Sky Above Israel (Song: Blue Sky - J Hacha De Zola)
Abstract:
Mr. Keith W. Mines
Senior Foreign Service Officer - U.S. Institute of Peace Fellow
Keith will be speaking on the current security situation in Israel and Palestine, including U.S. Interest and engagement in the country. Keith will also speak to some of the larger regional security issues and U.S. policy and engagement across the region.
This event is co-sponsored by the UVU department of Center for National Security Studies
Biography:
Keith W. Mines is currently on a fellowship with the U.S. Institute of Peace where he is working on the issue of federalism as a mechanism to stabilize failed and fragile states (especially Syria), and Middle East Peace. Most recently he was Political Counsellor at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv where he led a section covering the peace process, U.S.-Israel political-military relations, liaison with the Knesset and Israeli political parties, human rights issues, and regional dynamics. Prior to this he was the U.S. Senior Civilian Representative and Consul General in Mazar e-Sharif, Afghanistan, overseeing U.S. assistance and outreach to the nine provinces of Northern Afghanistan. From 2008-2012 Mr. Mines was Director of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Section in the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, where he managed the Merida Initiative, a new partnership between the U.S. and Mexico in the fight against international crime and narcotics trafficking. Mr. Mines is a career Foreign Service Officer with postings to Tel Aviv, San Salvador, Port-au-Prince, Washington D.C. (Brazil Desk), Budapest, and Ottawa. In addition, Mr. Mines ran the U.S. Field Office in Darfur in 2007; served as Governance Coordinator in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq from 2003-2004; was interim Economic Counsellor in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in 2002; and Executive Assistant to the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General in the UNOSOM II peacekeeping mission in Somalia in 1994. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Mines was a U.S. Army Special Forces Officer with service in Central America and North Carolina. He was educated at Brigham Young University and Georgetown University where he studied history and diplomacy. Mr. Mines is a frequent contributor to the Foreign Service Journal and other publications and has written extensively on nation building and U.S. security policy. A native of Colorado, Mr. Mines is married to the former Cecile McGuire of New York City and they have four semi-grown children, Jonathan, Joshua, Rachel, and Daniel.
The Beit Lehi, Israel Engaged Learning Project is situated in the country of Israel approximately 22 miles southwest of Jerusalem. It is an archaeology site discovered in the Judean Lowland consisting of an ancient village that occupied the area from approximately 600 BC to 1500 AD. The Israeli Antiquities Authority refers to this site as one of the most prolific and significant digs currently taking place in all of Israel. Students from UVU’s Departments of Engineering Design Technology (EDT), Geomatics and Digital Media, and in coordination with the Beit Lehi Foundation, have been brought in to carry out many significant tasks to assist in the discovery and future development of the site.
Students from the EDT Geomatics program are currently performing the surveying and mapping of the site while students from the EDT Drafting program will be designing the visitor center and other amenities needed to accommodate visitors in the future. Students from the Digital Media Department have been filming and documenting many of the features and artifacts discovered on the site. Several documentaries have been produced and are airing on TV and the internet bringing a lot of publicity and notoriety to UVU. Students have been working alongside Dr. Oren Gutfeld from the Hebrew University who is one of the most renowned archeologists in Israel today. The Beit Lehi project has proven to be a premier engaged learning opportunity for the students of UVU.
Professor Darin Taylor
Engineering & Design Technology & UVU Beit Lehi Israel Archaeology Project
EDUCATION:
M.Ed. in Instructional Technology from Utah State University
B.S. in Technology Management from Utah Valley State College
A.A.S. in Drafting Technology from Utah Technical College
CERTIFICATIONS: NICET Certification, No 77115 (Transportation Engineering/Highway Design)
AWARDS:
SERVICE:
Abstract:
Ms. Michele Gingras
Distinguished Professor of Clarinet - Miami University
Love Jewish dance music? Come an learn how to play klezmer clarinet!
Klezmer clarinetist Michele Gingras will teach everyone how to play Hava Nagila with ornaments in authentic Eastern European style. We will learn about history, performers, technique, and most of all, we will all play Hava Nagila with a great play-along band. Bring your instruments and let's play, or you can observe and learn!
