Life at the I-House

Upcoming Trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium

The International House is planning a trip to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga Tennessee. The trip will take place on Saturday March 7th. The trip will include cost of admission to the Tennessee Aquarium, an IMAX movie playing at the Aquarium, and transportation. The Tennessee Aquarium is the largest in Tennessee and has over 12,000 animals that include sharks, stingrays, penguins, birds, butterflies, alligators, snakes, octopus and many more! The IMAX theater is in 3D and will allow you to experience the action on a screen over 6 stories tall. This is a great opportunity to experience a variety of different animals and see them interact in their environment. This trip is sure to be a great experience and we look forward to sharing this experience with you. We will be departing from the International House at 9am and we will also pick up from Sutherland/Golf Range after we leave the International House.

Date: Saturday March 7th 2009

Time: Depart from I-House at 9am

Cost: $25 Adults $20 Children

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Do you want to be or see who is going to be the I-house Idol? The International House is delighted to invite you to the Coffee House program- Open Mic next Tuesday on March, 3, 2009. Open Mic is going to set the stage for you to show your talent. We welcome you to sing, dance, play instruments or show anything you would like to. Viewers are going to vote for their favorite performer. The winner will get a grand prize from the I-house and be the I-house Idol. Come out and have fun! Do not miss this great opportunity to see Simon and vote for your favorite performer.

Time: 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Place: the I-House Great Room
Cost: Free

For more information, please call 865-974-4453 or email ihouse@utk.edu

Labels: Coffee House

Labels: Film

Labels: Coffee House

Wednesday February 25th the International House will be having the second Culture Night of the semester. The event will highlight different aspects of German Culture. Their will be performances of German music, celebrations of Karneval, and of course German Food. This is sure to be an exciting evening so do not miss it! Tickets will go on sale at 6:00pm and the event will begin at 6:30pm. Be sure to get here in time so that you can get a ticket!

Labels: Culture Night

Great Decisions
TOPIC: Global Food Crisis

Wally Tyner, an energy economist at Purdue University who was honored in 2007 with an "Energy Patriot Award," will be at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on Feb. 18 to discuss the global food supply.

The lecture, part of the Great Decisions Program, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the International House.

The Great Decisions Program, coordinated by the Center for International Education and funded by the Ready for the World initiative, brings speakers from around the country to campus to address our nation's most pressing foreign policy issues.

Other lectures in the series, all to be held at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the International House, are:

• March 11 – Wayne Smith, senior fellow and director of the Cuba Program at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., "Cuba after Castro."

• March 25 – John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, "The U.S. and Rising Powers."

• April 15 – Andrew Leonard, staff writer at Salon.com and "How the World Works" blogger, "Energy and the Global Economy."

Tyner is professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. His research interests include energy, agricultural and natural resource policy analysis. His work in energy economics has encompassed oil, natural gas, coal, oil shale, biomass, ethanol from agricultural sources and solar energy. Most of his recent work has focused on economic and policy analysis for biofuels.

Internationally, his recent work has centered on agricultural trade and policy issues in developing economies, particularly in the Middle East, North Africa and West Africa. Tyner has extensive overseas experience in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and central and eastern Europe including short-term assignments in 17 countries. He also has long-term overseas experience in India and Morocco. He is fluent in French.

Tyner and his students have received research awards from Purdue and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). In 2005, Tyner received the AAEA Distinguished Policy Contribution Award. In 2007, he received the "Energy Patriot Award" from Sen. Richard Lugar for his work on energy policy analysis.

Tyner is author or co-author of three books: "Energy Resources and Economic Development in India"; "Western Coal: Promise or Problem" (with R. J. Kalter); and "A Perspective on U.S. Farm Problems and Agricultural Policy" (with Lance McKinzie and Tim Baker). He also has written more than 200 professional papers.

All Great Decisions lectures are free. However, for $45 participants get parking for all four events, a resource book published by the Foreign Policy Association and an invitation to the receptions following the lectures.

For more information about this event or to arrange disability accommodations, contact the International House at (865) 974-4453.


If you would like to learn more about this topic you may go here

Labels: Great Decisions

Dear students and scholars,



Global Hour is a weekly program of informal discussion that covers a wide range of topics. It is committed to facilitating the exchange of views and perspectives within a relaxed setting, while engaging important issues that highlight global and human conditions.

This week in Global Hour we will have an open forum. This means participants can follow-up on previous discussions and bring up new topics they would like to discuss. Below you will find some suggested topics as a starting point.

TITLE: open forum
DATE: Thursday, February 12, 2009 from 6:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M.
VENUE: International House

Some Points and Questions to Ponder:

1. Eight babies at once.
a. Should government have a say in how many kids a family can have?

2. Elections in Israel.

3. The Stimulus bill.

4. Lincoln is 200.
a. What do other countries say about him?

5. US and Russia
a. What is going on?

6. Darwin is 200.

Labels: Global Hour

"The Children of Russia” – is a Spanish documentary on lives and destinies of sons and daughters of Spanish Republican fighters, who were evacuated to the Soviet Union. That was intended as a temporary escape from bombing and privation. But Franco's victory, the German invasion of the USSR and Stalinism conspired to keep the kids there for 20 years or more, some never returned, while others started over yet again in Cuba.
For this movie we have a special guest – Dr. Norberto Mínguez-Arranz, Professor of Film Studies at the University Complutense of Madrid, Spain.

