The Global Switchboard | Hub | Topics | International Development

Robert Michael Bryant

January 16, 2018 1:22 am Comments Off

Robert Bryant makes every attempt to couple his passion for knowledge about the world with a commitment to service in his local community. He currently lives in East Liberty and is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA). At GSPIA, Robert focuses on human security and Russian studies and he is actively engaged in several school organizations. He takes part in the Leadership Portfolio Program through the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership and this opportunity connected him to serve on the board of directors at The Global Switchboard. He has also conducted extensive research on global climate change, its impact on migration, and the potential for climate-induced conflict as a working group participant at the Ford Institute for Human Security. Additionally, Robert is a research assistant for the Leadership During Crisis Podcast, which is a joint-project from the Center for Disaster Management and the Hesselbein Leadership Forum. Outside of GSPIA, Robert serves as a recruiting associate intern with PULSE (Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience).

Originally from the Charlottesville region of Virginia, Robert received a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and French from James Madison University. After his undergraduate studies, Robert taught English for a year in Nantes, France. He then worked as a business analyst in Frederick, Maryland, where he supported procurement professionals at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and volunteered as an ESL instructor for local immigrants.

Michael Goodhart

1:12 am Comments Off

Michael Goodhart is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and he holds secondary appointments in Philosophy and in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. He is Director of the Global Studies Center at Pitt and a University Honors College Faculty Fellow. His current research focuses on questions to do with global injustice, responsibility for injustice, and the ways political theorists think about these problems. He is also interested in the historical and conceptual relationship between human dignity and human rights and in the emerging human rights cities movement. His core intellectual interests are in the theory and practice of democracy and human rights in the context of globalization and in related questions concerning democratic governance and accountability at the international and transnational levels.

Dr. Goodhart is author of Injustice: Political Theory for the Real World (Oxford, 2018), Democracy as Human Rights: Freedom and Equality in the Age of Globalization (Routledge, 2005), contributing editor of Human Rights: Politics and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2009, 2012, 2016), and contributing co-editor of Social Movements and World-System Transformation (Routledge 2017, forthcoming) and Human Rights in the 21st Century: Continuity and Change since 9/11 (Palgrave, 2011). He is also author of numerous articles and book chapters. Dr. Goodhart is an affiliate of the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut, a member of the Center for Ethics and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, and sits on several editorial boards. In 2008-2009 he was an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation research fellow and Guest Professor in the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. He is a member of the Board of Directors of The Global Switchboard.

Laurel S. Murray

December 10, 2017 9:39 pm Comments Off

Laurel Murray is currently working towards a dual B.S.B.A degrees in Accounting and Finance, along with a minor in Data Analytics. She spent her summer 2017 working as an intern in Berlin, Germany for a start-up business intelligence and acceleration company, and also traveled to various countries during her summer abroad. She is looking forward to studying in London for her Spring 2018 semester, as well as backpacking Southeast Asia upon completion of her semester in London.

Laurel’s passion is economic development and giving back to her community, which she feels accounting and finance will enable her to pursue in her future. Upon graduation in May 2019, she hopes pass her CPA and enter into an economic development project in the Peace Corps and pursue a master’s degree in Urban and Economic Development.

Kelly Mack

9:31 pm Comments Off

Kelly is the Coordinator of International Admissions and Student Services at Saint Francis University. She serves as a DSO for the university and was also a high school guidance counselor in the past. Kelly enjoys working with students from all over the world to help them reach their goals and to teach Americans about the different cultures of the world.

Lois Larson Johnson

9:27 pm Comments Off

Lois Johnson has designed and implemented educational programs for institutions of higher education, designed and developed two private schools, and spearheaded new initiatives for organizations. She is interested in and conducts research in international education and works to improve curriculum strategies for international education and faculty for international programs. Infusing curriculum with globalization and inspiring faculty and students to catch a global vision are her passions.

Work (formerly Team Tassy)

9:13 pm Comments Off

Work accompanies families in Haiti out of poverty through good, dignified jobs. Focusing on one community in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, called Menelas, where about 1,500 families live, Work places two heads of households into a good, dignified job, so that participating families and their community can lift themselves out of poverty forever.

Switchboard Stories

9:03 pm Comments Off

The Switchboard Stories project is a series produced by Amizade that profiles members of the Global Switchboard and other organizations and initiatives from across the global engagement landscape.

Pitt Global Studies Center

8:11 pm Comments Off

The Global Studies Center is a dynamic and innovative program that is one of an elite group of seven global centers funded by the US department of Education. The center seeks to promote critical thinking and practical engagement with the world through the interdisciplinary study of transnational processes. The center emphasizes the connections, divisions, disruptions, inequalities, and productive possibilities these processes engender across time and space. The center fosters innovative research, rigorous study, and thoughtful practice through our collaborations with staff, students, faculty, and community partners locally and around the world, creating diverse and inclusive spaces for intellectual growth and debate.

CEOLI Cards

December 5, 2017 12:58 pm Comments Off

CEOLI, a center for disabled youth, was founded in 1986 as an oasis of caring, education, and help, and serves nearly 150 children and young adults in the Cochabamba area. As a non-profit organization, CEOLI relies on private donations and very minimal payments from the families of the mentally and physically challenged who are served.

