Addressing Child Welfare

Macalester has long had a reputation as a college that supports and promotes a rich sense of internationalism on its campus. Its annual International Roundtable is among the programs that burnishes that image, having for 18 years brought to campus worldwide experts on compelling topics as disparate as religion, music, and technology. 

Each year two Mac students also present papers at this two-day conference, giving them—as well as student audience members—a chance to learn from world experts. 

At this year’s conference, “Children of the World: The Dialectic of Promise and Vulnerability,” student presenters were anthropology major Leigh Bercaw ’12 (Berthoud, Colo.) and international studies and French major Hanna Zimnitskaya ’12 (Minsk, Belarus).  

They were joined by international children’s human rights experts Jacquelynne Eccles, the McKeachie-Pintrich Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Michigan; Asha Bajpai, chair of the Center for Socio-Legal Studies and Human Rights at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India; and Tonderai Chikuhwa ’96, United Nations senior adviser on Sexual Violence in Conflict and former special assistant for the United Nations Children and Armed Conflict section.