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Contact Us:

Our Address is:

Osgood Center for International Studies
700 12th Street, N.W., Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20005
(
202) 642-4485

www.osgoodcenter.org

Dr. Shelton WilliamsShelton Williams, President
Email: 
swilliams@osgoodcenter.org

Dr. Williams is a leader in the field of experiential education and an expert on the issue of nuclear nonproliferation policy.  In his over 35 years as a professor at Austin College in Sherman, Texas he created and supervised the college's Model United Nations team, winning numerous awards at national competitions and transforming a generation of young people into caring, capable, and globally conscious professionals.  He has contributed greatly to the field of experiential education through numerous articles and years of faculty training seminars. In addition, he has garnered several major teaching awards for his classes in International Relations, American Foreign Policy, and Comparative Politics.

Dr. Williams has also worked in government, including a tour of duty in the Department of State under Secretary of State Madeline Albright in which he worked extensively on the permanent extension of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. He also served the Office of International Programs, Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Additionally, Dr. Williams is an accomplished writer. His first non-fiction, Washed in the Blood has received wide critical acclaim and he has several others in progress.

Dr. Williams enjoys spending time with his family, specifically his grandchildren, and seeing several movies each weekend if possible.

See the Latest by Shelly Williams!

Considering Nuclear Earth Penetrators

The US and the UN: A Realist's Perspective (2002)

Where Globalization Meets Localization

Addressing Limitations in the Wake of Catastrophe

My Role in the Gulf War


Gayane ManukyanGayane Manukyan, Vice President for Program Development
Email:  gmanukyan@osgoodcenter.org

Gayane has been working in the field of International Relations for most of her life. She has extensive experience in the non-profit and International Development sector. Before taking the Vice President’s position at Osgood, she was a Project Manager for an overseas cancer research center with the Armenian American Cultural Association, Inc.

As an adjunct professor of Global Politics at Troy University, Gayane has taught in subject areas of Foreign Aid, Global Conflict, International Development, and Human Rights.

Ms. Manukyan speaks Armenian, Russian, English, Spanish and Turkish, and is currently studying French. She holds a Masters Degree in International Relations & Public Administration and BA in Communications from Troy University, and Foreign Languages/Linguistics from Linguistic University of Armenia. You can reach her by email at gmanukyan@osgoodcenter.org or at 202-663-5872.


Patrick MendisPatrick Mendis, Senior Fellow
Email:  
patrickmendis@osgoodcenter.org
 
Dr. Patrick Mendis is a Senior Fellow at the Osgood Center, where he previously served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. A Visiting Scholar in Foreign Policy at the Johns Hopkins University’s Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Dr. Mendis also teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Diplomacy at Norwich University. He recently authored another book, TRADE for PEACE, with a foreword by Professor J. Brian Atwood, Dean of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and former Administrator of USAID (see www.patrickmendis.com). A Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, Professor Mendis is an alumnus of the Harvard Executive Leadership Program at the Kennedy School of Government and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He served as an American diplomat at the US Department of State and a military professor in the NATO and Pacific Commands through the University of Maryland. He has traveled to and worked in more than 75 countries and visited all 50 states.

Michael AguilarMichael Aguilar, Director of Simulations
Email: maguilar@osgoodcenter.org

Michael is a recent graduate from the School of International Service at American University, receiving his Master’s in International Peace & Conflict Resolution. His research focused on conflict prevention, Africa and the United Nations, with a particular interest in civilian protection in conflict zones. Michael’s previous experiences have included interning with the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Future of Peace Operations programs at The Henry L. Stimson Center, and the Bureau of Management and Reform at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN). During the 62nd General Assembly session, Michael was involved in the negotiations with the financing of the U.N – African Union hybrid mission to Darfur (UNAMID).

In the summer of 2008, Michael was awarded the inaugural Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship by the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. Michael spent three months in Central America, working with the U.S. Embassies in Managua, Tegucigalpa, San Salvador and Guatemala City to investigate how a “Culture of Peace” can enhance peace and development in communities plagued by youth gangs and drug trafficking.