For several years, a small group of severely disabled young artists, led by talented art teachers, has been hand-painting greeting cards of typical Bolivian scenes. The different card designs feature Bolivian people in native dress, depict rural families and landscapes, and capture the vivid colors of Bolivian patterns and traditions.

Thread International

November 22, 2017 11:49 pm Comments Off

Thread International takes trash from some of the poorest neighborhoods on the planet and transforms it into fabric. Thread sells that fabric along with a 100% transparent supply chain to anyone who wants to make more responsible dresses, tops, shoes, and bags. All Thread fabrics are made with post consumer recycled plastic bottles.

University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA)

10:30 pm Comments Off

GSPIA is a professional school with a diverse, cosmopolitan community of faculty, staff, students and alumni. Believing in our ability to make the world a better place, GSPIA hones the passion of its students into purposeful direction and action. As part of the University of Pittsburgh, we’re a leader in education, a pioneer in research and a partner in regional development—as well as one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the United States.

Haitian Families First

6:58 pm Comments Off

Pittsburgh sisters Jamie and Ali McMutrie moved to Port-au-Prince in 2002 and 2006, respectively, not long after each graduated school. They saw developing world poverty and its devastating effect on families – forcing many to give up children simply due to the inability to provide for them.

Haitian Families First nurtures and empowers families in despair through emotional, social, and financial support, ensuring children remain with their biological families and out of unnecessary institutions.

Building New Hope

4:14 pm Comments Off

Building New Hope is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization based in Pittsburgh and Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, we partner with a worker-owned organic coffee cooperative, operate two supplemental schools for at-risk youth, and provide high school scholarships for students in need. In Pittsburgh, we engage with local schools and universities, faith groups, farmers, non-profits, community groups, and businesses to promote healthy ecosystems and to spread awareness about how fair trade relationships can help to reduce poverty and inequalities. Our reach may be broad but our mission is simple: help those in need by providing educational opportunities and fair prices for goods and services.

Brother’s Brother

4:07 pm Comments Off

Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF), a Pittsburgh-based international charity, has provided over $4 billion of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, textbooks, food, seeds, and other humanitarian supplies to people around the world in 149 countries since 1958.

In 2016, with the help of gifts from the general public and corporations, BBF sent product contributions to those in need in 59 countries and furnished supplies for 350 medical and humanitarian hand-carry mission trips. BBF is routinely ranked as both one of the largest and most efficient United States charities. BBF invites you to help us help people in urgent need around the world.

World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh

November 18, 2017 8:51 pm Comments Off

The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to providing a pathway for a more globally minded region, offering students and the community a learning space that covers key international issues. Established in 1931, the Council is committed to informing opinion leaders and decision-makers about developments around the world as they unfold – and to educating them about the relevance of such developments to the region. The Council also has a special focus on secondary schools throughout the region, and works to give students and teachers a more nuanced understanding of the global issues of our time. The Council is a member of the World Affairs Council of America (WACA), a network of more than 90 nonprofit, nonpartisan member Councils around the country.

Arthur Daniel Alexander

8:39 pm Comments Off

Daniel Alexander is from Brazil. He began his volunteer work teaching Computer Basics to the children of “Pastoral do Menor”, a community based project in Santarém, one that assists low income working families. As an undergrad student, Daniel and some friends founded a nonprofit organization called GADE Volunteers, which is based in Belem and has the objective to promote volunteerism among youth. A few years later after its foundation, they received an invitation to represent United Nations Volunteers in the Northern Region of Brazil. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Communication and a Master in Business Administration in Marketing. In addition, he spent several years working as a Designer and Creative Director in various advertising agencies.

Jeff Whitehead

8:00 pm Comments Off

Jeff leads Pitt’s Study Abroad office and helps undergraduate and graduate students find rewarding international education opportunities. Jeff has served for 6 years as a board member of the Pennsylvania Council for International Education. His educational background is in international affairs and business administration.

Katie Baucco

7:46 pm Comments Off

Katie graduated Penn State University in 2004, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering. After five years working as an engineer for a major package delivery company, Katie returned to school to work on her master’s degree. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in December 2010 with an MA in International Development and an MA in Business Administration, and she currently works as the Director of Operations at Amizade.

Global Links

7:45 pm Comments Off

Global Links is a Pittsburgh-based medical relief and development organization dedicated to supporting health improvement initiatives in resource-poor communities and promoting environmental stewardship in the US healthcare system.

Since 1989 Global Links has been working to redirect still-useful materials away from US landfills to support public health programs in targeted communities throughout the Western Hemisphere. We share our experience and technical knowledge with international and domestic partners and educate our volunteers, donors and the community on issues of global health and environmental stewardship.

Respect for all people and our planet guides our mission. We believe health for all is a global good.

Sara Noel

7:40 pm Comments Off

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Sara joined The Global Switchboard team as the Director of Operations in June 2018 after 8 years with Amizade as the Assistant Director where she led Amizade’s Youth Ambassadors Program with South America, a US Department of State funded youth leadership exchange program for high school students from Bolivia, Peru, and the Pittsburgh region. Sara holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan as well as two master’s degrees in international studies and conflict resolution from the University of Denver.

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