Below is a chronological listing of upcoming programs and events.  To see programs/events of a specific type, click on the sub-menu item to the left.

Location:  Santa Fe Hilton, 100 Sandoval Street

Title: Economic Development in Afghanistan: 
How can we use it to promote peace?

 Presenter:  Andrew “Drew” Tulchin of Social Enterprise Associates

Price:  $26/CIR Members; $32/Non-members and Guests
Reservation Deadline: Noon on Friday, February 26

Andrew ‘Drew’ Tulchin is Managing Partner of Social Enterprise Associates, New Mexico’s only registered B Corporation, which seeks to leverage the power of the marketplace to ‘do well by doing good’ and make new ideas reality.

Drew’s professional experience spans many sectors and consulting in more than 30 countries.  Last year’s visits included Afghanistan, Haiti, Mexico and Mozambique.  Current clients include SEEP Network, Environmental Defense Fund, USAID for AED’s ARIES project, the German GTZ, Organic Exchange and Historic Fort Apache on the White Mountain Apache Indian Tribe (Arizona).  Drew has extensive experience in new ventures.  He has launched 15 entities and more than fifty business plans.

Drew completed his MBA at University of Washington and his BA, Cum Laude from Washington University.  His studies included a year abroad at Sussex University, UK.  He began his career as a VISTA volunteer providing Red Cross post-disaster experience after Los Angeles’ earthquake.

Suggested Reading:

The Places in Between by Rory Stewart, a travel narrative about a solo walk across North-Central Afghanistan.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a novel set against a backdrop of events in Afghanistan, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees and the rise of the Taliban regime.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin, a description of the author’s transition from a mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and educating girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Through CIR’s Student Outreach Program, interested students and teachers are invited to attend World Affairs Discussion events for free.  You can help fund this program by including a donation with your registration fee.   Purchase tickets with a Visa or Mastercard on this website or call the CIR Office at (505) 982-4931.

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Location:  Estancia Primera Clubhouse.  Estancia Primera Club House is located at 450 Avenida Primera South off of Hyde Park Road.

The book will be The Limits of Power:  The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich.

Mary-Charlotte Domandi, the host of Santa Fe Radio Cafe on public radio KSFR 101.1, will interview Lynne Olson on Thursday, March 11th.  The show airs from 8:00 am to 9:00 am and can also be heard live on the web.  A podcast will be available after the show airs. Also, listen to Lynne Olson’s February 3rd interview on NPR.  She is scheduled for an interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Wednesday evening, March 3rd.

Location:  St. John’s College, Great Hall

Talk:  A Special Time in the Special Relationship—The United States and Great Britain

Speaker:  Lynne Olson, Freelance Writer and Former Correspondent

Cost:  $15 for CIR Members/$20 for non-members

Co-sponsored by Santa Fe Council on International Relations and St. John’s College

Following her presentation, Olson will join in a panel discussion with Stanley Cloud and Mike Peters of St. John’s College, moderated by John Andrews.  The panel will entertain questions from the floor.

Lynne Olson has been a reporter and writer since shortly after her graduation from the University of Arizona.  She worked for the Associated Press in the U.S. From 1971 to 1973 and in 1974 became AP’s first woman correspondent in Moscow.  In 1976, Olson returned to Washington, where she covered Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign.  In 1977, Olson joined the Washington bureau of the Baltimore Sun, where she covered national politics and eventually the White House.  In 1981, she became a freelance writer.  She has written for numerous publications and taught journalism for five years at American University in Washington.

Olson and her husband, Stanley Cloud, are co-authors of The Murrow Boys, which was named one of the best books in 1996 by Publishers Weekly.  Olson’s second book, Freedom’s Daughters, is the first comprehensive history of women in the civil rights movement.  Published by Scribner in February 2001, it won a Christopher Award in 2002.  Olson joined with Cloud again to write A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II, published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 2003.

Olson’s fourth book, Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in April 2007.  Drawing wide critical acclaim, it was named one of the top 10 books of 2007 by New York Times book reviewer William Grimes and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize in history.

Her latest book, Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour, will be published by Random House in February 2010.

St. John’s campus bookstore will have in stock two of Olson’s books:  Citizens of London (to be released February, 2010) and Troublesome Young Men (published April, 2007).  The bookstore will remain open until after the event.

Dinner Bonus:  Make plans to join us the night of this event for dinner at Osteria d’Assisi when the restaurant will make a donation to CIR based on the number of diners who attend.  That means we need your participation! Gather your friends, whether CIR members or not, and enjoy dinner, drinks or just light hors d’oeuvres with the knowledge that a portion of every dollar you spend will support CIR programs.  Reservations (at Osteria 986-5858) recommended; walk-ins accommodated as space allows.  Author, Lynne Olson, will accompany us to the restaurant.

