March 18, 2011 - A Great End to a Great Symposium
Well folks, the 40th annual Frank Church Symposium on International Affairs: Life Beyond The Border has concluded for the year. We had an amazing turnout from the Pocatello and Idaho State University communities, as well as the student body from the ISU campus. We've been gathering the results of the various topics and panels we hosted and have seen a very positive response from the community. The wonderful speakers and panelists that we had this year appreciated the chance to speak to the students and community members about border issues, something that touches close to home since Idaho itself is considered to be one of the border states. Links will be posted on this website to the television interviews that were conducted, as well as the various newspaper articles that covered our symposium. I will also be posting pictures of the various events and some information about the panels that may not have been covered in the articles. Thank you so much for continuing to watch this website and stay tuned for our future topic, which we'll be setting the week we come back from spring break.
February 20, 2011 - Spreading the Word
Cory, Dusty, David, Connie, Trevor, and Walter gathered on Saturday for some fun window painting at the Pond Student Union Building to advertise the 2011 Frank Church Symposium. We have some pictures posted here under the Photos section. Check them out!
February 9, 2011 - Insider Perspective: Amanda Zuercher
This is my second semester of IAC and to be honest I’m enjoying it. The people involved in IAC are simply amazing and make the experience even better. Right now we are down to the wire of preparing for the Symposium. The Fundraising Committee are doing one last fundraiser for the semester and I’m glad to be able to help out. I find it amazing that the Symposium is only 3 weeks away. So close yet so far. It's exciting anticipation mixed with some frustration I think but everyone is working hard to do their part.
- Amanda Zuercher
February 2, 2011 - Finalizing Panel Topics/Host Committee
We're continuing with the fine-tuning of the symposium itself, and this week we focused on a large amount of specifics and details, including how we would get the word out to people to come enjoy the various events of the 2011 Symposium. Dusty Davidson, our Publicity Chair, talked about the window painting we'll be doing at the Pond Student Union Building, as well as placing advertisements in the Idaho State Journal and on the radio as well. We'll also be doing a "Storm the Dorms" project where we target ISU students that live on campus in the residence halls. Connor Lankford, our Host Committee Chair, then talked about finalizing menu details at the various restaurants we'll be inviting our delegates out to after the daily events of the symposium are concluded. He also mentioned that any persons interested in being drivers for the symposium should get that paperwork filled out to him as soon as possible. We also finalized and "fancied up" the panel topics to give our delegates a few weeks to prepare some materials to speak on. Cory Winter, our President, wrapped up our meeting by making mention that even though we still have a lot to do, the details are coming together quite nicely. We'll post again next week with more updates. Until then!
-Walter D. Radovitch, Vice-President/Correspondence Chair, ISU International Affairs Council
Nov. 2010 The Planning Process - An Inside Look From the IAC
Well folks, the 40th annual Frank Church Symposium on International Affairs: Life Beyond The Border has concluded for the year. We had an amazing turnout from the Pocatello and Idaho State University communities, as well as the student body from the ISU campus. We've been gathering the results of the various topics and panels we hosted and have seen a very positive response from the community. The wonderful speakers and panelists that we had this year appreciated the chance to speak to the students and community members about border issues, something that touches close to home since Idaho itself is considered to be one of the border states. Links will be posted on this website to the television interviews that were conducted, as well as the various newspaper articles that covered our symposium. I will also be posting pictures of the various events and some information about the panels that may not have been covered in the articles. Thank you so much for continuing to watch this website and stay tuned for our future topic, which we'll be setting the week we come back from spring break.
February 20, 2011 - Spreading the Word
Cory, Dusty, David, Connie, Trevor, and Walter gathered on Saturday for some fun window painting at the Pond Student Union Building to advertise the 2011 Frank Church Symposium. We have some pictures posted here under the Photos section. Check them out!
February 9, 2011 - Insider Perspective: Amanda Zuercher
This is my second semester of IAC and to be honest I’m enjoying it. The people involved in IAC are simply amazing and make the experience even better. Right now we are down to the wire of preparing for the Symposium. The Fundraising Committee are doing one last fundraiser for the semester and I’m glad to be able to help out. I find it amazing that the Symposium is only 3 weeks away. So close yet so far. It's exciting anticipation mixed with some frustration I think but everyone is working hard to do their part.
