Recently Published: Russian Poetry Translations, Online Terror Financing, Decolonizing the Classroom, and More

Jason Blazakis Pens Report on Far-Right Online Financing

Jason Blazakis, Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies (NPTS) professor and director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, had his paper “Far-Right Online Financing and How to Counter It”  published in August by the Global Center on Cooperative Security, a New York City-based think tank. The paper examines tech issues (e.g., crypto and NFTs) and how they can be exploited by right-wing actors.

Professor and Student Coauthor Paper on Five-Eyes Right-Wing Terrorist Designation

Through the Soufan Center, Jason Blazakis has released a paper coauthored with his graduate research assistant, NPTS student Megan Rennebaum. In “Comparing Violent Far-Right Terrorist Designations among Five-Eyes Countries,” the two examine the array of terrorist designations undertaken by the Five-Eye countries—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States—against violent far-right terrorists.

Alum Publishes Russian-to-English Poetry Translations

Conference Interpretation alum, Valeriya Yermishova MACI ’22 had her Russian-to-English translations of Nikita Sungatov’s poetry published this spring in two anthologies: Verses on the Vanguard: Russian Poetry Today (Deep Vellum Press), a project sponsored by PEN America; and This Is Us Losing Count: Eight Russian Poets (Two Lines Press, Center for the Art of Translation Calico Series).

Professor and Students Publish Article on Decolonizing the Classroom

Professor Pushpa Iyer and four graduate students (Ellen King, Christina Guerrero, Chanel Leonard, and Alicia Clark) from Iyer’s spring 2022 course Decolonizing Knowledge have coauthored an article that was featured in Voices of Monterey Bay in July. “Decolonize Your Head” features an experiment, run by the students in the course, in decolonizing the classroom, its curriculum, and its pedagogy. It details the experiences of the five authors and builds recommendations for decolonized approaches to classroom design.

Wei Liang Coedits Reference Book on Trade Wars

Professor Wei Liang and Karen Zheng are the editors of The Research Handbook on Trade Wars (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022), which provides a holistic understanding of the origins, dynamics, and implications of trade wars, which are growing larger and more frequent in today’s increasingly interdependent global society.  

Alum Lands Book Deal on Negotiation

Publishers Weekly has announced that attorney and mediator Damali Peterman MAIPS ’02 sold the North American rights to her book Negotiating While Black: How to Be Who You Are to Get What You Want to U.S. publisher Putnam. Peterman is CEO of the dispute-resolution firm Breakthrough ADR. Her professional experience in conflict resolution together with her personal experiences as a Black woman will, Putnam says, make the book an “authentic guide that accounts for the bias that occurs in most negotiations.” Release is set for spring 2024.

Two Alumni Featured in New Book that Profiles Project Leaders in English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

Shahid Abrar-ul Hassan MATESOL ’07 led a session on English for specific purposes (ESP) at a convention, which resulted in a list of FAQs he used to create an in-depth piece that has become a go-to resource for people in the field. And Tarana Patel MATESOL ’22 did a needs assessment for her on-site English training program for engineers and managers in IT and manufacturing industries. When it surfaced that employees’ top motivation for learning English was to help their children with English homework, her team leveraged a flipped classroom approach that fostered engagement at home. For these accomplishments in ESP, the two MIIS alumni have been included in the recent book English for Specific Purposes Project Leader Profiles: The Leadership Communication of 55 ESP Project Leaders. The book is free to download.