Biography:
Michele Gingras is Distinguished Professor of Clarinet at Miami University (OH) where she was named Curry Distinguished Educator and Distinguished Scholar of the Graduate Faculty. She performed and taught masterclasses worldwide, released over a dozen CDs, wrote 200 articles and reviews for numerous international publications, and authored two books: Clarinet Secrets and More Clarinet Secrets (Scarecrow Press). She performed with the Cincinnati Klezmer Project, Duo2go, and Miami3 throughout the US and abroad for 20 years. Michele is Past-Secretary of the International Clarinet Association and is an Artist Clinician for Buffet Crampon and Légère Reeds. Subscribe to her videocasts on iTunes and visit her online at Michelegingras.com
Abstract:
Professor John Macfarlane
Advisor/Adjunct Instructor - History & Political Science
The Middle East Study Abroad Program studies the Israeli/Palestinian conflict by exposing students to both sides of the issue in Israel and the West Bank. Students take classes at Birzeit University, a Palestinian university in the West Bank, and Netanya Academic College, an Israeli college near Tel Aviv. Our objective for this study abroad is to teach students to listen to those involved in the conflict and to think about peaceful means to resolve conflict.
Biography:
Former Air Force A-10 pilot.
Advisor for History & Political Science.
Peace & Justice Executive Committee.
Study Abroad Program to Middle East in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016.
Teach a class on International Terrorism – POLS 3100.
EDUCATION
M.Phil. Degree University of Utah: Political Science
Certificate in Terrorism Studies from St. Andrews University
Where: Allen Communication Corporate Headquarters When: 8:45am - 1:30pm
Abstract:
As part of the event, the Utah Israel Economic Council is proud to host 6 innovative education technology companies from Israel. The showcase is a great opportunity for Utah based Edtech companies and investors in this area to see what’s new and meet one on one with innovative companies from Israel’s Startup scene.
GT 416 | 2:30PM
Abstract:
Israeli-born jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman will present a master class on jazz improvisation, describing his unique approach to jazz guitar playing, discussing his musical life growing up in Israel, working directly with UVU jazz students, and providing insights about the music industry.
Biography:
Gilad Hekselman has been developing a reputation as one of the most promising guitarists in New York since his arrival in 2004. After only a few years this native Israeli has shared the stage with some of the greatest artists in the New York City jazz scene including Chris Potter, Mark Turner, John Scofield, Anat Cohen, Ari Hoenig, Esperanza Spalding, Sam Yahel, Jeff Ballard, Gretchen Parlato, Avishai Cohen, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Tigran Hamasyan, Aaron Parks and Greg Hutchinson.
Gilad has played all major jazz clubs in New York City including the Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Dizzy's Club and Smalls. He is constantly touring world-wide and has played most noteworthy jazz festivals including Montreux (Sui), North Sea (Ned), Montreal (Can) & San Francisco (USA).
Gilad is the winner of the 2005 Gibson Montreux International Guitar Competition. He opened for guitar legend Paco de Lucia at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006, which led to a string of performances at the IAJE Conference and at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York. Read more
GT 507 | 7:30PM
Abstract:
Israeli-born jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman has become one of the most promising musicians of his generation on the New York jazz scene. He will be joined in a free concert by several of Utah's finest jazz musicians.
Biography:
Gilad Hekselman has been developing a reputation as one of the most promising guitarists in New York since his arrival in 2004. After only a few years this native Israeli has shared the stage with some of the greatest artists in the New York City jazz scene including Chris Potter, Mark Turner, John Scofield, Anat Cohen, Ari Hoenig, Esperanza Spalding, Sam Yahel, Jeff Ballard, Gretchen Parlato, Avishai Cohen, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Tigran Hamasyan, Aaron Parks and Greg Hutchinson.
Gilad has played all major jazz clubs in New York City including the Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Dizzy's Club and Smalls. He is constantly touring world-wide and has played most noteworthy jazz festivals including Montreux (Sui), North Sea (Ned), Montreal (Can) & San Francisco (USA).
Gilad is the winner of the 2005 Gibson Montreux International Guitar Competition. He opened for guitar legend Paco de Lucia at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006, which led to a string of performances at the IAJE Conference and at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York. Read more
Biography:
SAM GRUNDWERG was appointed Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April 2016, and assumed the post in August 2016. Mr. Grundwerg is the senior representative of the State of Israel to the Southwestern United States.
Immediately before becoming Consul General, Mr. Grundwerg served as Director General in Israel for the World Jewish Congress (WJC), an international organization representing Jewish communities in over 100 countries to governments, parliaments and other international organizations. As the head of WJC's operations in Israel, Mr. Grundwerg advanced the overall mission of the WJC to strengthen and support Jewish communities around the world, as well as the State of Israel and the Jewish People.
