Wittenberg Spring Seminar:
"The Obama Administration Past Mid-Point:
An Assessment of Cultural, Political, and Economic Change
in the United States."

May 6–8, 2011,
Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Leucorea Foundation

This seminar will explore in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach the achievements of the Obama administration such as the health care reform, take a closer look at financial crisis management, analyze the job market situation and explore the initiatives taken to develop a green economy on the federal, state, and local level. American faculty will contribute their perspective to the discussion. Students will discuss issues in workshop settings and explore further research angles to be pursued at their home institutions.

Organizers
The seminar is jointly organized by Professor Dr. Hans-Jürgen Grabbe, Zentrum für USA-Studien (ZUSAS) der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, and Dr. Martina Kohl, U.S. Embassy, Berlin.

Faculty
Crister S. Garrett was the Fulbright-Leipzig Distinguished Chair for American and International Studies at the University of Leipzig and has been on the faculty there for several years. His previous full-time position was as professor for European and International Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and as Executive Director of the University's European and International Studies Program. Before moving to UW-Madison, he was a professor for International Studies at the Monterey Institute for International Studies in California. Prof. Garrett earned his PhD in History and Political Science at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1994. He teaches courses that focus on both Europe, the United States, and Transatlantic Relations in a Global Context. His research interests include comparative studies examining the emergence of civil society and cultures of commerce in Central and Eastern Europe and in a transatlantic context.

Until 2007, Molly Hall was a consultant at the German Environmental Ministry in Berlin, Germany. There she designed and implemented comparison of sustainability management practices in Europe and the US as part of a larger study on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). She was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Muenster Law School (2000-2001) and the University of Goettingen (1988-1989), a Robert Bosch Fellow at the German Environmental Ministry (1994-1995), and a Foreign Associate at the Boden & Oppenhoff Law Firm in Cologne, Germany. A graduate from Wesleyan College, she holds a BA degree in Politics and Economics. In 1988 she received her law degree (J.D.) from the Washington & Lee University Law School, Lexington, Va., where she had been a recipient of the Francis Lawis Law Center Scholarship. In 2004-2005 she completed a graduate program in Business Strategy, Organization and Statistical Analysis at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Ms. Hall has teaching experience both in the U.S. and Europe. She published widely in the field of environmental law and CSR.

Paul Rundquist is a former congressional operations specialist with the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. For over three decades, he advised Members of Congress on parliamentary rules and tactics, and on the organization and reorganization of Congress. He also helped conduct parliamentary training seminars for members of Congress and their staffs, and also did so for parliamentarians in many newly democratizing countries. After the September 11 attacks, he worked with the officers and committees of the Congress planning for emergencies and catastrophic events affecting government operations. Dr. Rundquist has served as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management and Catholic University of America. From 1996-1998, he was a Fulbright professor of politics at Warsaw University and the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and in the 2006-2007 academic year, he was a Fulbright professor at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and TU Dresden. He is now a visiting professor at MLU as well as TU Dresden and the University of Leipzig.

Student Activities
Students are expected to come prepared and stay throughout the whole program. Close exchange with faculty and organizers is an essential part of the program. Students will be working on individual projects in groups or alone. They will concentrate on a specific aspect of the seminar, compile a bibliography and produce an excerpt for a scholarly paper. Each group will discuss individual projects among themselves and with their group advisors. A final plenary presentation will sum up the groups' work.

Costs
The Cultural Office of the U.S. Embassy Berlin funds the program, room and board for participants and faculty. Participants will have to cover their travel costs.

Internet & Wireless LAN
Participants can connect to the Internet with their own laptop computers using the Leucorea's Wireless LAN. Therefore, and for their own convenience, participants are encouraged to bring their laptop computers to Wittenberg.

Venue
Stiftung Leucorea
Collegienstraße 62
06886 Lutherstadt Wittenberg
Driving directions

Contact
Zentrum für USA-Studien (ZUSAS)
Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg
06099 Halle (Saale)
Phone +49. 345. 552 35 47
Fax: +49. 345. 552 73 97
E-mail: julia.nitz@zusas.uni-halle.de

Program

Friday, May 6, 2011
14:30	Arrival and Registration You will receive your room key and conference materials
15:30	Welcome and Introduction Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Grabbe, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg May Baptista, Deputy Cultural Attaché, U.S. Embassy Berlin Dr. Martina Kohl, U.S. Embassy
15:50	“The Obama Administration and the New Congress: The Domestic Agenda, Republican Opposition and the Role of the Tea Party Movement” Prof. Dr. Paul Rundquist, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
17:15	Coffee Break
17:30	“Economic Change and Global Expectations: Is There a Green Revolution in the U.S.?” Molly Hall, Potsdam
19:15	Dinner
20:15	Film Screening Split: A Divided America (USA 2008) more
	Afterwards: Social Gathering in the ZUSAS Library (optional)
Saturday, May 7, 2011
08:00	Breakfast
09:00	Tour of the Library Anton Hieke, M.A.
09:30	“President Obama’s Foreign Policy Agenda” Prof. Dr. Crister S. Garrett, University of Leipzig
11:00	Coffee Break
11:30	Student Projects—A Discussion Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Grabbe / Dr. Martina Kohl
12:45	Lunch
14:15	Student Group Work and Research
16:30	Coffee Break
17:00	Research Time
19:00	Barbecue
21:00	Research Time
Sunday, May 8, 2011
08:00	Breakfast
09:00	Meeting in the Auditorium: Open Questions
09:30	Research and Writing Period
11:00	Coffee Break
11:30	Research and Writing Period
12:30	Lunch
14:00	Student Presentations/Discussion
15:30	Coffee Break
15:45	Student Presentations/Discussion cont.
16:45	End of Program
	Departure

Split: A Divided America is a 2008 documentary film about partisan divides in American society. It examines a perceived political divide (Red-States / Blue States, Conservatives and Liberals, Republicans and Democrats) from the perspective of cultural factors (like religion, urbanization, race and wealth), the modern day media, contemporary campaigning strategies and the “deterioration of civil discourse in our political experience.” It was directed by Kelly Nyks, written by Kelly Nyks and Peter Hutchison and produced by Jeff Beard, Peter Hutchison and Kelly Nyks. The cast includes Al Franken, Jesse Jackson, Noam Chomsky, Norm Ornstein, Tucker Carlson, Bruce Bartlett, Thomas Frank, Robert Putnam and Sharong Pratt Kelly among others. The documentary was broadcast domestically on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) and was distributed to classrooms nationwide in collaboration with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) to educate young voters in the run up to the 2008 US Presidential Election.