Southeast Asian Investment into Africa Panel

Mintardjo Halim, Southern Africa and G-13 Committee, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN), Jakarta, Indonesia

Mintardjo Halim is active in the Indonesian textile industry as entrepreneur participating in the Asosiasi Pertextilan Indonesia (API, or the Indonesian Textile Association), the Asosiasi Pengusaha Indonesia (APINDO, or the Indonesian Employers Association) and the Kamar Dagang Indonesia (KADIN, or the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce). He is head of KADIN's Southern Africa and G-13 Committee, responsible for private sector business relationships between Indonesia and Subsaharan Africa. He also serves in a variety of private sector advisory capacities to the Indonesian Minister of Trade, and regularly participates in the private sector delegations accompanying official economic missions at the ministerial level. He studied engineering in Germany.

Darminto Hartono, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Indonesia

Darminto Hartono is a rising economic law scholar teaching at Diponegoro University (UNDIP) faculty of law in Semarang, Indonesia. He studied law at UNDIP (S.H.), Harvard University and Boston University (LL.M.), and is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. (S-3) economic law program at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta. His area of special expertise is capital markets, bankruptcy and tax law. He has been active as a legal consultant particularly in workouts and insolvency practice since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

Dina Widyaputri Kariodimedjo, Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Dina Kariodimedjo teaches in the Business Law Department of the Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law. She teaches Business Law and International Trade Law, including intellectual property law, capital markets law, alternative dispute resolution, bankruptcy, sales contracts, consumer protection law, and letters of credit. She is also Director of Intellectual Property at the Centre for Intellectual Property, Competition, and Dispute Settlement Mechanism Studies of Gadjah Mada University. Ms. Kariodimedjo studied Law at at Gadjah Mada University (LLB 1998) and Monash University, Australia (LLM 2003). Her current research interests include intellectual property law/industrial property law, international trade law, contract law and insurance law.

Chinese Investment into Africa Panel

Prof Gan Ying, East China University of Politics and Law, Shanghai, China

Gan Ying is Associate Professor in East China University of Politics and Law’s Faculty of International Law. She teaches International Economic Law, Chinese Foreign Trade Law and International Trade Law. Prof Gan studied law at Law School, University of International Business and Economics (LLB 1997; LLM 2000) and Xiamen University Law School (PhD 2003). She also studied European & Comparative Law at Ghent University (Belgium) (LLM 2006). Her research specialty is international economic law.

Prof Gong Baihua, Fudan University Law School, Shanghai, China

Gong BaiHua is Professor of International Law in the Law School of Fudan University, currently serving in parallel as the Director of Information at the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center, which is a quasi-governmental assistance center for implementation and advice on compliance following China joining the WTO. He is also a consultant with the Shanghai AllBright Law Offices. Prof Gong studied law at Fudan University (LLM 1987) and Georgetown University Law Center (LLM 1991). He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan and Konstanz University in Germany. Prof Gong is a council member of the Chinese WTO Law Society. His current research focuses on public international law, international trade and international financial law.

Prof George K. Walker, Wake Forest Law School, Winston-Salem, NC

George Walker teaches at Wake Forest Law School with a special scholarly interest in the law of armed conflict. He studied history and classics at the University of Alabama (B.A. 1960) and diplomatic history at Duke University (A.M. 1968), and law at Vanderbilt University (LL.B. 1966) and the University of Virginia (LL.M. 1972). Following law school he clerked for Judge John D. Butzner, Jr.of the US District Court in Richmond, Virginia and was in private practice at Hunton & Williams for three years. He was the Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law at the US Naval War College 1992–93. He also is a Captain, United States Naval Reserve (retired) who qualified as a Surface Warfare Officer serving aboard destroyers on active duty and subsequently commanded several reserve units. He has held research fellowships at Duke University and Yale University and published widely in scholarly and military international law publications on the topic of armed conflict law.

African Views of Incoming Investment Roundtable

Prof Claire Moore Dickerson, Tulane University, LA

Claire Moore Dickerson is Visiting Senator John B. Breaux Professor of Business Law at Tulane University. She has been Professor of Law and Arthur L. Dickson Scholar at Rutgers School of Law since 2000. At Rutgers, she also served as co-director of Rutgers’s Global Legal Studies program, and she is permanent visiting professor at the University of Buea in Cameroon. Prof Dickerson studied at Wellesley College (AB, 1971) and law at Columbia University (JD 1974) and New York University (LLM 1981). Prof Dickerson’s scholarly teaching activities include business associations, contracts, comparative law, and international business transactions. She also focuses on the intersection between commerce and human rights.

Prof (Rev) Joseph M. Isanga, Ave Maria School of Law, Ann Arbor, MI

Father Isanga joined the Ave Maria faculty following his appointment as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Civil and Human Rights. He is a widely published scholar on human rights in Africa and has expertise in international law, jurisprudence, law, ethics, and public policy. Father Isanga is a priest from the Diocese of Jinja, Uganda. He received a Bachelor of Philosophy from Pontifical Urban University in Rome; a Bachelor of Divinity and a Bachelor of Laws from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda; a Diploma in Legal Practice from Law Development Center in Kampala, Uganda; and a Master of Laws and a Juridical Sciences Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. Father Isanga teaches International Law and Law, Ethics, and Public Policy.

