Global Development Panel, American Girl Doll, Poldark

Global Development Panel, American Girl Doll, Poldark

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

  • Sep 22, 2016 11:00 pm
  • 1:41:45 mins

Global Development Panel Guests: Crys Kevan Lee, Executive Director of Empower Playgrounds; Jessica Hogstrom Wells, Research Manager for AidData; Julie Ford Brenning, Director of Research and China Outreach at Give Her Life In New York today, the United Nations is marking the 30th anniversary of a document called the Declaration on the Right to Development. It declares, in essence, that no one, no matter where they live in the world, what the state of their economy or the choices of their political leaders, deserves to be left behind. The declaration urges the international community to ensure people living in countries in need of development are included in planning and implementing the projects meant to improve their lives, and that everyone in the community has an equal chance to benefit from those improvements. So as the UN ponders its progress on that front, we hear from a panel of BYU alumni involved in global development efforts around the world. American Girl Doll Civil Rights Story Guest: Rebecca de Schweinitz, PhD, History Professor at BYU and Author of “If We Could Change the World: Young People and America’s Long Struggle for Racial Equality” The American Girl dolls have always been more than just toys. From the period clothing and accessories to the collectible historical novel that comes with each doll, American Girl pairs educating and inspiring with profitmaking. An African American girl living in 1960s Detroit is the latest doll from the company. Her name is Melody Ellison and BYU history professor Rebecca de Schweinitz helped make Melody’s story authentic. Meet Melody here. Poldark Guest: Andrew Graham, Son of Winston Graham: Author of the “Poldark” series This Sunday night on PBS, Poldark is back. The story of British army officer Ross Poldark was a huge international hit in 1975, when the BBC made it into a TV series. An update of the story, has a new generation of fans is enthralled by Poldark galloping along the cliffs of Cornwall, pining for lost love, finding new love with his fiery young maid Demelza and fighting to keep his copper mine open for the sake of his own inheritance and the workers who depend on him. Elephants and Bees Project Guest: Lucy King, DPhil, Head of Save the Elephants’ Human-Elephant Co-Existence Program Gardeners in these parts have slugs, deer and rodents to contend with. But if you’re in Kenya trying to farm a small plot of land to feed your family and make a living, you’ve got a much bigger problem. I mean literally much bigger. Incidents of African elephants raiding crops are on the rise, in large part because efforts to restore the dwindling elephant populations are succeeding. Elephants are returning to old migratory patterns they’d abandoned for years, only to find tasty new farms in their path. The nonprofit “Save the Elephants” is testing a novel solution to the problem using this little fact of nature: elephants do not like bees. Fostering a Culture of Responsibility Guest: Ned Smith, PhD, Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University When something goes wrong at work, and you have the choice to fall on your sword or blame someone else, it’s not hard to go with blaming. Because, let’s face it, no one wants to be responsible for the mistakes of the entire group. But what if there was a method of management that actually rewarded people for taking responsibility when things go south? On a trip to the U.S. Army's National Training Center, Professor Ned Smith saw how such a system can thrive. But could it work in corporate America?