global affairs

From an island in Korea to a leader for climate change in D.C.

Colleen Rich — Fri, 03 May 2024 17:44:55 +0000

From an island in Korea to a leader for climate change in D.C. Colleen Rich Fri, 05/03/2024 - 13:44

For Yoonseo Cho, a young STEM student from Jeju Island, the biggest island 50 miles off the coast of South Korea, going to college in the Seoul metropolitan area, was a dream come true. Being a pandemic generation student, however, her dreams of studying at a university were cut short, as she spent three semesters back home in Jeju Island persistently taking chemical engineering and landscape architecture classes.

Yoonseo Cho did one of her internships with the Green Climate Fund in Songdo. Photo provided

While volunteering at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, she had the chance to see world leaders discussing the pressing issues of climate change and environmental policies. Her short interaction with Roland Wilson, associate professor of conflict analysis and resolution at Mason Korea, at the panels opened a new door of possibilities for her to become one of those leaders through Mason Korea.

Cho’s parents were the first to encourage her to transfer from her university to Mason Korea in Songdo, an hour away from Seoul. Their support motivated her to find a path to combine her original studies in chemical engineering and landscape architecture with global affairs. She especially saw potential career opportunities with the vaccine manufacturing facility expansion in the heart of Songdo.

Cho quickly adjusted to the American college setting. After a semester, she got involved with and became president of MK Green Patriots, a student organization that provides students with community service opportunities that promote sustainable campus life.

“In many cases, it is difficult to obtain leadership opportunities at a major Korean university since the student organizations have a longer history and rigid traditions,” she said. “While Mason Korea might be smaller in size, through my experience, I never doubted the output students created.”

Her journey in fostering climate change continued as she finished two internships before her junior year at the Fairfax Campus this year. As an assistant to the liaison officer at the Green Climate Fund, headquartered in Songdo, Yoonseo worked on various internal affairs that improved the transition for international employees to Korea. She also worked as a research intern at a green tech startup contributing to sustainable interior design solutions.

“I truly appreciated the efforts made by Mason Korea staff to produce opportunities for Mason Korea students,” she said. “As much as there is a smaller student-to-faculty ratio, there was a stronger bond, which allowed students to acquire opportunities in local firms and organizations that also represent a global audience.”

Cho is now a rising senior in ��AV’s Global Affairs Program and a greenhouse research intern for University Sustainability. She is excited to widen her scope of the world as an international student in the United States and to be at the frontline of environmental policy in Washington, D.C.

When asked what it means to be a Patriot, she said, “The intangible difference is being part of a diverse community, which not only includes students but also faculty members with different sets of values and ideas. Furthermore, the intangible is the mindset of going beyond taking classes and getting good grades; being involved in the community with a shared identity that can change the world around you.”

Mason Korea 10th Anniversary

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Mason students work on international projects through Diplomacy Lab partnership

Shayla Brown — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:20:42 +0000

Mason students work on international projects through Diplomacy Lab partnership Shayla Brown Mon, 03/25/2024 - 09:20

��AV students are working with the U.S. Department of State to find out what motivates students to study abroad, specifically in Southeast South Korea.

Cortney Rinker works with her students in their Diplomacy Lab course. Photo by Ron Aira/��AV.

Global affairs students in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Schar School of Policy and Government students from Mason Korea and the Fairfax Campus are collaborating with the Diplomacy Lab on two projects. The first project aims to help the Busan Consulate increase study abroad of U.S.-based students in Busan, roughly 150 miles outside of Seoul. The second project aims to address allegations of violence by the security forces in Senegal, West Africa.

“The problem is that a lot of American students don't go to South Korea at all, they typically go to Europe,” said Mason Korea student Leah Tudor, who is working on the study-abroad project. “If they do go to South Korea, it’s for universities in the greater Seoul region.”

Universities in the Busan region are asking how they can be more attractive to U.S.-based institutions and students for study abroad, explained Cortney Rinker, director of Mason’s Global Affairs Program, who teaches the Applied Approaches in Diplomacy course where the students are taking on the projects.

The Diplomacy Lab is CHSS’s first institutional partner and provides students an opportunity to participate directly in solving real-world problems.

“This was an excellent project for our program because it’s similar to one of the goals of the Global Affairs Program, which is to get more Fairfax students to attend Mason Korea,” said Rinker.

