Event Highlights: Division of Regional Studies Welcome Gala Reception
On September 17, the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University opened its doors to host an evening reception filled with good food, live music, and thoughtful conversation to welcome members of the Division of Regional and Thematic Studies (DRS) for the first time as a division. With a faculty of nearly 200, the DRS comprises the BU centers and programs dedicated to the study of Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, the Muslim societies, and culture and religion.
The DRS strives to both develop and share a deep knowledge of specific regions and their cultures, and to promote rigorous, transformative, and interdisciplinary scholarship, and on last Thursday night, those goals were certainly achieved.
The event fostered intersectional conversations on global affairs among faculty affiliated with the various interdisciplinary programs in the Pardee School. The event was emceed by professor Timothy Longman, Chair of the Council of Directors of the Division of Regional and Thematic Studies, and many of the directors of centers within the division stepped up to share their goals, upcoming events, and prior achievements.
Since sharing, understanding, and appreciating language and culture are such essential pieces of the Pardee School’s mission, hired to accompany these global conversations were Elise Boeur and Nate Sabat, a Norwegian folk duo who met in the World Strings Ensemble during their time at Berklee College of Music.
The first of many events this year at the Pardee School of Global Studies, the gala reception embodied the aims of the DRS and cultivated the kinds of dialogues that inspire members of the community to seek peace that lasts, development that works, and knowledge that transforms the global future.
-Toria Rainey, ’18