2019 FALL | Create Change: Women, Democracy and Global Politics

Dole Fellow Nancy Bocskor
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Do you dream of creating change in your community, state or country? Are you ready to become a more effective advocate, activist or even an elected official? This fall, Dole fellow Nancy Bocskor will give you a roadmap to turn your knowledge and passion into a plan. By utilizing the tools that women activists use worldwide, you will be both inspired and ready to take action.
Bocskor, tagged a “democracy coach” by a German newspaper, teaches citizens around the world how to communicate with passion to effect change in their communities. She is the director of the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas.

Week 1 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Farhat Popal
9/25/2019

Week 2 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Susan Markham
10/9/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Susan Markham, cofounder of Smash Strategies — whose mission is to help companies & non-profits understand that gender equity is “good for business”. During the Obama Administration, Markham was the “go-to” top staffer for the President at USAID ensuring women worldwide had economic, educational, health and political equity. She’s worked in more than 50 countries.

Week 3 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Sally Canfield
10/16/2019

Week 4 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Lee Peterson
10/23/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Lee Peterson. Fall fellow Nancy Bocskor welcomes Lee Peterson. Peterson is a top political adviser to those brave candidates who battle dictators such as Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He was country director in Russia for the International Republican Institute, chaired by the late Sen. John McCain. Peterson is an expert on British politics and has a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Week 5 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Deb Sofield
10/30/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Deb Sofield. This week’s guest, Deb Sofield, is an executive speech coach and author who trains political candidates, beauty queens and Fortune 500 executives how to connect with their audiences. She accompanied me to Russia for two summers where she trained young political leaders from more than 80 countries, mentored women from Egypt and Jordan, was an election observer in Bangladesh, to mention just a few. Sofield is a past president of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale, a member of the Greenville, SC water commission and will travel anywhere as long as you feed her three times a day.

Week 6 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Natalia Budaeva Arno
11/6/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Natalia Budaeva Arno. This week’s guest, Natalia Budaeva Arno is the president and founder of the Free Russia Foundation where she exposes the atrocities of the Putin regime. Arno was the Country Director for Russia for the International Republican Institute for nearly a decade before she was banished from her home during the 2014 crackdown on pro-human rights & democracy organizations in Russia. She testifies before the US Congress, the European Union and worldwide groups that promote civil society.

Week 7 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Mariam Memarsadeghi
11/20/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Mariam Memarsadeghi. This week’s guest, Mariam Memarsadeghi is the founder of Tavaana.org, an online activism and civil engagement site that breaks through the Iranian firewall to reach hundreds of thousands of Iranian activists. Memarsadeghi was seven years old when she and her family escaped the Iranian regime. She was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar in 2017. She and Bocskor were part of the team that created the first online activism institute in Arabic for the Middle East/North Africa in 2007.