David L. Boren Awards for International Study

This year’s Boren Fellowship Symposium was held on September 9-10, at the Liaison Hotel in Washington, DC.  More than 50 Boren Fellowship alumni attended the symposium that opened with a welcome by Allan Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute of International Education and Robert Slater, director of the National Security Education Program.   

On the first day, Boren Fellowship alumni presented on a variety of topics.  The first panel of Boren Fellows discussed political science and international affairs, drawing on research conducted during their fellowships, such as local governance in Turkey at the neighborhood level, anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing infrastructure of the government of Lebanon, and global security challenges associated with irregular migration and human trafficking in Thailand.  The second panel focused on topics in social science and humanities, such as the rapid growth of a new form of urban-based shamanism in Mongolia, education reform in Albania, and the protected area policy in the Brazilian Amazon.  The third group of panelists concentrated on science and health policy, presenting on the water quality and chemistry of small streams in an agricultural settlement area in Brazil, palliative care of HIV/AIDS at a non-governmental organization in Uganda, and challenges to improving the air pollution in China.  The final panel of the day consisted of former Boren Fellows who now hold federal jobs at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense presenting on their respective federal job searches and how the Boren Fellowship has affected their careers. 

Recent Boren Scholarship alumni were invited to attend the second day of events, which included a job information session with representatives from sixteen federal government agencies and various federal contractors.