In her research for the project, Tudor, who is a junior global affairs major with a minor in Korean studies, has found that students who are more exposed to foreign languages when they're younger are more likely to travel in the area(s) that speaks those languages since they're less likely to experience language barriers.

“This course has shown me how to communicate with people at the intersection of higher education and diplomacy,” said graduate student Seihoon Lee, who is working on a master’s degree in higher education and student development. “Being a bilingual and bicultural student, I always seek opportunities to be a bridge that brings these worlds together.”

Seihoon Lee and his group present their research in the Diplomacy Lab course. Photo by Ron Aira/��AV.

In the class there are ethnic and non-ethnic Korean students, as well as other students who have very different lives, said Lee. “[Because of these experiences], we have very intense conversations of how we should approach this project and our research questions, and it's really stimulating.”

This is the last research project before graduating for senior global affairs major Inn Kyung Seo, who agreed with Lee’s sentiment.

“I try to compare what I feel in the U.S. as a Korean student with what foreign students in Korea might feel,” said Seo, who participated in various diplomatic camps hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Korea.

“This course is an opportunity to reflect more deeply on the difficulties international students face and resolve those issues,” he said.

An advisory board of faculty members with expertise either in the region or on the topic guides the students on each project.

Advisory board member Soyoung Kwon, associate professor of global affairs and director of security policy studies–Korea, said she provides support to students and faculty involved in the project, including advising on research methodologies, offering insights on relevant topics or issues, and facilitating connections with external partners, such as the U.S. Consulate in Busan.

Kwon, who has taught GOVT342 Diplomacy at Mason Korea since 2017, believes that this partnership will expose students to different approaches to diplomacy and teach them about the most effective public diplomacy strategies while being part of public diplomacy project, she said.

Rinker and her students will be traveling to Washington, D.C., on April 19 to present on the projects at the State Department’s Diplomacy Lab Fair, where all of the participating institutions are invited to present their work.

“I am definitely going to teach this course again next spring,” said Rinker. “We hope to expand it in the future so that other students and faculty members can become involved in the Diplomacy Lab as well.”

Interested in studying abroad yourself?

Learn more about Mason Korea

K-pop expert traces the popularity of the music to increased interest in Korea

Colleen Rich — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 13:54:13 +0000

K-pop expert traces the popularity of the music to increased interest in Korea Colleen Rich Mon, 07/24/2023 - 09:54

Learn more about Mason Korea

Why have so many members of “Generation Z,” those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, embraced K-pop? That is one of the questions ��AV K-pop expert Gyu Tag Lee addresses in his new book, Z with Luv: Post-BTS and the Future of K-Pop. Z with Love is his third book on K-pop.

Gyu Tag Lee. Photo provided

With his extensive expertise in K-pop, popular music, media studies, the Korean wave, and the globalization of culture, Lee has cemented his position as a renowned authority in these fields. He has been featured in numerous international media outlets and documentaries, such as Netflix's Explained and EBS's Class e lecture series. An associate professor of global affairs at Mason Korea, he also serves as a committee member of the Korean Music Awards.

In Z with Luv, Lee delves into Generation Z's fascination with K-pop, exploring its historical background, genre characteristics, and unique business model. He also investigates the reasons why K-pop has captivated not only young people in Korea, but all over the world. In the book, Lee also examines the global impact and historical significance of BTS's unparalleled success, forecasting the "4th generation" or the future of K-pop, often referred to as the "Post BTS" era.

Lee believes the Korean Wave, particularly the influence of K-pop and the Korean language boom, has played a pivotal role in attracting international students to Korea, including those at Mason Korea.

"For the new younger generation called ‘Zillennials,’ K-pop is not only their favorite music, but also an integral part of their culture, entertainment, identity, and a means of distinguishing themselves from other generations," Lee said.

Having taught at Mason Korea since its opening in 2014, Lee has witnessed the surge of international students on campus—nearly 10 times the number from Fall 2014 to Fall 2022—many of whom take his classes on K-pop and media studies.

“Nearly all international students who come to study at Mason Korea are fans of K-pop or other Hallyu content, such as K-dramas and K-variety shows,” said Lee. “When they fall in love with K-pop and other Hallyu content, they naturally become interested in other aspects of Korean culture, especially Korean language, food, traditional culture, and history. These interests lead them to Mason Korea—not only to take classes on campus, but also to explore and experience Korea firsthand.”

