Meet Ibrahim M. Ghossein of the 2012 Senior Managers’ Course
Allow me please to share my thoughts and feelings about the Senior Managers’ Course at James Madison University.
The impeccable setup and preparation is mind dazzling; I was extremely impressed by the level of professionalism and academia of all personnel involved.
This course highly improved my skills and highlighted my weaknesses and areas in need for improvement, despite my long experience in mine action. The course material and subjects covered will improve my management ability and coherence of leadership endeavors.
The wide-spectrum curriculum covers all aspects of mine action in management, finance and challenges. Also, it was presented in a fashion easy to comprehend, despite the diversity of people enrolled.
James Madison University, with a state-of-the-art campus, is definitely the place to be; what a marvelous experience to remember and cherish for the end of time. The staff involved with participants ease your day with a warm smile and end it in such a fashion.
Finally, I am not in a position to request course changes and additions; it’s far beyond what I have expected, and as a closing thought I assure every staff member from SMC that they have won a longtime friend who will always rememeber the tremendous efforts and contributions demonstrated throughout the course. Congratulations for a job well done.
Respectfully yours,
Ibrahim M. Ghossein
Director / Project Manager of Lebanese Demining Organization
ibrahimghossein@yahoo.com
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Born in Beirut, Ibrahim M. Ghossein, has visited 47 countries and speaks Arabic, English and French. With a diverse background in demining, Ghossein founded the Lebanese Demining Organization. He works as the director and program manager and has 35 employees split into three separate teams that focus efforts on Southern Lebanon’s mine problem. Having lived on the Ivory Coast, among many other places, today he frequently travels between his homes in California and Southern Lebanon with his wife and four children.
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HARRISONBURG — James Madison University will help two Iraqi universities gain accredited business programs with funds from a $629,513 grant.
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business awarded the money to JMU’s Center for International Stabilization and Recovery and College of Business. The center and business school will train business faculty at Salahaddin University in Erbil, Iraq, and Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad about topics like current teaching practices, curriculum development, classroom management and student engagement.
The goal of the partnerships is to attract and retain high-quality faculty and students, better prepare students for jobs after graduation and help the universities gain accreditation for finance and business programs.
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Each year, as many as 25,000 people are maimed or killed by landmines around the world, including large numbers of civilians.
While landmines are inexpensive to produce – about $3-$30 each, depending on the model – finding and clearing them can cost as much as $1,000 per mine. It is a slow and deliberative process. Specially trained dogs are the gold standard, but they can be distracted by larger mine fields and eventually tire. Metal detectors are good, but they are often too sensitive, causing lengthy and expensive delays for the removal of an object that may turn out to be merely a buried tin can.
A UConn chemical engineering doctoral student hopes to help. Ying Wang, working in conjunction with her advisor, associate professor Yu Lei, has developed a prototype portable sensing system that can be used to detect hidden explosives like landmines accurately, efficiently, and at little cost.
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The Humpy Dumpty Institute welcomes additional new director
New York— The Humpty Dumpty Institute is privileged to welcome the Venerable Hsin Ting onto its Board of Directors. The Venerable Hsin Ting is a Buddhist monk who serves as the sixth Abbot and Director of the International Buddhist Progress Society. Venerable Hsin Ting is the second highest monastic in his order and is expected to succeed Grand Master Hsing Yun as the head teacher of the Society in the future. He was born into a family of farmers and grew up in Taiwan and took full ordination in 1969. Hsin Ting graduated from the Eastern Buddhist College in Taiwan and the India Research Institute of the Chinese Cultural University. He received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of the West in Rosemead, California in 1998. The Venerable Hsin Ting is an American citizen.
The Venerable Hsin Ting is well versed in speaking the Dharma, instruction in Zen meditation, Buddhist chants, the composition of music and lyrics and large-scale construction projects. Venerable Hsin Ting travels around the world overseeing humanitarian projects in South America and Asia, giving Dharma lectures and presiding over Buddhist ceremonies. Mr. William J. Rouhana, Jr., the Chairman of the Humpty Dumpty Institute said that “the inclusion of Venerable Hsin Ting onto HDI’s Board offers the organization an opportunity to gain greater exposure throughout Asia and to continue our work there. The Venerable Hsin Ting will play a critical role in our continuing efforts to help vulnerable communities in Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.” Ralph L. Cwerman, HDI’s President, has travelled to HDI projects in Sri Lanka and Laos with Venerable Hsin Ting. Cwerman said that “Venerable Hsin Ting will bring with him a wealth of knowledge and experience that will serve to advance and extend interesting and unique partnerships between HDI and many new organizations in Asia. We are very privileged and excited to have him join our efforts”.