Labels: Film, Movie

Labels: Coffee House

This Wednesday February 11th the International House would like to present the first culture night of the spring 2009 semester. The culture night will be on Cuban Culture. Come and experience Cuban culture without the expense of travelling. Enjoy Cuban food, Cuban music and dancing, as well as other exciting presentations about Cuban life. Tickets will go on sale at 6:00pm and the event will start at 6:30pm. Be sure to get here early so that you ensure you get a ticket. This is sure to be a great experience so do not miss it!

Cuban Culture Night
Wednesday February 11th at 6:30pm
International House Great Room

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Do you know what Tu Bishvat is? The International House is delighted to invite you to the Coffee House program- Jewish Tu Bishvat next Tuesday on February, 10, 2009. Jewish group will come to talk about Jewish Tu Bishvat tradition and more about Jewish culture. We will also taste 7 species, typical food eaten in Tu Bishvat . Environmental protection group-SPEAK-will share with us environmental protection happenings around UT campus. Then we will take initiatives to plant seeds together. So don’t miss this great opportunity to learn more about Jewish culture, have fun, meet new friends, and take environmental protection actions.





Time: 6:00pm to 8:00pm


Place: the I-House Great Room
Cost: Free



For more information, please call 865-974-4453 or email ihouse@utk.edu

Labels: Coffee House

Dear students and scholars,



Global Hour is a weekly program of informal discussion that covers a wide range of topics. It is committed to facilitating the exchange of views and perspectives within a relaxed setting, while engaging important issues that highlight global and human conditions.

This week in Global Hour we will talk about the UN and its role in the world. A couple of articles can be read for background here and here

title: U.N. Legitimacy: varied views
DATE: Thursday, February 5, 2009 from 6:30 P.M. to 8:00 P.M.
VENUE: International House

Some Points and Questions to Ponder:

1. What influence does the UN have in various countries?
a. Developed nations, developing nations, warring nations, international
disasters, economic policy.
2. What functions does the UN serve in the world?

3. What sort of power does the UN wield?

a. Where does that power emanate from
i. General Assembly, Security Council, Subsidiary units within the UN.
4. When you speak of the UN just who are you talking about?
a. Persons, organizations, ideas?
5. If you find fault or flaw with the UN name a couple of ideas you would
suggest to help correct the faults or flaws.



Got an Hour? Join Global Hour!

Labels: Global Hour

KNOXVILLE -- The Great Decisions Program, coordinated by the Center for International Education and funded by the Ready for the World initiative, will bring five speakers from around the country to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, this semester to address our nation's most pressing foreign policy issues.

The series will kick off with Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, speaking about Afghanistan and Pakistan at 7 p.m. on Feb. 4, in the Great Room of the International House.

Other lectures in the series, all to be held at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the International House, are:

- Feb. 18 – Wally Tyner, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, "Global Food Supply."

- March 11 – Wayne Smith, senior fellow and director of the Cuba Program at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., "Cuba after Castro."

- March 25 – John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, "The U.S. and Rising Powers."

- April 15 – Andrew Leonard, staff writer at Salon.com and "How the World Works" blogger, "Energy and the Global Economy.


Zunes, who chairs the Middle Eastern Studies program at the University of San Francisco, has made frequent visits to the Middle East and other conflict regions, where he has met with top government officials, academics, journalists and opposition leaders.

He serves as a senior policy analyst for the Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, and chair of the academic advisory committee for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

Zunes is a foreign affairs columnist for the National Catholic Reporter and a regular contributor to the Common Dreams Web site and Tikkun magazine. His op-ed columns have appeared in major daily newspapers throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. In addition, he has spoken at more than 80 colleges and universities and scores of community groups and is a frequent guest on National Public Radio, Pacifica Radio, PBS, BBC, MSNBC and other media outlets for analysis on breaking world events. He serves as a consultant and board member for a number of peace and human rights organizations in both the United States and overseas.

Zunes is the author of many scholarly and general readership articles on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, international terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation, strategic nonviolent action and human rights. He is the principal editor of "Nonviolent Social Movements" (Blackwell Publishers, 1999), the author of the highly acclaimed "Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism" (Common Courage Press, 2003) and co-author (with Jacob Mundy) of the forthcoming "Western Sahara: Nationalism, Conflict and International Accountability" (Syracuse University Press).

He has been a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship on Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies at Dartmouth College and a Human Rights Fellowship at the Center for Law and Global Justice at the University of San Francisco. He also has served as a research associate for the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies at the University of California—Santa Cruz. He has been a recipient of a Joseph J. Malone Fellowship in Arab and Islamic Studies as well as research grants through the Institute for Global Security Studies, the United States Institute of Peace and the International Resource Center. In the early 1990s, Zunes served as founding director of the Institute for a New Middle East Policy in Seattle. In 2002, he won recognition from the Peace and Justice Studies Association as Peace Scholar of the Year.

A native of North Carolina, Zunes received his doctorate from Cornell University, his master's degree from Temple University and his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College.

All Great Decisions lectures are free. However, for $50 participants get parking for all five events, a resource book published by the Foreign Policy Association and an invitation to the receptions following the lectures.

For more information about this event or to arrange disability accommodations, contact the International House at (865) 974-4453.

Labels: Great Decisions

Labels: Culture Night

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