Before joining the World Jewish Congress, Consul General Grundwerg worked as an attorney at a major international law firm in the United States and held positions in the fields of law and finance in the U.S. and Israel. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law and holds an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Miami School of Business, as well as an undergraduate degree from Bar Ilan University.
Originally hailing from Miami Beach, Florida, Grundwerg fulfilled a lifelong dream and moved to Israel in 1990 and made Aliyah soon afterward. Once in Israel, he served as a combat soldier in the IDF armored corps, and later in the IDF reserves as a casualty officer.
Mr. Grundwerg is married to Julia, a nurse. The couple has three children, Elisha, Felicia and Sarita.
The Consul General is an avid sports fan and enjoys biking in his spare time.
Biography:
Professor Abdullahi Gallab brings to his research and teaching the unique perspectives of a scholar and a former journalist practicing in Sudan. His 2008 book "The First Islamist Republic: Development and Disintegration of Islamism in the Sudan" is the story of the social world of Islamism. Based on extensive field work inside and outside the Sudanese Islamist regime that came to power through a military coup in 1989, the book provides an entry point into its local and global worlds as they interact and collide with each other.
His later book "A Civil Society Deferred: The Tertiary Grip of Violence in the Sudan" is a critical inquiry into the colonial and post colonial states as they developed in the Sudan and their relationship to violence. Under preparation is Gallab's book "Their Second Republic: Islamism in the Sudan from Disintegration to Oblivion." It is a continuation of the study of Islamism in power in the Sudan.
Active in the Sudan Studies Association (SSA) of North American (which now has its home within African and African American Studies in the ASU's School of Social Transformation), Professor Gallab is former editor and current publisher of the organization's Bulletin and was conference host of the SSA 2012 conference, held at ASU. He is president of the organization for 2013-2015. This U.S.-based association of scholars promotes the advancement of research in the field of Sudan studies and facilitates the distribution of knowledge and understanding of Greater Sudan and its relationship to the wider world. Gallab also serves as co-chair of Islamic Studies for the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Western Region and is a board member for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
At ASU Professor Gallab also serves as a member of the Honors faculty and on the advisory board for the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict.
Children often share their experiences and emotions through indirect methods of communication, such as art and play. As a result, their personal accounts of war frequently go unseen and unheard by the international community. In WAR-TOYS: Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip, Brian McCarty’s photographic works interpret children’s drawings and offer a rare yet fascinating insight into the contemporary experiences of Palestinian and Israeli boys and girls.
A program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of the Mid-America Arts Alliance and The National Endowment for the Arts.
Brian McCarty, Gaza Cinderella, 2012, archival print, 51 x 34 inches, courtesy the artist. © Brian McCarty.
In conjunction with Global Spotlight: Israel, the UVU Wind Symphony will perform a suite of Jewish music titled “Rikudim”. They will present four concerts this year under the themes, “Something Old…Something New…Something Borrowed…Something Blue.” The Jewish music is part of the “Something Borrowed” concert on March 1 at 7pm in the Ragan Theater.
Biography:
Ryan Vogel is an assistant professor and the founding Director of National Security Studies at Utah Valley University. Before coming to UVU, Professor Vogel served at the Pentagon as a senior policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He began his career at the Pentagon through the Presidential Management Fellowship program and was awarded the Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service in 2014.
Professor Vogel has also served at the Public International Law & Policy Group, at the U.S. Senate, and at the State Department. He has taught law and national security courses at American University in Washington, D.C, BYU Law School, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Professor Vogel holds an LLM in public international law, with a certificate in national security law, from the Georgetown University Law Center. He earned a J.D. and an M.A. in international affairs from American University. Professor Vogel is an alum of Utah Valley University, where he graduated with a B.S. in Integrated Studies.
Biography:
Born in Jaffa in 1968 and raised in the Upper Galilee town of Safed, Oren Gutfeld earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology, carrying out post-doctoral research in the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Oren has over twenty years’ experience in directing archaeological excavations, including the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, the Early Islamic city of Ramla, Herod’s palace-fortresses at Herodium and Hyrcania, and the village of Beit Loya in the Judean Lowland, inhabited from the Iron Age to the Mamluk period.
For several years, he has been collaborating with UVU on the Beit Lehi Israel Archaeology Project. In early 2017, Dr. Gutfeld announced his discovery of the 12th Dead Sea Scroll Cave. He is also a seasoned tour guide and lecturer, working with The Hebrew University, the Israel Museum, Tel Aviv University, and the Tourism Ministry, as well as with private groups from both Israel and abroad.
Click here for more information on the discovery of the 12th Dead Sea Scroll Cave.
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