UAB, Samford students selected to attend D.C. foreign policy conference on behalf of Birmingham Committee on Foreign Relations


The Birmingham Committee on Foreign Relations (BCFR), a non-partisan, non-profit membership organization founded in 1943, has selected four area college students to represent Birmingham at the American Committees on Foreign Relations (ACFR) Young Leaders Initiative in Washington, D.C.

The BCFR is an affiliate member of the ACFR, a collection of leading international study groups across the country.

The Young Leaders Initiative conference will be held Aug. 11-14. Student representatives will attend State Department Foreign Service Officer briefings, have lunch with former Afghan Ambassador to France and Canada Omar Samad, participate in an episode of the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ The Trade Guys Podcast, and attend numerous think tank expert briefings.

BCFR has selected four undergraduate students to represent Birmingham at this year’s Young Leaders Initiative. The student representatives are UAB students Banks Stamp and Arshnoor Grewal and Samford University students David Matthews and Grace Friar.

BCFR board chair Kali McNutt says the committee played a substantial role in forming the Young Leaders Initiative.

“Our organization’s leadership saw the necessity of educating and engaging the next generation in discussions on national security and international relations. Past board chairs Frank Young and Dave Carder were instrumental in pushing for this program’s creation,” said McNutt.

She continued, “In the past we’ve sent two students to the YLI each year–students from Birmingham-Southern, the University of Alabama, and Samford. We had exceptional applicants this year, and decided to select four student representatives. I think this just goes to show our strong commitment to involving young people in policy discussions and encouraging careers in national security, diplomacy, and international business.”

All funding for Birmingham’s YLI students comes from BCFR membership dues.

Past participants heap praise on BCFR for the professional experience they received through the organization.

“I still credit the conference and BCFR/ACFR with a lot of my successes in D.C.,” said 2018 YLI participant Bailey Oedewaldt. “The conference led to my first internship and my graduate assistant-ship at the US Institute of Peace, and that role at USIP led directly to my role covering Africa in the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.”

2019 YLI participant, Joseph Forcherio, is a Presidential Management Fellow finalist.

Two UAB students selected to attend international conference on foreign relations

The Birmingham Committee on Foreign Relations of Alabama has selected University of Alabama at Birmingham Honors College students Arshnoor Grewal and Banks Stamp to attend the American Committee on Foreign Relations Young Leaders Initiative.

The conference will be held in Washington, D.C., from Aug. 11-14. Only 15-20 young leaders are selected to attend nationwide.

“I am honored to be able to participate in this national conference and to meet the leaders behind U.S. foreign policy,” said Grewal, a junior majoring in international studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and on a Personalized Path in the Honors College. “I hope to immerse myself and establish connections that will guide me into a career involving diplomacy and human rights.”

Student representatives will attend State Department Foreign Service Officer briefings, have lunch with Ambassador Omar Samad, former Afghan ambassador to France and Canada, participate in an episode of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ “The Trade Guys” podcast, and attend a variety of think tank expert briefings.

“I am extremely grateful for BCFR’s willingness to share this experience with me,” said Stamp, a junior studying political science and public administration in the College of Arts and Sciences and on a Personalized Path in the Honors College. “As I am pursuing a career in public service, the Young Leaders Initiative will allow me to expand my understanding of foreign policy and operations within the State Department, as well as make lifelong connections with other students.”

Pairing their interests of international relations and public policy with human rights, the conference will allow both Stamp and Grewal to define a path toward working for the United States government and related entities and share their experiences with the next generation of students.

The American Committees on Foreign Relations is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C. ACFR sponsors rigorous and informed foreign relations discussions across the United States. It is composed of a national confederation of member committees with more than 1,200 members across the country from Tampa Bay to Santa Barbara. The Washington, D.C., team connects government agencies, officials, distinguished foreign service members, leading think tanks, consultancies, businesses and associations with a unique network of member committees across the country.

