CISSM News

A new poll of Iranians, "Iranian Public Attitudes Before & After Parliamentary Elections," finds that in the wake of the parliamentary election, Rouhani is in a strong position with the Iranian public. Sixty-three percent say they voted for candidates who support Rouhani, while just 22% say they voted for his critics.

On February 11, 2016, the director genereal of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, visited the School of Public Policy, where she studied as a fellow in 1989. In addition to giving a talk about her current work and engaging the school community in a wide-ranging discussion, she also answered a series of questions posed by CISSM.

NOTE: CISSM and the Program for Public Consultation previously published several studies on American attitudes toward the nuclear negotiations: "Assessing the Iran Deal" (September 2015), "Negotiations with Iran: Views from a Red State, a Blue State and a Swing State" (June 2015), "Americans...

CISSM Interim Director Nancy Gallagher and CISSM Senior Research Scholar Theresa Hitchens participated in a January 11, 2016 discussion on "Space Weapons and the Risk of Nuclear Exchange" at the Atlantic Council. The discussion was prompted by a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists roundtable discussion of the same name that included Gallagher.

U.S. security assistance and defense trade efforts under the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, and the status of U.S.-Russian cooperation were among the range of topics addressed by Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller and School of Public Policy students during a November 17 visit to State Department headquarters.

The evolving military capabilities of a range of Asian-Pacific nations pose particular challenges to regional and global security, according to research scholar Jaganath Sankaran, who joined the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) in October 2015.

Soon after arriving in College Park, MD, for his fellowship earlier this fall, Kirill Tanaev sat down with CISSM to discuss his background and goals for his visit.

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What attracted you to the ISKRAN Visiting Scholar Program at CISSM?

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) visited the School of Public Policy for an intimate discussion with students from the school and other University of Maryland Departments about the ongoing congressional debate about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (otherwise known as the "Iran Deal"). To address his concern about the potential for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, Cardin said he believed the United States needed to present a unified front to the rest of the world and ensure continued coordination with U.S. allies and negotiating partners.

NOTE: CISSM published a related study in collaboration with the University of Tehran in September 2014: "Iranian Attitudes on Nuclear Negotiations." CISSM and the Program for Public Consultation also published studies on American attitudes toward the nuclear negotitaions: "Negotiations with Iran: Views from a Red State, a Blue State and a Swing State" (2015),...

Robert Orr, the dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, announced today that he was appointing Nancy Gallagher, who has been the associate director of research at CISSM since 2001, to be CISSM's interim director. Orr had the following to say about his appointment in an announcement to the school's faculty, staff, and students:

Dear Colleagues,

CISSM graduate assistant Zafar Imran was selected from among 4,000 graduate students to receive an All-S.T.A.R. fellowship awarded by the University of Maryland's Graduate School. The fellowship comes with a $10,000 award to be used in support of Imran's doctoral studies.

Ian Andrews, a second-year masters of public policy student specializing in international security and economic policy, has been selected as a 2015 fellow for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)’s competitive Graduate Fellowship Program. Andrews was one of two Maryland School of Public Policy finalists for this year’s fellowship and he is the second School of Public Policy student to receive an NNSA fellowship in the past two years.