Lee also emphasizes the significance of the Korean language boom. “Knowing and using the Korean language has become a trendy and ‘cool’ phenomenon among some global Zillennials,” he said. “Knowing how to speak, read, and understand the Korean language can open doors to being on the cutting edge of fashion and trends,” he added.

Mason is one of the only universities in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States to offer a degree program in Korean studies. It makes perfect sense that Mason’s only global campus is strategically located in in Korea. As such, an increasing number of Korean majors from the Fairfax Campus are seizing the opportunity to study at Mason Korea. Through this immersive experience, students not only refine their Korean language skills, but also have the opportunity to work on campus, while immersing themselves in the Korean culture and lifestyle.

Lee has been engaging in speaking engagements to discuss his new book, including a panel discussion hosted by the Center for Hallyu Studies at Seoul National University. He plans to hold a book talk at Mason Korea in the coming fall to share his insights and discuss the evolving world of K-pop with the community.

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Mason Korea

Research

global affairs

Schar School Welcomes ‘Exiled’ Ukrainian Media Professor

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 18:41:38 +0000

Schar School Welcomes ‘Exiled’ Ukrainian Media Professor Andrew J Schappert Wed, 02/23/2022 - 13:41

In This Story

Mark J. Rozell

Janine R. Wedel

Anton Liagusha: ‘I have a really great opportunity to think in another world with different approaches to life.’ Photo by Shelby Burgess/Creative Services

The conflict in Ukraine the world is observing now is nothing new to Anton Liagusha.

When gun-brandishing, Russia-backed separatists took over the Donetsk National University in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2014, the country’s prime minister hastily relocated the school to a new campus in Vinnytsia, 20 hours away by train. Now the disused former diamond-cutting factory is the site of a university that is, technically, in exile.

“It was a very difficult time,” Liagusha said. Liagusha, an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government, was one of 600 teachers at the university—his alma mater—who were forced to relocate. Some 150 professors did so, but only about 5,000 of the 18,000 students followed. With few students and a diminishing source of funding, Liagusha had one more relocation in his future.

Liagusha was selected to come to the Schar School for a year under the New University in Exile Consortium program, which assists endangered and persecuted scholars and provides them means to continue their teaching and research.

He is continuing his studies on media’s influence on politics and culture and how the public consumes information. A media studies scholar and a former radio journalist, Liagusha focuses on “fake news,” disinformation, and propaganda―topics for him that are far more than academic.

“It is an honor to have a world-class scholar such as Anton to serve on our faculty,” said Janine Wedel, a Schar School University Professor who studies corruption and was instrumental in bringing him to Mason.

“At a time of increased threats globally against academic and journalistic freedom, the consortium plays a critical role in providing threatened scholars and reporters a position from which they can do their critically important work,” said Schar School Dean Mark J. Rozell. “The Schar School’s academic programs benefit from the many contributions that the visiting scholars and journalists make to our community during their affiliation with us.”

At the Schar School, where he teaches the course Media and Policy in the Era of Fake News, Liagusha can continue his studies, which are more important now than ever.

“I have a really great opportunity to do my research and to think in another world with different approaches to life,” he said.

“My special interest is not only public policy, but a wider field of public history, how contemporary media, social media, and mass culture use different contexts—heroes, antiheroes, narratives from the past—to support political decision-makers in Europe and especially Eastern Europe. And now I would like to see how it works at the United States.”

Topics

Ukraine

Education

Schar School News February 2022

Schar School

Media Research

Russia

University in Exile Consortium

Matthew West

Wasiq Muhammad Muhammad Ali — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 21:33:23 +0000

Matthew West Wasiq Muhammad… Wed, 12/01/2021 - 16:33

Assistant Professor of Global Affairs

Contact Information

Email: mwest21@gmu.edu
Phone: 703.993.1110
Mail Stop: Global Affairs, MSN 6B4
Campus: Fairfax
Office: Horizon Hall 6233

Biography

Dr. Matthew West is a Term Assistant Professor of Global Affairs. He earned his PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University and, prior to joining GMU, spent four year in the Anthropology Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. West is broadly interested in phenomena at the intersections of the legal and the economic as sites to further our critical understanding of globalization's unequal circulations of knowledge, people, and things. His research has focused geographically on Sinophone societies—on Taiwan and China in particular—as understood in the context of their ubiquitous transnational connections to other places and peoples in East Asia and around the globe. Topically, his research centers on understanding practices around intellectual property, scientific and engineering knowledge, and the “creative industries” through participant observation fieldwork, interviews, and other tools of ethnographic research. Prof. West is currently writing about his fieldwork on the production of patents in the Taiwanese LED industry and has previously worked on cultural conceptions of music and movie “piracy” in Xi'an, China. His work has been supported and recognized by international research foundations like the United States National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation, the D. Kim Foundation for the History of Science and Technology in East Asia, and Hong Kong's Research Grants Council.

