Ashley Rogers
Time at I-GMAP: February 27 - March 3, 2023
Ashley Rogers is the Executive Director of the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, which educates the public about the history and legacies of slavery
in the United States. It is the first plantation museum with an exclusive focus on
the lives of its formerly enslaved population. In 2020, Ashley joined the board of
the Southern Mutual Help Association (SMHA) which aides rural communities in Louisiana
through self-help, partnerships, and the just management of resources. She is currently
a PhD Candidate in History at Louisiana State University and holds a Master of Arts
in History (Museum Studies) at Colorado State University.
Vahidin Omanovic is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Peacebuilding, which seeks to rebuild trust and foster reconciliation among the people of Bosnia-Bosniaks,
Croats, Serbs, and others. Prior to that, Vahidin received a Master's degree at the
School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro, Vermont in International Relations
with a concentration in Conflict Transformation. Additionally, he taught classes
on forgiveness and conflict transformation for SIT's Conflict Transformation Across
Cultures program. He has attended peace workshops and trainings throughout the world,
including in Switzerland, the Philippines, and Nepal, where he helped to found a peacebuilding
organization.
Debbie Stothard is the Founder and Director of ALTSEAN-Burma, a human rights organization that has been advocating for democracy and minority
rights in Burma/Myanmar since 1996. During her 32-year career, she has worked as
a journalist, community education consultant, governmental advisor, and trainer in
Malaysia, Australia, and Thailand. Her work has focused on innovative and empowering
advocacy and capacity-building strategies for marginalized groups, in particular women
and youth. In 2013, Debbie was elected Secretary-General of the International Federation
for Human Rights (FIDH).
FALL 2022
Frank Okyere Osei, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre
Frank Osei
POSTPONED UNTIL SPRING 2023
Frank Okyere Osei is a research associate at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. There, he works as an expert on the implementation of the R2P (Responsibility
to Protect) framework in Africa and has broad experience in translating atrocity prevention
principles into concrete policy. He has also been involved in risk-assessment modeling
for African governments and civil society institutions, serving as a consultant for
multiple organizations including the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor
on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. Osei holds a master's degree
in International Studies and Diplomacy from the University of London (SOAS) in addition
to specialized certificates from both the University of Virginia and the University
of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he was Mandela Washington Fellow in the Young
African Leaders Initiative. Osei was also recently accepted in the Public Administration
doctoral program at Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Jeffrey Sizemore serves as the U.S. State Department Senior Advisor on Atrocity Prevention
at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the Office of Security and Human Rights. In addition to coordinating his bureau's atrocity prevention efforts, Jeff also
manages atrocity prevention training for the Department of State as well as participating
with interagency colleagues as part of the Atrocity Prevention Task Force. Jeff received
a bachelor's degree in American Studies from George Washington University in 2001
and a master's degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War
College in 2012. Prior to joining the State Department, Jeff served for over 20 years
in the United States Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer, retiring as a commander in
2020.
Kate Ferguson is the Co-Executive Director and Head of Research and Policy at Protection Approaches, a UK-based NGO that is committed to understanding what drives identity-based violence
in order to better prevent it. Kate is an experienced analyst and strategist driving
a prevention-first approach to foreign policy and the cycle of crises. She is a regular
commentator on domestic and international issues relating to identity-based violence
in the press and continues to publish academic writings. Her book, Architectures of Violence: The Command Structures of Modern Mass Atrocities, was published in 2020 by Hurst and Oxford University Press. Before founding PA,
Kate worked in political strategy and research across a number of roles in the third
sector, academia, the UK parliament, and as a private consultant. She received her
PhD in 2015 from the University of East Anglia on devolved structures of modern mass
atrocities and has an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from the University
of Oxford.
This program is made possible through the generous support of the Charles E. Scheidt
Family Foundation.
