The George Soros Visiting Chair at the School of Public Policy at CEU was established to celebrate the 80th birthday of George Soros, the founder of CEU and of SPP, and the Honorary Chairman of the CEU Board of Trustees. It is funded by generous donations from his friends and family. The position is awarded to scholars or practitioners who have demonstrated outstanding academic or professional achievement in the academic, professional, journalistic, political, or civic world of public policy.
“The response to the Call for Nominations and Applications for this prestigious chair was extraordinary,” commented SPP Founding Dean Wolfgang Reinicke. “It made it tough for the members of the Selection Committee, but it also means that we have been able to be especially selective.”
The inaugural George Soros Visiting Chair is Yasmin Sooka, a member of the UN panel appointed to investigate allegations that foreign military forces in the Central African Republic sexually abused and exploited children. In addition to teaching a two-credit course on transitional justice and assisting students with their research and other projects, Sooka will also be participating in the Legal Empowerment Leadership Course that SPP’s Global Policy Academy is organizing on November 30-December 3.
SPP will be welcoming two George Soros Visiting Practitioner Chairs in the winter term: Karin Landgren and Anders Fänge. One of the most senior women at the United Nations, Landgren recently stepped down as special representative of the secretary general in Liberia where she managed the peacekeeping mission. Anders Fänge is a lecturer, consultant, and advisor (mainly on issues related to Afghanistan). He spent 20 years in Afghanistan between 1983 and 2011, serving during most of this time as the country director for the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA), one of the largest international NGOs in Afghanistan.
Stephen Chan and Mutayyam al O’ran will be joining SPP for the spring term. Chan, a professor of politics and international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), has authored 29 books and has written most recently on Robert Mugabe, Southern Africa, and China-Africa relations. Al O’ran is a Jordanian government advisor on political and international relations issues with special expertise in conflict resolution, research peace building, political analysis/recommendation, and counter radicalization.
“All of these individuals are both scholars and also practitioners and will contribute enormously to the School, ” said Reinicke.