"you're going to crash anyway, you're going to crash a million times, but if you have realism, you'll survive the crash" - Dani Giandomenico

" I am someone who really believes that you need to be creative to work in tech and to be creative you need to feel psychologically safe" - Shannon Mitchell

Vermont Council on World Affairs President & CEO, Patricia Preston, closes out International Women's Day 2025: "I hope these women today enable you to push for greater change for opportunities where we work, live, and lead."

#CareerConnections Kansas City will take place March 27-28. Hosted by Global Ties KC, this professional development seminar for U.S. citizen #ExchangeAlumni will focus on preparing attendees for the 21st-century workforce. Learn more and apply by March 17: gties.us/CC

“Korea has been evolving into a high tech industry country thanks to the U.S., and it has helped us both grow our economies. That aspect that we have grown together makes us the perfect partner in the Indo-Pacific region.” Hyung Choi, U.S. Embassy of the Republic of Korea.

Welcome to the third event of Vermont Council on World Affairs's International Speaker Series: Navigating Global Challenges in Technology. For this event, we welcome our speaker Dr. Nazli Choucri.

Choucri shares " The interesting thing about cyberspace is that it is in a co-evolution race with us, it is changing at a pace that is not what we are accustomed to."

Our speaker Dr. Choucri is a Professor of Political Science at MIT, focusing on cyberpolitics and computational social science. Her work spans geopolitics, the environment, and cyberspace, with publications on global security, sustainability, and international cooperation.

Our moderator Micheal Igoe shares, ""This question of who is making the rules, and who should be making them, is really central to the AI discussion"

Thank you to our moderator Michael Igoe, a Senior Reporter with Devex in D.C. where he covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance.

Thank you, Sarwar Kashmeri, Dr. Pablo Bose, and Michael Igoe, as well as everyone who joined us today for Resilience of Global Partnerships in an Uncertain Era, the final session of our 2025 International Speaker Series.

THE VCWA’S INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE EVENT STARTS SOON! FOLLOW ALONG AS WE EXPLORE CIVIL DISCOURSE, THE EVOLVING ROLE OF INTERATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND MORE WITH “BUILDING BRIDGES IN A FRACTIONED WORLD”

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS Hanson+Doremus, Pomerleau Family Foundation, Northfirld Savings Bank, Patrick Robins and Lisa Schamburg, Lintilhac Foundation, World Affairs Councils of America, @bellwetherinternstional

Senator Peter Welch shares: What’s better than soft power, really nothing. The opposite of soft power leads to war.

During our first session, From Conflict to Connection: Discourse as a Peace Tool, our panel discusses the role of civil discourse in maintaining peace.

Christina Barsky shares: It makes me think about democracy as something that exists not just in its natural form, but it is something we experience every day

During our second session, Power and Presence: What Happens When the U.S. Steps Back, our panel explores the changing economic environment of international aid.

Courtney Chubb states: “We identify challenges … and we really hone in on the ones we can change and stay sustainable”

During our third and final session, our panel discusses The Other-ing Effect: Preventing Hate.

Sarika Tandon shares: “I am motivated by being able to look my decedents in the eye and saying I worked really hard on these impossible problems”