can contribute to U.S. global engagement.

The Walter Roberts Endowment provided support to the “Connecting Cultures: Cultural Diplomacy and Engagement Workshop”.

IPDGC Graduate Fellow Mohamad Fayaz Yourish interviewed American Voices trainer Amr Selim about international cultural programming and his own musical journey. Listen to this conversation on the Public Diplomacy Examined (PDx) podcast “Bringing People Together”.

October 10, 2023April 23, 2024

Remembering Fulbright: The Senator, The Program, And Public Diplomacy

Dr. Lonnie R. Johnson, former Executive Director of the binational Fulbright Commission in Austria, spoke on the history of the education exchange known as the Fulbright Scholars Program, named after its founder Senator J. William Fulbright from Arkansas. This presentation was October’s First Monday Forum, IPDGC’s collaborative event with the Public Diplomacy Council of America.

Fulbright’s commitment to global peace came followed the horrific experiences of World War 2; he would become an outspoken opponent of US involvement in Vietnam. However, as a Southern man of the time, he was also consistently opposed legislation that would protect the civil rights of Black Americans during the 50s. This has resulted in the struggle within the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to rebrand the program.

Johnson disagrees with this move and has written about the need to recognize the need for a truthful telling of this history and questions efforts to exclude references to Fulbright and his foundational vision. “U.S. public diplomacy should be fact-based… the Fulbright program without J. William Fulbright doesn’t make sense,” Johnson said.

He added that the erasure of Fulbright and his contributions from his namesake program runs counter to its commitment to a free and honest exchange of ideas, and threatens to damage public perception of the program at home and abroad. In April this year, he posted his views in an open letter to the global Fulbright community. Johnson is currently writing a book on the history and contributions of Sen. J. William Fulbright to foreign policy and international education programs.

Joel Fischmann, PDCA President in closing the forum commented, “We need the reminder that these bigger-than-life historical figures have flaws”.

Johnson traveled from Vienna, Austria to speak at the event held at the GW Elliott School of International Affairs.

Recording of the October First Monday Forum: Remembering Fulbright