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Commission Update
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Thursday April 26, 2012
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Jazz Hands!
Thanks to John Daly for pointing this out: you can check out a play list of jazz greats at the UNESCO Youtube Channel here.
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Commission Appoints Youngest Member in History
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Alex Wirth
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If you're not feeling old today, this will do the job.
Among our newest members appointed to the Commission is Alex Wirth of New Mexico. He has been heading our Youth Working Group and, at the age of 18, is the youngest member appointed to our UNESCO Commission in its history.
Alex's appointment reflects our continued focus on the important of youth in all the areas falling under UNESCO's mandate. Members of Congress recently released a joint press statement about Alex's appointment, which you can read here. Welcome to the Commission Alex!
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This article is brought to you by the letter "H"
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ProLiteracy President & CEO David Harvey
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ProLiteracy, a global leader in adult literacy and basic education programs, recently issued a press release announcing their President and CEO David Harvey's appointment to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.
Since joining ProLiteracy in 2007, David Harvey has expanded the organization's advocacy presence in Washington, DC and has created new foundation, corporate, and federal funding partnerships. He has represented ProLiteracy at conferences around the world including at UNESCO's 6th International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) in Brazil.
You can read more about David Harvey and ProLiteracy here. Welcome to the Commission David!
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Row, Row, Row Your Boat
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Waterman: Rich Meganck on the Upper Deschutes River in Central Oregon
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Also newly appointed to our UNESCO Commission is Richard Meganck.
After a 34 year career in international development, including a 6.5 year stint as Rector for the UNESCO Institute for Water Education in Delft, the Netherland, Rich has resettled in Oregon with his spouse Janet and their three Pacific Northwest based daughters.
Besides his new appointment to the Commission, Rich serves as a member of the U.S. Committee for the International Hydrological Program and is a part-time Fellow at the Institute for Wather and Watersheds at Oregon State University with the support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers institute for Water Resources (IWR) in association with its International Center for Integrated Water Resource Management UNESCO Category II Center (ICIWaRM). Rich is also consulting with the Brazilian Government to develop a new UNESCO Category II Center in the State of Minas Gerais.
Welcome to the Commission Rich!
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Holocaust Education at UNESCO
 Tomorrow Fri 4/27 experts from around the world will convene at UNESCO HQ in Paris to discuss how and why the Holocaust has become a global point of reference for mass violence.
UNESCO's programs in Holocaust education continue to develop and strengthen on a number of fronts. Our Commission is currently working with Holocaust educators in the United States to promote the establishment of a Holocaust education network through UNESCO existing system of University Chairs. We also recently submitted the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as a nominee for UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.
You can read more about tomorrow's meeting (and access it as a webcast) here.
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That Guy Gets Around!
He just completed a 5 day visit to Yekaterinburg, Russia where he met with counterparts in the Russian UNESCO Club movment. During the visit, he visited a number of schools where he addressed over one thousand students, educators and elected officials.
 On April 24, Mr. Guy Djoken and Mr. Yuri Borissikhin, Director-general at Ural-Siberian UNESCO Center and President of the Russian Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centers and Associations were the guests of the town of Degtyarsk, Russia. As a special guest of honor, Guy Djoken was invited to cut the Ribbon inaugurating a new Café in town named "Broadway."  During his speech prior to the ribbon cutting, Guy Djoken thanked President Yuri for his leadership and his support to the U.S. application last year to the World Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centers and associations.
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Because Women in Science are Worth It
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Jane Goodall with a baby Chimp
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Through the L'Oreal-UNESCO partnership to recognize outstanding women scientists, UNESCO is currently accepting nominations for two programs...
First, the 2013 L'Oreal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science recognize 5 excellent women scientists (one from each continent) at the height of their career. If you know of any fantastic American women scientists who should be considered for this $100,000 award, please send them here. The deadline for nominations on this prize is 5/30/12.
Second, if you know of any women scientists (35 or younger) working in the life sciences who either have a PhD or are pursing one, they might be great candidates for the UNESCO-L'Oreal Fellowship for Young Women in the Life Sciences. This $40,000 prize is awarded to each of 15 young women from around the world. If you know of any American women scientists who might be great candidates for this fellowship, they can find more information here, and apply here. The deadline for application for this fellowship is 6/15/12.
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 There is plenty of commentary about U.S. defunding of UNESCO happening at Be the Good Guys. If you haven't checked it out yet, or had a chance to express your opinion, you can do so here.
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World Heritage 40th Anniversary Video Challenge!
As part of the effort to mark the 40th anniversary of UNESCO's World Heritage Convention, our Commission is teaming up with the National Park Service, the American Council for Historic Preservation, and History to accept submissions for a video challenge!
If you or anybody you know would like to speak out about why American World Heritage sites are important for the world, send in a submission! Find out more here!
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International Education Resources Series:
Taking IT Global
 This is the fifth installment of a series from our Commission's Youth Working Group about International Educational Resources you might not know about.
Taking IT Global (TIG) is an online community of youth interested in global social change. Through TIG, youth can connect with peers from all over the world to share ideas, questions, and solutions.
Social change organizations can create online profiles and post events and projects, engaging youth in their work. Individual users can find out about events and opportunities in their geographic location, and use TIG's free online tools to leverage projects, initiatives, groups and ideas.
TIG includes 340,000 members with more than 22,000 non-profit organizations across 13 languages. TIG's education program, TIGed, provides educators around the world with resources to bring global issues into their classrooms. Through TIGed, educators and students can connect online with classes around the world and participate in international projects that focus on global issues, social change, cross-cultural dialogue, and the use of technology. To learn more about TIG and access free resources, visit Taking It Global here.
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 The Tokyo based Goi Peace Foundation is calling for submissions to it's International Essay Contest for Young People.
This program is open to participants 25 and younger - the theme of this year's essay contest is: "Creating the Future We Want."
1st Prize for this year is 1300 bucks - and there are a bunch of other prizes after that. If you're short enough in the tooth (young enough to participate) or know anyone who is that might be interested, please send them here.
Deadline for submissions is Sat 6/30/12. You can see last year's prize winning essays here.
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The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNACOC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are calling on youth (25 or younger) to submit original and creative videos - 5 minutes or less - focusing on migration, diversity, and social inclusion as part of a video conference.
Winners will get a free trip to New York to present their submissions to the Plural+ Youth Video Festival in December.
The deadline for video submissions is 7/1/12. For more information, go here!
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Hey! Are you on the Twitter?How about the Facebook?
 So is the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO! If you haven't liked us yet, we won't take it personally. But...what are you waiting for! Like us here. 
Do you do the Twitter? If so, follow us here! If you are too respectable for Facebook or Twitter, that's ok. But how about connecting to our group on LinkedIn?  |
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Have some UNESCO-esque Stuff?
....That you'd like spread around here for the good of the order? Please let me know know!
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UNESCO in the USA
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