The International Institute is dedicated to advancing research and education on global issues, and the work of our centers includes timely programming on current topics. The Center for European and Russian Studies has hosted recent events on Greenland’s quest for self-determination, the pathways to World War III, and this week, Hungary’s revolution by election. The Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies has been running a webinar series on the Israel-U.S. war with Iran. Center for the Study of International Migration events have explored the impact of U.S. immigration policies and ideas for a sustainable policy.

Meanwhile, the Burkle Center for International Relations has organized events on the future of the dollar, the autocracy-democracy divide, and this week, the future of the international political order. Other examples include Center for India and South Asia events that enhanced our understanding of contemporary India, an Asia Pacific Center talk on China’s “global environmentalism,” a Center for Near Eastern Studies talk on the role in refugee support being assumed by Muslim charities and community organizations, and a Latin American Institute lecture on the implications of the U.S. intervention in Venezuela for Brazil and Latin America.

The international order was also at the forefront of the U7+ Alliance of World Universities, of which UCLA is an institutional member. The alliance contributes proposals to the G7 on the role of universities in the contemporary world, including the recent communiqué on “The Social Role of Universities in a Divided World” that was presented to the President of France Emmanuel Macron.

Looking ahead, I wish all the graduating students of the International Institute good luck in finishing up their studies and invite them to read about the institute’s commencement speaker, artist and current MacArthur Fellow Gala Porras-Kim (UCLA B.A./Art, 2007; M.A./Latin American Studies, 2012). See you at our commencement ceremony in June!