Rubenstein Rocks the Institute As ICAR Welcomes 111 Incoming Graduate Students
The 2009-10 academic year got underway with a flurry of events geared toward both orienting and welcoming 29 Certificate, 63 Masters, and 19 Ph.D. students into the ICAR community. Three separate orientations were held beginning with the Certificate program on August 19th and followed by the two-part orientation for incoming M.S. and Ph.D. students on August 22nd and 26th. For the first time a Faculty Mentoring Session, facilitated by Ph.D. coordinator, Sandy Cheldelin and M.S. coordinator Mark Goodale, was incorporated. Faculty members introduced themselves, speaking briefly about their research, their interests, and their areas of specialization, then met with their new advisees as a group. The evening provided a relaxing atmosphere for introductions and conversations about goals and expectations.
Other innovations in this year’s M.S. and Ph.D. orientation included the addition of a marketplace where students gathered information about the various programs available at ICAR and on the Arlington campus. A panel of current M.S. and Ph.D. students also fielded questions from participants relating insights from their lived experience at ICAR. These additions to orientation received rave reviews in student feedback. ICAR Staff and Graduate Students in Conflict Studies (GSCS) leaders played a significant role in making the orientations a success and their contributions were greatly appreciated.
On September 12th ICAR hosted its annual Welcome Dinner featuring the inimitable Sandy Cheldelin as emcee and the musical styling's of Richard Rubenstein. Rich warmed the audience up with a sing-along and Sandy introduced the faculty through limerick (you had to be there to appreciate it)! Then Dan Rothbart introduced faculty members, Mark Goodale, Agnieszka Paczynska, and Susan Allen Nan who shared stories of adventures and misadventures in the field. The 2009-2010 Student Scholarship Recipients were awarded as follows: James H. Laue Scholarship to Jessica Gerrard and Kathryn Crewe, the Brenda Rubenstein Memorial Scholarship to Benjamin Gaylord, the John Burton Scholarship to Mohammed Cherkaoui, the Alumni Scholarship to Lori-Ann Stephensen, the Faculty Scholarship to Saira Yamin, and the Mary Lynn Boland Award to Molly Tepper and Zoë Rose. Chris Mitchell also honored Dean Pruitt as ICAR's Distinguished Scholar in Residence. ICAR Director, Andrea Bartoli concluded the evening with a riotous recounting of his discovery of half & half and the community left with a smile and a new beginning.