FSI's 2010 Fall Orientation welcomed faculty, staff, researchers, and friends of the institute to the new academic year and highlighted the institute's diverse research collaborations, educational programs, and policy engagement.  Presentations on display and in live video offered highlights of the current work of FSI centers and programs on many of the most challenging issues of the day. In his welcoming remarks, FSI Director Coit Blacker emphasized the interdisciplinary, cross-campus nature of FSI's work and thanked the FSI community for their many contributions to new knowledge and new approaches to many of the most pressing issues on today's global agenda.

This year's Orientation attracted the largest turnout to date. On continual display was a slide show capturing research of FSI centers and programs in the field and multi-disciplinary work here at the institute, along with highlights of FSI conferences, lectures, and policy endeavors compiled by FSI's Nora Sweeny.

Among the highlights were the following displays:

• A presentation by the Center for International Security and Cooperation on the center's research, writing, policy influence, and Track II Diplomacy
• A display of the many books published by the Walter Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center showing the range of economic, political, and regional issues addressed by APARC scholars, and a photo slideshow of recent events and publications demonstrating the breadth of faculty work bridging the U.S. and Asia
• A presentation by The Europe Center, newly launched and housed jointly in FSI and the Division of International and Comparative Area Studies, featuring major research areas, visiting scholars, publications, and notable events
• A presentation by Stanford Health Policy capturing its multidisciplinary work in medicine, law, business, economics, engineering, and psychology
•  A presentation by the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies, a two-year interdisciplinary Master's program, which captured the IPS practicum, scholarly concentrations, internships, and careers
  
• A presentation by the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development featuring its work on environmental and policy research employing state of the art methodology to examine such issues as renewable energy, natural gas markets, national oil companies, low-income energy services, and climate change policy
• A presentation by the Program on Food Security and the Environment which addresses hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation. FSE showcased its current research on topics such as solar electrification, food and nutrition security, climate change and conflicts, and evolving U.S. energy policy, as well as its upcoming series on Food Policy, Food Security, and the Environment
• A presentation by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education, which develops multi-disciplinary curriculum materials on international themes reflecting FSI scholarship. Recent educational projects include a three-part series examining U.S.-South Korean relations, Uncovering North Korea, and Inter-Korean Relations; and a collaboration with TeachAIDS, which works to address and overcome the social and cultural challenges related to HIV/AIDS prevention education through materials offered via the internet and CDs in several languages, http://teachaids.org
• A presentation featuring the Stanford Global Gateway, a comprehensive directory of Stanford in the world
• A presentation previewing the vision and mission of the Stanford Center at Peking University, opening Fall 2011

Other highlights included the presentations prepared by Stanford students who worked in the field this past summer. One group worked in China, developing a survey on nutrition and anemia and their effect on learning, with FSI's Scott Rozelle, Director of the Rural Education Action Program. A second group helped Dr. Paul Wise, professor of pediatrics and Stanford Health Policy core faculty member, evaluate prenatal care in the rural highlands of Guatemala.

In his new book, Stalin's Genocides (Princeton University Press), CISAC affiliated faculty member and research affiliate at The Europe Center Norman M. Naimark proposes an expansion of the standard definition of genocide: the systematic mass murder of national, ethnic, racial and religious groups. Naimark argues that the definition of the "crime of crimes" should be expanded to include social classes and political groups, and uses Josef Stalin's rule as a case in point.

Fall 2010 marks the launch of The Europe Center (formerly the Forum on Contemporary Europe/FCE), housed jointly within the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and the Division of International, Comparative and Area Studies (ICA). The Europe Center will continue to serve as Stanford's main center for research on European affairs, trans-Atlantic relations, and the role of Europe and the United States in addressing today's most pressing global economic, political, and security issues.

The Europe Center is dedicated to new thinking about Europe and the global context of trans-Atlantic relations in the new millennium. The increasingly complex challenges facing Europe and its global relations—including labor migrations, strains on welfare economies, local identities, globalized cultures, expansion and integration, and threats of terrorism—coupled with Europe’s recent struggle to ratify a single constitution, underline the challenges that Europe and the United States share, and the need to bring Stanford’s finest multidisciplinary research into practical policy dialogue with an engaged public.

Europe Center Director Amir Eshel (German Studies, Comparative Literature), outlines the importance of the new center in FSI's forthcoming 2010 Annual Report: “As the United States and Europe face new challenges in the international arena, they share lasting economic and political interests as well as a set of values that is crucial for the future of a prosperous, free humanity. In the next decade, the peaceful ascendance of new powers will depend on the stability of the trans-Atlantic alliance and its commitment to solving conflicts such as those that destabilize the Middle East or impede efforts to combat hunger and poverty in Africa.”

Founded in 1997, first as the European Forum, and now as a full research center, The Europe Center gathers Stanford’s most distinguished Europeanists across all disciplines, encourages them to speak on our most pressing issues, and brings them into policy dialogue with public leaders.