Economic, Security & Development Policy Panel

Prof Kevin Govern, Ave Maria School of Law, Ann Arbor, MI

Kevin Govern teaches Contracts and Administrative Law at Ave Maria School of Law. He was until recently a Lt Col, USA, JAGC and Assistant Professor of Law at the United States Military Academy, and has taught also at California University of Pennsylvania. He studied history and German at Marquette University (BA 1984) and law at Marquette University (JD 1987), The Judge Advocate General’s School at Charlottesville, Virginia (LLM 1995) and University of Notre Dame (LLM 2004). During the period 1990–2003 he has served in a legal advisory capacity for the 10th Special Forces Group in the U.S. and Turkey, for the 1st Armored Division/Task Force Eagle in Bosnia, the Command Operations Review Board of the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base-Tampa, for the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg-North Carolina, and for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.

Prof David Linnan, University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, SC

David Linnan is a scholar of comparative, economic and public international law with a special interest in Asian law. He studied humanities at Emory University (BA 1976) and law at the University of Chicago (JD 1979), where he was comment editor of the law review. He was in private law practice for six years in Los Angeles and has held research or teaching visitorships at the University of Washington-Seattle, the Australian National University (RSPAS & Faculty of Law), the University of Melbourne, the University of Indonesia Faculty of Law and Graduate Law Program (separately), and the Max-Planck-Institut (Strafrecht), Freiburg i.Br., Germany. 2000 to date he is the Program Director for the Law & Finance Institutional Partnership (http://www.lfip.org), a legal and financial sector reform project run from Jakarta now as an academic consortium of Indonesian and foreign universities.

Prof Robert J. Rolfe, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Robert Rolfe teaches at The Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. He studied at Southern College (BS 1978), the University of Oklahoma (CPA 1982; PhD 1983). He has been a visiting professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna, Austria. His research focuses on foreign investment in Africa.

Prof (Maj) Thaddeus Underwood, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY

Thad Underwood is Assistant Professor of Economics in the Dept of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy. Major Underwood studied mathematics at United States Military Academy, West Point (BA 1996), Aerospace Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (MS 2002) and business at Columbia University (MBA 2005). Major Underwood has served as commissioned officer of United States Army since 1996.

Prof Douglas P. Woodward, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Doug Woodward is the Director of Division of Research and Professor of Economics at The Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. Dr Woodward studied in State University of New York (BA 1978), New York University (MA 1981) and the University of Texas (PhD 1986). Dr Woodward's primary research interests are industry location, economic development, and foreign direct investment.

Business & Human Rights Roundtable

Prof Luis Chiesa, Pace University School of Law, White Plains, NY

Luis Chiesa is an adjunct professor at Pace Law School since August 2006. He teaches Criminal Law, Legal Writing and Analysis. His scholarly concentrations are Comparative Law and Criminal Law. Lius Chiesa studied in University of Puerto Rico (BBA, J D) and Columbia Law School (LLM). Prof Chiesa clerked for the Honorable Federico Hernández Denton, Chief Justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. He has been an adjunct professor at the University Of Puerto Rico School Of Law.

Asian Investment into South America Panel

Prof Eugenio Hernandez-Breton, Andres Bello Catholic University and Baker & McKenzie, Caracas, Venezuela

Eugenio Hernandez-Breton teaches private international and economic law at Andres Bello Catholic University, and practices law in Baker & McKenzie's Caracas, Venezuela office. He studied law at Andres Bello Catholic University (LLB 1981), Columbia University (LLM 1983), Faculte International de Droit Compare (Dipl 1990), University of Tuebingen, Germany (LLM 1988) and the University of Heidelberg (Dr iur utr 1991). His work involves private international law and foreign investment on the business side.

Dr Liu Jun, East China University of Politics and Law, Shanghai, China

Liu Jun teaches international economic and financial law at China University of Politics and Law (ECUPL). He studied law at ECUPL (PhD). Beyond China, he attended Bucerius University in Hamburg, Germany’s Summer Seminar on Business Law of Asian-European Business Transactions, sponsored by the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius Foundation in 2005, as well as the London Forum on International Economic Law and Development of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London in 2006 . His research interests include International economic law, comparative financial law and arbitration of foreign investment disputes.

Raul Sanchez Urribarri, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Raul Alberto Sanchez Urribarri is currently studying for his doctorate in political science (judicial affairs) at the University of South Carolina. He is a graduate of Universidad Catolica Faculty of Law, Venezuela (LLB 1997) and Cambridge University, England (LLM 1999). He has served as a court clerk at the Venezuelan Supreme Court and as lecturer in law at Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas. His current research interests are in private international law and judicial affairs.

