Welcome

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at The University of Montana promotes better understanding of Asia, U.S. relations with Asia, and ethics in public affairs in the spirit of Senator Mike Mansfield (1903-2001) and his wife and life partner Maureen Hayes Mansfield. The Center houses programs that focus on the peoples and cultures of modern Asia and ethics in public affairs, the core interests and hallmarks of Senator Mansfield's career.

The Mansfield Center is pleased to welcome Dr. Abraham Kim as our new director, effective August 1st, 2013. He comes to us from a position as Vice President and former Interim President of the Korea Economic Institute of America in Washington, D.C. Dr. Kim brings over 15 years' experience in policy leadership to the Maureen & Mike Mansfield Center. More on Dr. Kim.

UM Law Professors Recruited to Keynote at Vietnam Legal Conferences

The US Embassy in Hanoi recently selected three representatives of The University of Montana School of Law to present three separate workshops in three cities in Vietnam this year. Professor Andrew King-Ries, Professor Eduardo Capulong, and ACLU Staff Attorney and UMSL Adjunct Professor Anna Conley will each present a three-day workshop relating to criminal defense issues. Read more.

AYLP banner

Our Cambodia group departed Montana on June 19! Follow them on our blog at http://www.aylpcambodia.wordpress.com.

Montana group meets with the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia. http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/montana_students.html

Watch this space for information on the 2014 AYLP Cambodia program for 20 Montana high school students and two high school teachers.

•Seeley Swan Pathfinder publishes article about Angus Batchelder and Mariah Cooper-Nies, two of the participating students, and their excitement about our upcoming departure to Cambodia on June 19th! Read the article here!

•The Ravalli Republic reports on AYLP participation by students Devyn Hafer and Roxy Rademacher and teacher Allison Neils-LeMoine. Read the article here!

•Char-Koosta Newspaper publishes an article about Louis Bunce, Nicole Range, Courtney Perry and Camaleigh Old Coyote, four of the participants of A.Y.L.P going to Cambodia. Read the article here!

• The latest media coverage on the program: The Valley Journal based in Ronan, with a focus on three of our four Native students: Click here!

The Mansfield Center is proud to manage the U.S. Department of State-sponsored Study of the U.S. Institute (SUSI) on Global Environmental Issues. This program hosts 20 undergraduate student leaders from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and Thailand for one month in Montana followed by a week-long study-tour in Louisiana and Washington, DC. SUSI consists of meetings, field trips, and cultural activities focusing on a wide array of environmental and cultural issues. The group will be in Montana this year from July 1-27.

The Mansfield Center is honored to host a program of the U.S. Department of State, the Economic Empowerment Exchange Program for Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. This program specifically seeks out participants who seek to be empowered with concrete skills they can use to generate economic growth, with the objective to increase incomes and reduce poverty in their respective countries through access to more economic opportunities.

In our program, 20 southeast Asians and 20 Americans will travel in four cohorts from April 2013 - January 2014. Southeast Asian participants will engage in a 37-day program in the U.S., while U.S. participants will travel overseas for an average 16-day program.

To find out how to be a part of this exciting program to empower people through building economic opportunity, visit our program page.

U.S. State Department published an article about one of our spring Fellows, Dang Quang Minh, and his fellowship on Homestead Organics Farm.

As we are pleased to host a number of exchanges with Laos for both students and professionals, we are also concerned about the disappearance of our Lao partner PADETC's founder, Sombath Somphone. For more information on Mr. Sombath, click here. For U.S. Embassy Vientiane comment on Mr. Somabath, click here.

Brown Bag Series

The Spring 2013 Brown Bag Series has ended.

Please check back in the Fall for information on our Fall 2013 Brown Bag Series!

Robert McCoy is retired from the U.S. Air Force, where he worked as a Korea specialist during his long career. He studied Korean language and culture at Yale's Institute of Far Eastern Languages and advanced Korean studies at the Monterey Defense Language Institute, and holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Maryland and the University of Nebraska. He has spent more than 15 years in Asia.

The Mansfield Center

Level 4, Mansfield Library

University of Montana

Missoula, MT 59812

(406) 243-2988

(406) 243-2181 fax

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