Past JWAC events: 2018-2019 season 36

-Bringing the world to Juneau.

'A Personal View of the Southwest Border and the Current Refugee Situation' with KTOO alum Susan Fitzgerald

Friday | May 31st | 5:00 | KTOO Studios: @360

"After many months of volunteer work at the El Calvario Refugee Shelter in Las Cruces, New Mexico I am glad to have the opportunity to share my experiences in a border community and my work with refugees. What I see on an almost daily basis will give you a closer look at the realities of the current situation, a situation made up of many moving and often contradictory aspects. Just as you cannot truly understand rural Alaska without having lived there, you cannot truly grasp the complexities of the border and the current flow of asylum seekers just by watching or listening to the mainstream media or by reading every significant article you can find."

360 North video: https://www.360north.org/video/refugees-on-the-border/

World Affairs Forum 2019: 'Modern Journalism: The Role of News Media in a Changing World'

March 29 & 30, 2019| UAS Egan Lecture Hall

Click here for schedule and speaker details

During this two-day event we heard from eight experts joining us from all over the nation. As confidence in news media declines and any story someone doesn’t like is often called "fake news," we believe it’s time for a public discussion of the media landscape. National surveys indicate that trust in news media credibility continues to decline and fewer people are accessing news. When they do, it’s often from the echo chambers of social media, perpetuating their biases. Key politicians call journalists the "enemy of the people" and many of their constituents embrace the sentiment. We consider a number of issues, including media ownership, the thinning line between news and opinion, and tools to help consumers become more media literate. JWAC and UAS believe local discussions of these issues are the first step to a broader dialogue.

Presented in partnership with the University of Alaska Southeast.

Video recordings of all the presentations are available here [Playlist videos #10-18].

'The Democracy for All Amendment' with Jeff Clements

Monday | March 18th | 5:00 | KTOO Studios: @360

Former Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clements is the president of American Promise, a "fast-growing, cross-partisan network of Americans executing a strategy to win an amendment to the United States Constitution to address the dominant influence of concentrated wealth in elections and government and to ensure that all of the American people are equal citizens in our republic." Jeff is the author of the 2014 book 'Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy From Big Money & Global Corporations.'

American Promise has helped spur the introduction of the Democracy for All Amendment, which "affirms the right of Americans to enact in our communities, states and Congress laws to regulate spending in elections, reversing the concentration of political influence held by the wealthiest Americans, large corporations, big unions and special interests that have spent billions of dollars in recent elections. This amendment will guarantee and help deliver on the most important right American citizens have in our political system—the equal right of every American to representation, regardless of wealth."

360 North video: https://www.360north.org/video/juneau-world-affairs-council-the-democracy-for-all.../

'The UK’s Low Carbon Economy: Opportunities and Challenges' with Reem Yusuf

Thursday | February 28th | 5:00 | KTOO Studios: @360

Reem serves as a Policy Advisor for Energy and Environment at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as Energy and Climate Attaché to the British Consulate General in San Francisco. In this capacity, she manages the UK's energy and environmental diplomacy across the Western US, focusing on state and federal policies, cutting-edge technologies, and market forces shaping innovation, regulation, trade, and investment. Prior to that, she was part of the UK Department for International Trade based in San Francisco, where she was tasked with cultivating US-UK trade and investment activities between major technology corporations.

She talked to us about the UK's Industrial Strategy, presenting a long-term plan to boost prosperity and putting the UK at the forefront of future industries. At the heart of the plan is the transition to a low carbon economy, which presents numerous industrial opportunities. This talk explores both the opportunities and challenges associated with the transition.

360 North video: https://www.360north.org/video/the-uks-low-carbon-economy-opportunities-and-challenges/

WorldQuest 2019!

Friday, Feb 2nd | 6:00 | Centennial Hall

WorldQuest is JWAC's largest fundraiser, featuring an international buffet, no-host bar, silent auctions, and our delightfully amusing trivia contest. Click here to read more.

This year's winner was Liquefied Natural Sass, and the Special Rotary Team winner was Juneau Gastineau Rotary's Early Birds (Got the Worm) -Thanks for coming, everyone! [We'll sort the screen out next year, promise]

'Turkey, Iran, and the US: International Tensions Under the Trump Administration' with NPR correspondent Peter Kenyon

Tuesday | September 18th | 5:00 | KTOO Studios: @360

Peter Kenyon is an award-winning foreign correspondent for National Public Radio based in Istanbul. He is covering two countries under heavy pressure from the Trump administration, Iran and Turkey, bringing complex stories to life and adding an international perspective to NPR's coverage. Mr. Kenyon will present on his personal experiences in the region as international agreements are upended and regular relations beome anything-but.

Prior to taking this assignment in 2010, Kenyon spent five years in Cairo covering Middle Eastern and North African countries from Syria to Morocco. From 2001 to 2005, he was based in Jerusalem and covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In addition to regular stints in Iraq, he has followed stories to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco and other countries in the region.

Kenyon came to NPR in 1995 from the Alaska Public Radio Network. He began his public radio career in Petersburg, where he met his wife Nevette, a commercial fisherwoman.

360 North video: https://www.360north.org/video/turkey-iran-us-npr-correspondent-peter-kenyon/