Forum on women’s leadership looks at ‘touching the world’

Humanitarian Alison Thompson in her documentary, ‘The Third Wave,’ about her time in Sri Lanka after a tsunami hit the country in 2004.

The Global Perspectives Office is pleased to present UCF’s sixth annual forum on Women and Leadership: A Global Perspective. The event encompasses three panelists’ experiences with reaching out to touch the world. The open forum takes place on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 3 p.m. in the Cape Florida Ballroom of the Student Union.

Presentations will be given by international humanitarian Alison Thompson, and two Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants, Bahia Braktia from Algeria and Ayumi Yamamoto from Japan. The forum will be moderated by Dr. Maria Cristina Santana, director of UCF’s Women’s Studies Program.

Thompson’s international volunteer work earned her the Order of Australia, the highest civilian medal awarded by Queen Elizabeth II of England. Her documentary film, The Third Wave, focuses on her experience volunteering in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami. It premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival in New York and was shown at a “Presidential Jury” screening at the 2008 Cannes film festival.

Braktia and Yamamoto are teaching Arabic and Japanese, respectively, this year at UCF. Both host periodic cultural events that help students learn more about language and culture outside the United States.

In addition to the Global Perspectives Office, sponsors and partners of this forum include Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jay Garner, UCF Student Government Association, UCF Women’s Studies Program, UCF Women’s Research Center, UCF Burnett Honors College, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, UCF Political Science Department, UCF LIFE, UCF Book Festival 2013 in Association with the Morgridge International Reading Center and the Global Connections Foundation.