- Amanda Zuercher
February 2, 2011 - Finalizing Panel Topics/Host Committee
We're continuing with the fine-tuning of the symposium itself, and this week we focused on a large amount of specifics and details, including how we would get the word out to people to come enjoy the various events of the 2011 Symposium. Dusty Davidson, our Publicity Chair, talked about the window painting we'll be doing at the Pond Student Union Building, as well as placing advertisements in the Idaho State Journal and on the radio as well. We'll also be doing a "Storm the Dorms" project where we target ISU students that live on campus in the residence halls. Connor Lankford, our Host Committee Chair, then talked about finalizing menu details at the various restaurants we'll be inviting our delegates out to after the daily events of the symposium are concluded. He also mentioned that any persons interested in being drivers for the symposium should get that paperwork filled out to him as soon as possible. We also finalized and "fancied up" the panel topics to give our delegates a few weeks to prepare some materials to speak on. Cory Winter, our President, wrapped up our meeting by making mention that even though we still have a lot to do, the details are coming together quite nicely. We'll post again next week with more updates. Until then!
-Walter D. Radovitch, Vice-President/Correspondence Chair, ISU International Affairs Council
Nov. 2010 The Planning Process - An Inside Look From the IAC
Hello there everyone, my name is Walter Radovitch and I am the current Vice-President and Correspondence Chair for the 2011 Frank Church Symposium. I think it's kind of interesting, last year as a freshman I attended the Frank Church Symposium as an assignment for Dr. Lybecker's introductory political science course, and this year I'm helping to plan the upcoming one in March.
The International Affairs Council, as I'm sure you are well aware, is responsible for the planning, implementation, and success of the Frank Church Symposium held every year at Idaho State University. Each year the council picks a different topic area and brings in speakers to address certain issues within the topic. This year, we've decided on a topic that has been the subject of much controversy, scrutiny, and media attention: the United States and its two border countries, Mexico and Canada.
We started off the semester with our usual meetings in the Snake River room of the Pond Student Union building under the guidance of our President, Cory Winter and our advisor, Dr. Donna L. Lybecker. The first issue we addressed this year was the large-scale topic we had left over from the previous year, which was international borders. Many of us felt that this was too broad of a topic to cover even though it would have provided for more diversification on an international level. It was put to a vote and the outcome resulted in us deciding to limit our focus areas to Mexico and Canada. That being done, we were given a mission: to research speakers and find names for delegates that might be interested in attending. One of the early problems we ran into here was the fact that many on the council were focusing specifically on Mexico and poor Canada was left out of the picture. We soon rectified this problem. We ended up with a list of about thirty names for our Correspondence Chair Tomarra Byington to contact. Additionally, Dr. Lybecker mentioned that she would speak to colleagues in the field about the possibility of participating in the symposium.
Having started contacting the delegates and receiving confirmations back, we started to focus on the specifics of the international symposium: the panel topics. Each year at the Frank Church Symposium, there are a variety of “round table” or panel topics that are discussed by a certain number of the candidates. Therefore, it is crucial that we establish these panels early enough in advance for our delegates to start thinking about which ones may interest them. We have eight generic panel topics as of right now: immigration, trade, transportation, drugs/guns, health, environment, native peoples, and education (thanks to Donna for coming up with these!). As we progress into November and December, we will be sharpening up these generic panels and creating specific questions pertaining to them, panels that should generate much public interest.
One of the reasons we feel that the subject of United States border countries will be an interesting issue to examine deals with regards to recent legislation and media attention focusing on immigration. Perhaps the most famous example of this was the Arizona law passed last year that allows for people to be stopped and searched if they are determined to have the look/stereotype that is usually associated with being an immigrant.
I must confess, I am beyond-belief excited that I decided to become a member of the International Affairs Council. Having the opportunity to work with some really great people and plan an event that draws a local perspective to an issue that exists nationwide is going to be a truly incredible experience. Though for the most part we're still in the planning stages, the research I've done so far shows me that there is a lot more out there than just Bannock County, Idaho. Hopefully those within the university community will come to see this as well. Since Idaho State University is one of only a few colleges in the western part of the country that still hosts a conference on international relations, it'll be great for us to show our commitment to our cause. We'll keep this blog updated constantly to provide you guys with a constant source of information regarding how far we're coming. Until next time!