Birmingham Business Journal Highlights BCFR Events

The Birmingham Committee on Foreign Relations hosted the first joint U.S. public appearance of brothers Park, Jung Oh and Park, Sang Hak, two of North Korea’s most prominent activist defectors, in an online conversation.

Read more: https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/news/2021/03/08/mad-pies-renasant-newsmakers.html

"Deconstructing Chavismo: The Myth and the Reality" by BCFR Speaker Eric Farnsworth

"Deconstructing Chavismo: The Myth and the Reality" by BCFR Speaker Eric Farnsworth

After 20 years, Hugo Chávez and now Nicolás Maduro's project is exposed as less an ideology than a cold-blooded grab for lasting power and self-enrichment, writes AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth.

On February 23, 2019, the world watched horrified as acrid smoke billowed from trailers attempting to bring medical and food aid across the Colombian border into Venezuela. The life-giving cargo was torched and left stranded by the Nicolás Maduro regime, which barricaded the bridges leading to Venezuela while daring anyone to breach them. Similar scenes played out on the Brazilian border. Rather than welcoming international aid, Maduro’s forces destroyed it. Fourteen people were reported killed and almost 300 wounded in an effort by Maduro to prevent his own countrymen from receiving desperately needed supplies to address a humanitarian crisis he himself created.

BCFR Speaker Jamie Fly returns to RFE/RL as President

WASHINGTON -- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Board of Directors has named Jamie Fly as the company’s President and CEO, effective February 16, 2021. Mr. Fly resumes his leadership of RFE/RL after serving in the role from August 2019 to June 2020.

“I am excited to return as RFE/RL President to lead the organization during these challenging times,” said Fly. He continued, “I am proud of the journalists and staff at RFE/RL who, despite the pressures of the pandemic and challenges to RFE/RL’s commitment to journalistic integrity and editorial independence, continued to focus on their mission on the front lines of media freedom to bring unbiased news and information to those who need it most. It will be an honor to be working side by side with them once again.”

“My colleagues and I on the RFE/RL Board of Directors are thrilled that Jamie has agreed to return to his duties in Prague,” said RFE/RL Board Chairperson, Amb. Karen Kornbluh. “From Belarus to Russia to Afghanistan and everywhere in between, RFE/RL journalists are playing a vital role to independently report news and offer a credible alternative to misinformation. Jamie’s understanding of geopolitics, his passion for democracy and human rights, and his appreciation for RFE/RL’s mission are needed more than ever as RFE/RL faces challenges across its coverage area.”

Fly, who was first appointed as RFE/RL President in August 2019, comes back to RFE/RL after serving as Senior Fellow and Senior Advisor to the President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), based in Berlin, Germany. A recognized foreign policy thought leader and proven manager, Fly served previously as a Senior Fellow at GMF, where he also was Director of the organization’s Future of Geopolitics and Asia programs and Co-Director of its Alliance for Securing Democracy. Fly has previously worked as a senior staffer in the U.S. Congress, on the National Security Council staff, and at the U.S. Department of Defense.

About RFE/RL
RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 41 million people in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 6.5 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2020. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

The past year, during which RFE/RL marked its seventieth anniversary of operations, has been especially eventful for the organization. Investigations into a massive money-laundering ring in Central Asia earned RFE/RL and its partners the prestigious Tom Renner Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE); live coverage on the disputed presidential election in Belarus and subsequent months of pro-democracy protests captured the attention of millions (and the anger of the Belarusian government); public service reporting on the coronavirus pandemic (and related disinformation) was valued by local audiences seeking credible information otherwise unavailable from local governments; and RFE/RL returned to Hungary with a 21st-century update of its storied Hungarian Service, Szabad Európa. Additionally, RFE/RL is facing severe pressure in Russia as authorities impose significant fines for violations of labeling rules under its “foreign agent” media law, and move against reporters and freelancers for exposing information and covering news that the government would like to keep hidden.