Courses Taught

GLOA 101 - Introduction to Global Affairs
GLOA 605 - Interdisciplinary Research Methods
GLOA 615 - Case Studies in Globalization: Of Property and Piracy
HNRS 110 - Principles of Research and Inquiry
HNRS 131 - Contemporary Social Issues: Social Media and Culture
ANTH396 - Issues in Anthropology: Anthropology of Social Media

Education

PhD, Anthropology, Columbia University
MPhil, Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
MA, Anthropology of Chinese Societies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
BA, Anthropology (plus a Concentration in East Asian Studies), Davidson College

Mason alumna named a top influential Arab American, advocating for Palestinian refugees

Mariam Aburdeineh — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:47:39 +0000

Mason alumna named a top influential Arab American, advocating for Palestinian refugees Mariam Aburdeineh Mon, 06/07/2021 - 15:47

In This Story

Bassam S. Haddad

Mason alumna Laila Mokhiber visiting Palestine refugees from Syria displaced for a second time to the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon in February 2016. Photo credit: Francesco Romagnolo, UNRWA

Activism runs in Laila Mokhiber’s blood.

Well before she became the director of communications at UNRWA USA, the nonprofit that provides support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Mokhiber was a child holding protest signs in human rights demonstrations. Before then, her mother held her as a baby in the gallery of the Supreme Court, as her father argued to incorporate Arab Americans into the Civil Rights Act in 1987.

The ��AV alumna has also made a name for herself. In 2020, she was named one of the top 40 influential Arab Americans under 40 by the Arab America Foundation.

“I was very humbled,” said Mokhiber, who graduated with a BA in global affairs in 2009. “The work I do is a labor of love, and if this brings more attention to the cause that I work on… I’m pleased to have received this recognition.”

UNRWA USA raises awareness about the plight of Palestinian refugees to support their humanitarian needs.

“We’re trying to create our own narrative around who Palestine refugees are and demystifying what it means to be a refugee,” Mokhiber said. “I love being able to advocate for the people who I see as my sisters and brothers and be able to measure the impact.”

The nonprofit and its annual Gaza 5K support UNRWA, mental health, and urgent assistance for those living in and around refugee camps, said Mokhiber, who leads a content team that helps tell their stories.

Mokhiber posing with volunteers and colleagues at the NYC Gaza 5K, which brought together more than 1,000 people in solidarity with Palestine refugees at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park just days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the country, March 2020, Photo credit: Sara Afridi

“To be that link and bring their stories to my fellow Americans, I see that as a great responsibility and duty,” she said. “Once you see what life under occupation looks like with your own eyes, you can’t ever stop speaking up or advocating about it.”

Mokhiber’s work has sent her to Gaza several times—a rare privilege for an Arab American, due to the area’s land, sea and air blockade.

Each time, she brings back stories and is inspired by Palestinians she meets who make an impact with nearly nothing, and are resilient despite supplies not being allowed into Gaza. Those included a young man who built a 3D printer from recycled materials to print life-saving tourniquets, and a young woman who took rubble from bombed buildings and engineered a way to turn it into bricks to help families rebuild.

Since speaking with Mokhiber, Gaza suffered an 11-day onslaught in which she said an Israeli military airstrike destroyed the facility where these 3D-printed medical devices are made.

Mokhiber on her first visit to al-'Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Palestine, March 2014, Photo credit: Christoph von Toggenburg, UNRWA

Mokhiber, who also co-hosts the Latitude Adjustment Podcast, said she seeks to advocate for people who don’t have a platform to do so themselves. Her time at Mason, where she studied music and global affairs with a focus on the Middle East, continues to be influential.

“I had the great privilege of studying under Mason professors Bassam Haddad and Sumaiya Hamdani, and the context of the region I learned from them is really helpful to know how to navigate it and translate it to other people in my work today,” she said.

Mokhiber also stayed connected. During the COVID pandemic, she co-hosted virtual music sessions with Haddad that raised tens of thousands of dollars for organizations like UNRWA USA.

