Center for Australian & New Zealand Studies

Another academic year fades into distant memory, but before it gets away let me review CANZ successes over the past academic year.

In September CANZ continued our work on climate change.  We co-sponsored, along with the Global Foundation in Melbourne the "US – China – Australia Dialogue on Energy Security and Climate Change."  This 'track 1.5' meeting brought together the chief climate negotiators from China, Australia and climate change representatives from the Obama and McCain campaigns, as well as senior representatives from Australian and US businesses. 

The ANZAC lecture featured prominently in this years events. It was entitled "Sacred and Plain Pictures: Photographs and the Australian Historical Record of War," by Dr. Shaune Lakin, Director, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne.  Co-sponsored this year by the Embassy of Australia, the event was held in the Copley Formal Lounge.  Dr. Lakin provided the audience with fascinating insights as well as photos of the landing at Gallipoli.

The New Zealand Fulbright scholars had a busy year at CANZ.  Dr. Brian McDonnell from the School of Social & Cultural Studies, Massey University gave two talks in addition to his teaching.  His first talk was entitled "New Zealand Film, 'In My Father's Den' with Commentary," in late November and then in early December he presented "Warriors, Whale Riders and Weddings."  His tireless contributions to CANZ were much appreciated by students and staff alike.  In the Spring semester Dr. Danny Kennan from Victoria University launched his book, Wars without End, published by Penguin.  Keenan's course, ": Search for Nationhood" had an excellent reception with 35 students enrolled.

In addition to the two visiting scholars CANZ also hosted Associate Professor David Grinlinton from the Faculty of Law at Auckland University.  His paper, "Clean Green New Zealand -- Reality or Myth," is a CANZ working paper and available through the CANZ website.  In addition to his day job, David is also an NZRN reservist and served for eight months with the NZ Provincial Reconstruction Team in .  His talk "'Hearts and Minds': ’s Provincial Reconstruction Team in " was a fascinating insight into the daily pressures of a PRT.

Staying with the New Zealander in the mountains of Asia theme, CANZ co-sponsored along with the Embassy of New Zealand, a talk by mountaineer and environmentalist Peter Hillary.  Hillary talked in fascinating detail about his exploits in scaling Mt. Everest, and told fond tales of his father Sir Edmund Hillary.  It was a delightful evening.

Moving from mountaintops to the deep blue sea in February CANZ and the Science and Technology in International Affairs program at the School of Foreign Service co-sponsored a talk by Georgetown biologist Janet Mann.  Entitled "Tool-use and Innovation in Bottle Nose Dolphins in Western Australia" Professor Mann provided considerable and fascinating detail on her research on these unique and busy dolphins off the coast of Western Australia. 

Four student events stood out this year.  New Zealand Permanent Representative to the UN, Rosemary Banks visited CANZ and had lunch with about 12 Georgetown students.  Ambassador Banks and the students engaged in a lively and entertaining discussion.  Also this year CANZ hosted a reception for the Australian students participating in the Uni–Capitol Washington Internship Program.  Two groups of students participating in Harvard University's 55th Model U.N. program visited CANZ this year.  The U.N. Youth Association of Australia sponsored a team and they visited CANZ prior to going to Harvard.  The University of Auckland sponsored a team that visited CANZ after the Harvard meeting. 

We continued our work with Mike Woods, Education Counselor from the New Zealand Embassy.  In October we co-hosted, along with the NZ Embassy, a roundtable discussion entitled "Quality Assurance in Higher Education: US and New Zealand Experiences."  This session was attended by numerous education experts from both Washington and Wellington.

Other CANZ talks during the course of the academic year included Dr. James Llewelyn, Post Doctoral Fellow, Kobe University speaking on "Australian and Japanese Responses to the Vietnam War."  Azadeh Dastyari, Australian Fulbright Visiting Researcher and Faculty of Law, Monash University, Melbourne gave a talk entitled: "Denying Protection: How the United States and Australia Deter Refugees and Deny Their Rights".