Please join us in a discussion with LISD alumnae whose work has helped shape contemporary world affairs.

Speakers:

• Rani Mullen, The College of William and Mary
• Miriam Schive, World Economic Forum
• Lachlyn Soper, U.S. Department of State
• Carol Wang, Rumi Spice

Moderated by Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, Founding Director, LISD.

*IMPORTANT: Princeton students, faculty, and staff who are permitted on campus are welcome to attend the event in person in the Cyril Black Conference Room, 019 Bendheim Hall. Due to Princeton University Covid restrictions, we are obligated to keep a record of every person that attends. Therefore, in order to attend the event in person, you must RSVP.

There will be a Zoom link provided for those who RSVP and would like to join remotely.

Rani Mullen is an Associate Professor of Government at William & Mary.  She is also a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, where she directs a research program on Indian development cooperation and a co-editor of the Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies series.  She has been a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, a Senior Fulbright Fellow at India's only Afghanistan Studies Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, a Visiting Scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and a Princeton University Liechtenstein Scholar on Afghanistan.  Prior to teaching at the College of William & Mary, Professor Mullen worked as the Asia Project Manager at the LISD, was a consultant at the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the United States Agency for International Development.  She also worked for a German think tank, as well as a member of the German Parliament.  Professor Mullen's research and teaching focus is on South Asian Politics, particularly state-building and democracy in and foreign policies of India and Afghanistan.  Her book, Decentralization, Local Governance, and Social Wellbeing in India, was published in 2011 by Routledge.  She has published articles in Asian Survey and Foreign Affairs and book chapters in several Oxford University Press and Routledge publications on state-building in Afghanistan, India's democratic institutions, and Indian foreign and aid policies.  She is also a founding member and co-chair of the South Asia in World Politics section of the International Studies Association.

Miriam Schive is Deputy Head of International Organizations at the World Economic Forum, where she leads policy on humanitarian and development issues, and manages strategic partnerships with organizations like the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.   Prior to working with the WEF, Miriam served as a U.S. diplomat at the U.S. Missions to the United Nations in New York and Geneva, the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, and completed short tours in the State Department's Bureau of International Affairs, Office of the Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.  Miriam's foreign affairs career started as a Special Assistant to Professor Danspeckgruber at the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University, from whom she learned the true art of diplomacy. Miriam earned a Master's Degree at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and her A.B. in Politics from Princeton University in 2006.  Miriam is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and speaks Farsi, Arabic, French, German and English. 

Lachlyn Soper is a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State.  She currently serves at the U.S. Consulate in Leipzig.  In the Foreign Service, Lachlyn has served as the chief of staff for the European and Eurasian Affairs Bureau in Washington, in Stuttgart with the U.S. military, and in Sana'a, Seoul, and Manila.  Prior to joining the State Department, she served as a cultural advisor for the U.S. Army in Baghdad, and as a representative for the United Nations in the West Bank and Syria.  Lachlyn speaks Arabic and French, and is working on her German.  She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and a master's from Princeton University.

Carol Wang is a tax lawyer focused on the economic impact of tax, corporate and food safety laws, and regulations on people and businesses in the U.S. and worldwide.  Carol was a special assistant to Professor Wolfgang Danspeckgruber in 2007-2009, and spent time seconded to the mission of the HE Permanent Representative Zahir Tanin of Afghanistan to the United Nations.  After that, she worked in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2011, supporting SME's, returning to the U.S. to attend law school.   In 2014, Carol co-founded an Afghan saffron company named Rumi Spice with three Afghanistan military veterans.  Rumi Spice is the first U.S. company to distribute Afghan saffron, hand-picked from fields and processed by Afghan women in processing facilities in Herat, where they are paid direct wages and trained on HAACP and SQF food safety standards.  Carol is currently building an Afghan team of SQF certified auditors to help more Afghan businesses reach international markets.  She also spends many meaningful hours as a tax lawyer, focusing on how certain tax rules relating to both inbound and outbound investment affect businesses operating internationally.