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The Humpty Dumpty Institute is a unique nonprofit organization serving people in the developing world through the implementation of large-scale humanitarian projects and through its work with the United Nations. Over the past six years, the Institute has implemented significant development projects in Angola, Mozambique, Lebanon, Laos, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka and Myanmar. These projects are sponsored by individuals, foundations and governments. In addition, we foster dialogue between the United Nations and a variety of constituencies in the United States including the U.S. Congress, universities, and the creative community; all designed to help the U.N. become an even more effective Institution. For more information please visit our website at www.thehdi.org.
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Pehr Lodhammar from Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining takes a break from classes to smile for the camera with the SMC participants.
Mr. Lodhammar has presented topics to the 2012 SMC on Contracting, Liability & Insurance; IMAS, Quality Management & National Standards; and Survey & Land Release.
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The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining released a report examining the strengths and weaknesses of mine detections dogs in different environments in Afghanistan. Using 39 dogs, the experiment took place between October 2002 and July 2003. To view the results of the study, click here.
The Journal of ERW and Mine Action will also feature an article on this study in its 16.2 issue for July.
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On Saturday, May 19, the Senior Managers’ Course participants and staff visited Montpelier—the home of the United States’ fourth president and JMU’s namesake, James Madison. The sprawling estate covers more than 2,650 lush acres in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The group began the day with a guided tour through President Madison’s lifelong home, where they explored a mansion rich with history. After the tour, the group walked the grounds, visiting the gorgeous gardens and ending at a picnic lunch behind the visitors’ center.
Madison spent the winter of 1786 at Montpelier poring over books on history, philosophy and government in order to formulate his powerful vision: the U.S. Constitution, America’s most important document that enshrines its citizens’ rights and liberties. However, Montpelier was more than just a historical backdrop; it was also a home. Madison lived there with his wife Dolly until his death in 1836 and is buried on the property. Today Montpelier seeks to not only educate visitors about Madison’s contributions to American political discourse, but also to depict his family life and the intimate setting where he lived, worked and entertained.
Visiting Madison’s home is not just important for SMC participants, because the eponymous university hosts the course, but because Montpelier also symbolizes James Madison’s legacy. Visiting the home of the father of the U.S. Constitution imprints in all who enter his belief in a strong united nation where no faction could rule in tyranny over a minority.
In the field of post-conflict recovery, where many countries face the same questions that Madison and the Founding Fathers faced more than 200 years ago during the Constitutional Convention, looking to the past for guidance is crucial to study best practices and learn from mistakes. This is the very same action Madison took, as he consulted Aristotle and Voltaire to develop a new way of governing. In CISR and our SMC participants’ work, this critical engagement in learning and formulating new solutions is just as important today as it was for Madison. He summed this up best in an 1822 letter, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people that mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
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Edward Lajoie joined the CISR staff in April 2011 as an assistant for CISR’s Senior Managers Course and is now a program assistant and research specialist for CISR. Ed graduated from James Madison University in May 2011 with a BA in International Relations with a concentration on the Middle East.
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The Center for International Stabilization and Recovery and the College of Business at JMU have received a $629,513 grant to provide information and guidance through the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The work will take place at Salahaddin University in Erbil, and at Al Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad.
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Listen to CISR’S Geary Cox discuss the importance of the annual Senior Managers’ Course at JMU in the Shenandoah Valley on Harrisonburg’s local radio station.
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Geary Cox II (’06, ’08M, ’15P) is project manager and program coordinator at CISR. He joined the staff as an Editorial Assistant to the Journal of ERW and Mine Action in March 2005. He holds a Master of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Arts in English and political science, both from James Madison University. He is pursuing his doctorate in nonprofit leadership at JMU’s School of Strategic Leadership.
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Members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, including American Ken Rutherford (center), who was severely injured in a landmine incident in Somalia in December 1993 (c) Mary Wareham
According to today’s UN Journal, Somalia has joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The country deposited its instrument of accession to treaty with the UN in New York on 16 April 2012, but the action was not published until today.
The Mine Ban Treaty will take effect for Somalia on 1 October 2012, making it the 160th State Party. Somalia’s accession completes the landmine ban movement’s universalization work in Sub-Saharan Africa as all 49 countries have now joined. From North Africa, Algeria and Tunisia are State Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, while Egypt, Libya, and Morocco have yet to join.
Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty will be challenging for Somalia, which is affected by uncleared landmines and unexploded ordnance. Antipersonnel mines have been used by various factions throughout much of the ongoing conflict creating a generation of landmine survivors and have claimed several foreign casualties, including American campaigner Ken Rutherford.
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