Letter from the Director

Welcome to the second edition of the SID alumni e-newsletter. Your response to our first edition was overwhelming. It was wonderful to hear from many of you who had been out of touch. Thank you for all your good comments and feedback. In this edition, we feature alumni who are working in the fields of advocacy, media and community organization. We also include updates from alums around the world and faculty members, Ricardo Godoy and Marion Howard, who have written about their recent work in Bolivia and Colombia.

For those who remember SID's beginnings in crowded space in the old Ford Hall or our years off campus at Turner Street, or even the last couple of years in the old Heller Building, I am pleased to tell you that we have moved into the new Heller School building. The old building is currently being renovated after which we will spread out even further with a dedicated SID library among other great amenities.

I am also pleased to report that we have hired Edward Kibirige (kibirige@brandeis.edu) as an expansion of our career services to support students and alumni in their careers in development in the US and internationally. As Edward settles into his new position, I encourage you to be in contact with him to learn about new services for alumni and the potential of an expanded website.

In the last few months, SID's Center for International Development (CID) hosted Wavy Gravy, a US activist (and co-founder of the Seva Foundation) who uses humor and performance art to promote social change, personal transformation, and community mobilization. We also held a professional seminar (ProSeminar) on genocide with Gerry Kaplan, a former senior consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, a senior advisor to the UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, and the author of many writings on genocide in our time, including Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide. Moreover, more than thirty SID students had the opportunity to hear 2004 Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai speak in Boston, courtesy of Sherri Brokopp, MA '03.

Wavy was our first guest as part of CID's new program on Arts, Development and Social Change. I have long believed that SID needed to consider the potency of creative expression that may affect deep, lasting and positive change in our world today. By hosting a series of interactive performances and exhibits, CID wants students and alumni to appreciate that positive social change may begin through the unique and personal reflections that the arts are able to stir in us individually and as a community.

Finally, this newsletter is an attempt to widen the special bond that is created within each class in residence. We look forward to hearing your news, comments and ideas about how to connect all SID alumni both professionally and personally. Write to us at sid@brandeis.edu.. We await news of your good work.

Laurence R. Simon, Ph.D.
Professor of International Development
Director of the SID Programs