Michael recently returned from West Africa after finishing a fellowship with the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Based in Dakar, Senegal, Michael assisted with USDA’s Food-for-Progress and Food-for-Education programs throughout Francophone West Africa.

Michael also has a keen interest in Model United Nations. He has served as a volunteer and delegate for more than eight years to conferences in Montreal, New York and Washington, DC. Michael speaks Spanish, French and English and is currently studying Wolof – the language spoken in Senegal, Mauritania and The Gambia.


Raphael ZaffranRaphaël Zaffran, Program Associate
Email: rzaffran@osgoodcenter.org

Raphaël is a Graduate student and a Teaching Assistant at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His research has been focused on international security, asymmetric warfare and counterinsurgency with a particular interest in the recent applications of counterinsurgency measures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Raphael recently interned at the Geneva Center For Security Policy (GCSP), researching security issues in Central Asia.

Raphaël also has a keen interest in international development and Africa, more specifically. He worked in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention in Arusha, Tanzania, where he took part in prevention programs in schools and local communities. Raphael subsequently interned at UNICEF headquarters in Geneva where he undertook research on Public - Private Partnerships.

Raphaël has been a keen supporter and participant to Osgood Center Programs, attending the Summer Symposium on Foreign Policy several times. He is also a strong advocate of Model United Nations, having headed his college’s delegation to the National Model United Nations in New York City.

Mr. Zaffran graduated with honors from Royal Holloway University of London, with a BA in Politics and International Relations. He is currently completing his MA in Political Science at McGill University. Raphael speaks French, English, Spanish and is currently studying Swahili and Pashto.


Senay Ozdemir, Senior Fellow

Email: senay@osgoodcenter.org

 

Şenay Özdemir is a Dutch-Turkish journalist and women's rights advocate. She has published op-eds in newspapers around the world on topics ranging from feminist politics to virginity among older brides. In Europe, she's a familiar face on television and magazines.

Özdemir, the first Turkish tv-host and tv-producer in Europe, founded the monthly woman's magazine SEN (demographic: Mediterranean women aged 20-35 living in the Netherlands). The magazine aimed at young women in the Netherlands who, like herself, have mediterranean backgrounds and must find their place in a liberal, post-religious European world. As editor-in-chief, she wrote an advice column, addressing women's questions on topics from birth control to how to ask their boss for a raise. SEN was elected “Best New Magazine of 2004” by the leading Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant.

Şenay Özdemir and her work have been profiled in many Dutch and European magazines, but also in the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times, Foreign Policy and Austin American Statesman. She was guest editor in chief of other magazines such as Viva and Intermediair.

In 2007 she participated to the International Visitor Leadership Program and traveled throughout the USA. The same year she spoke at the International Women's Conference in Bangalore, India. In 2008 she participated at the SAVE-platform in Vienna, as women against terrorism. In October 2009 she was one of the participants of the Apeldoorn Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which was organized by The British Council. The central theme of the conference was "Trust, social cohesion, citizenship and the state in an economic down turn" with four sub themes: Trust, leadership and the role of the state, Globalisation, migration and the labour market, Solidarity and supporting the vulnerable in modern societies, Human rights and communities.

She interviewed many distinguished and famous people among whom were the Dutch prime minister Balkenende, former Miss World Azra Akin, topmodel Frederique van der Wal, Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, publicist Paul Scheffer, scholar Marion van San and worlds youngest CEO Suhas Gopinath.

From December 2008 she worked for The University of Texas at Austin where she was invited as a visiting lecturer at the School for Journalism.

In June, 2009 her first novel, De Harsclub (The Waxclub), is published which is the first Turkish chicklit in Europe. The novel is being touted as the Mediterranean version of "Sex and the City."

She is currently working on her second English novel.

© 2010 Osgood Center