Media Coverage:   Listen to Lynne Olson’s February 3rd interview on NPR.  She is scheduled for an interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Wednesday evening, March 3.  Mary-Charlotte Domandi, the host of Santa Fe Radio Cafe on public radio KSFR 101.1, will interview Lynne Olson on Thursday, March 11.  The Radio Cafe airs from 8:00 am to 9:00 am and can also be heard live on the web.  A podcast will be available after the show airs.

Student attendance is FREE with proper identification.

Purchase your tickets by calling the Office or by using this secure website. (Note that, if purchasing tickets here, you will need to return to this page or the calendar multiple times to add tickets with differing Fee Types to your shopping cart.)

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Location:  Santa Fe Preparatory School

Title: India: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Speaker: Dr. Stanley Wolpert

Professor Wolpert will analyze India’s remarkable economic development, the opportunities created by the youthful majority of its population, and the challenges posed by the lagging rural sector. He will also discuss India’s strategic partnership with the United State and the terrorist threats the country faces, paying special attention to India-Pakistan relations and the long-standing conflict over Kashmir. Wolpert will consider both the nightmare scenario of nuclear conflict between these two countries as well as suicide bombings, and the prospects for peace and progress.

Stanley Wolpert is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles where he is affiliated with UCLA’s Asia Institute. He earned his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania and has published several books including A New History of India (4th edition, Oxford University Press, 1993).  His visit to New Mexico was arranged in conjunction with the Albuquerque International Association where he will be speaking on Sunday, March 21st.

Student attendance is FREE with proper identification.
Purchase your tickets by calling the Office or by using this secure website.  (Note that, if purchasing tickets here, you will need to return to this page or the calendar multiple times to add tickets with differing Fee Types to your shopping cart.)

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Have you lived or traveled abroad? Are you interested in what’s going on in the world? Why not join a group of globally-minded Santa Feans? Come to a reception and briefing on Middle East.

The Santa Fe Council on International Relations (CIR) is a non-profit member-driven organization dedicated to broader understanding of and engagement in world affairs. Members enjoy meeting foreign visitors, participating in discussions, attending lectures and other benefits. CIR counts almost 700 internationally-minded members. Shouldn’t you be one too?

This event is FREE but RSVPs are requested to the CIR Office. Please include your name, contact info and number of people attending in your group. Details and confirmation will be sent upon RSVP.

SCOLAS is an interdisciplinary organization that encourages diverse panels, methods and interests. They welcome participation by any scholars dealing with Latin American-related issues, including studies of immigration, transnationalism and U.S. Hispanic culture.

SCOLAS hosts annual conferences in Mexico and the southwestern United States. Previous conference sites include San Antonio, New Orleans, Morelia, Santa Fe, MTrida and Monterrey. These conferences offer stimulating panels, opportunities to meet other scholars, field trips to places of historical and cultural importance and prizes for books, articles and graduate students. 

The 2010 SCOLAS Conference will be held in Sante Fe at the La Fonda Hotel.

The CIR Membership Committee is planning to put together a series of potluck dinners for members, if there is enough interest.

The plan for these dinners would be that they would take place once a month at members’ homes. Members would provide their homes for groups of 7-8 people on a revolving basis. The make-up of the dinner groups would keep changing so that CIR members would get to break bread with a widening group of people.

There would be no cost involved for these dinners but participants would be asked to bring their fair share of food and drink.

Let us know if you are  interested in  these dinners.  Please email
Steve Kutay, Membership Committee Chairman, by March 26.

CIR will host a seminar/ workshop for invited humanities teachers, funded by a grant from the Turkish Cultural Foundation and administered by the World Affairs Council of America.
The workshop will include a historical review from the Ottoman Empire to modern Turkey and current issues in the Republic. Also, the workshop will address pedagogy and developing curriculum. CIR volunteers, using authentic recipes, are providing lunch.

From the seminar attendees, applications will be taken and four teachers will be selected for an 11 day Study Tour Of Turkey during the 2010 Summer. The four teachers from area schools will join about 25 other teachers from other world affairs councils around the country. The study tour of Turkey has been valued at $5000 per teacher and includes four and five star accommodations, all meals, all entrance fees to museums and cultural events and round trip air fare from Chicago to Istanbul. The study tour of Turkey is organized by the Turkish Cultural Foundation.

Teachers are responsible for paying a $600 fee to the Turkish Cultural Foundation and round trip airfare from Albuquerque to Chicago. We would appreciate any CIR members who can donate frequent flier miles to help the teachers off-set their travel costs. Please contact Susan with your donation at 982-4931.

At CIR, we think this project is well worth the effort to give our local teachers a first hand view of a country and culture with a fascinating history. The teachers, students and our community all benefit from this type of international activity.