“Laila is an exemplary conscientious force and human being,” Haddad said. “Her impact manifests in myriad ways, but the most powerful is the extent to which she empowers individuals and groups by bringing them together for good.”

The same was true on campus, where Mokhiber said she expanded her community in student organizations like the Arab Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Orthodox Christian Fellowship.

“I amplified what these organizations were doing as an outreach chair and did communications, which is how I ended up in my current line of work,” said Mokhiber, who also worked as an outreach and communications coordinator for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

“I loved my days at Mason because it exposed me to a rich diversity of people and perspectives that encouraged my curiosity about the world and would have taken years of global travel to gain.”

Mokhiber and Abby Smardon, former UNRWA USA Executive Director, at an UNRWA food distribution center in the Gaza Strip. More than half the population of the Gaza Strip, around a million people, relies on food assistance from the international community.

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After the Beirut explosions, the grandma of this Mason grad brought hope through the piano

Mariam Aburdeineh — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 00:10:17 +0000

After the Beirut explosions, the grandma of this Mason grad brought hope through the piano Mariam Aburdeineh Sun, 08/30/2020 - 20:10

Amy Melki. Photo provided.

May Abboud Melki’s home was in shambles following the massive August 4 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. Glass shards from blasted windows and debris filled her home, and nearly everything she owned had been damaged. That is, except for her piano.

Thanks to Melki’s granddaughters, including Amy Melki, a 2020 graduate of ��AV, beauty and resilience were seen amidst the chaos, as a video they shared on social media of their grandmother playing “Auld Lang Syne” on the piano surrounded by rubble went viral and made international headlines.

“It’s her form of therapy,” said Melki, who received the video via text from her mother in Beirut. “[During the Lebanese Civil War, my grandmother] found something in her music and often reverted to playing the piano as a way of coping with the material loss and the human loss.”

The piano has sentimental value too, Melki said, as her grandmother was gifted it 60 years ago on her honeymoon.

Comments on the video have spoken to how Melki’s grandmother embodies the Lebanese spirit.

“The symbol of true Lebanese resilience isn’t just found in [my grandmother]; it’s found in our nation,” said Melki, who graduated with a master’s in global affairs. “I’m just so proud that she was the one to carry that message and remind people that even in your darkest, most desperate times, we will be able to rebuild.”

Resilience has been part of the Melki family story. Amy Melki’s grandparents survived the 1975-1990 civil war while raising four kids, she said; and her parents, who were refugees escaping war, founded an NGO in Lebanon that works with Syrian refugees and underprivileged communities.

Melki is proud of that history, she said.

“Lebanon for me is the country that molded me, the country that made me who I am,” said Melki, who was born in the United States and grew up in Lebanon. “Wherever I go, I hope I can in some way give back.”

May Abboud Melki assesses the damage to her home after the Beirut explosions. Photo provided.

Melki said she hopes to one day work for the World Bank or an international relief organization.

Right now, she is making an international impact working at Mason. In July, Melki joined the Schar School of Policy and Government’s Global Terrorist Trends and Analysis Center (GTTAC), where she analyzes incidents of global terrorism for a congressionally mandated database.

“I really love it,” Melki said. “It’s such a learning experience and everyone working on it, like Dr. Judy [Deane] and Dr. Mahmut [Cengiz], genuinely care to help you learn and become a better researcher.”

“This tragedy [in Lebanon] took place during the second week of training for our new cohort,” said Deane, deputy director of Mason’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC). “It must have affected Amy’s ability to concentrate, but it didn’t show in her work.”

“Like Amy, many of our GTTAC staff have had their lives impacted by violence and terrorism, and they understand why it is so important for our project to provide accurate information about these issues to the world,” Deane said. “We feel lucky to have Amy working with us and will benefit from her understanding of the complexities of violence in the Middle East.”

Melki said she wishes such complexities weren’t the reality in Lebanon, but her faith gives her hope. It’s divine intervention, she said, that her grandparents weren’t home during the explosion.

“Although we don’t have all the answers to all of our questions, although we wonder why did this happen, [my grandmother] felt at peace because she was reminded that God is always by her side,” Melki said. “I feel incredibly blessed and grateful that God protected my family.”

Students in the Community

Schar School of Policy and Government

Schar School

global affairs

Schar School of Policy and Government Terrorism Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC)

Students