Religion & Social Views: Islam Panel

Hartini, Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Hartini teaches in the Islamic Law Department of Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law. She studied law at Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law (LLB) and the State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga (LLM) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her research interests include Islamic family and marriage law.

Dr Qamar-ul Huda, United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC

Qamar-ul Huda joined the U.S. Institute of Peace as a senior program officer in the Religion and Peacemaking program, one of the Centers of Innovation, in June 2005. His research focuses on Islamic thought and Islamic philosophy on violence, nonviolence, and conflict resolution. Prior to joining the Institute, Huda was a professor of Islamic studies and comparative religion at Boston College’s Theology Department and a visiting professor of Islamic studies at the College of Holy Cross and Brandeis University. He holds a BA from Colgate University and a PhD in Islamic intellectual history from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Dra Hery Listyawati, Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Hery Listyawati has taught Agrarian Law at the Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law since 1991. She teaches Agrarian Law as well as Legal English. She studied in English Dept of the Yogyakarta Teacher’s College (BA 1990) and law at Gadjah Mada University (LLB 1990). She is now enrolled in graduate agrarian law study at Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law. She has been a visiting scholar at Oberlin College and the Australian National University, Canberra. Her current research interests are in women’s rights and property, including marriage and family law.

Prof Joseph E.B. Lumbard, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

Joseph E.B Lumbard is Assistant Professor of Classic Islam at Brandeis University. He studied in George Washington University (BA, MA) and Yale University (M. Phil, PhD).

Secularism and Modernization: Islam Roundtable

Mustafa Tuna, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

Mustafa Tuna is a Preceptor in the History Dept, Princeton University, specializing in Islamic, Russian and Ottoman history. He studied international relations at Bilkent University, Turkey (BA 1998) and history at Indiana University (MA 2001) and Princeton University (MA 2004), where he is currently studying for a PhD. He has also studied languages and culture at various universities and institutes in Budapest, Kazan (Tatarstan, Russian Federation), St Petersburg and Cairo. His research interests include the Moslem peoples of the Russian Empire and Central Asia, Islam in the former Soviet Union, the late Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey and the history of Islam in global perspective.

Religion & Social Views: Hinduism Panel

Prof Paul B. Courtright, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Paul Courtright has taught at the Dept of Religion, Emory University since 1989. His teaching interests focus on religions of South Asia, particularly Hinduism; religious change in nineteenth century India, and the history of the study of religion. Professor Courtright received his BA from Grinnell College, MDiv from Yale, and PhD from Princeton. He had taught previously at Williams College and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings (Oxford, 1985), various articles in the Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan, 1986), co-editor of From the Margins of Hindu Marriage: Essays in Gender, Culture and Religion (Oxford, 1995). He is also conducting research on the life and legacy of Horace Hayman Wilson, an early nineteenth century East India Company official and scholar of Hinduism.

Prof Timothy Lubin, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA

Timothy Lubin is Associate Professor of Religion and Director of the East Asian Studies Program at Washington and Lee University. He studied literature at Columbia University (BA 1986) and religion at Harvard University (MTS 1989), and Columbia University (MPhil 1991, PhD 1994). He is an Affiliated Researcher at the Département d'Indologie, Institut fran?ais de Pondichéry (Department of Indology, French Institute of Pondicherry). His research lies in the areas of Hinduism, Buddhism and other Asian religions, as well as related laws.

Prof M. Thomas Thangaraj, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

M. Thomas Thangaraj is Ruth and D. W. Brooks Associate Professor of World Christianity, Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He studied at St. John's College (BS 1961), Serampore College (BD 1968), United Theological College (MTh 1976) and Harvard Divinity School (ThD 1983). He has served as Presbyter in Tirunelveli Diocese, Church of South India. Professor Thangaraj has published various articles in Tamil, English and US periodicals and has written Christian hymns in Tamil for use in churches in India. His current research focuses on an ethnographic study of in-culturation of the gospel in South India, and on developing a systematic theology from a cross-cultural perspective.

Religion & Social Views: Christianity in the Developing World Panel

Prof Stephanie Y. Mitchem, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Stephanie Mitchem is Associate Professor in Department of Religious Studies at the University of South Carolina. She also shares a joint appointment with the Women's Studies Program at USC. She teaches contemporary theology and women's studies. She studied atacred Heart Seminary College (BA 1985), St. John Provincial Seminary (MA 1989) and Nrthwestern University - Garrett Evangelical (PhD 1998). Her research interests include contemporary religious thought, with emphasis on feminist and anthropological/ethnographic methodologies; Women in the African diaspora; and postcolonialism, class and African American religious thought and experience.

Prof David Smilde, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

David Smilde is Assistant Professor of Sociology teaching at the University of Georgia since 2001. He studied Sociology at Calvin College (BA 1989) and the University of Chicago (MA 1994; PhD 2000). He is also a member of the Council of the Sociology of Religion Section, American Sociological Association. Dr. Smilde’s research interests focus on cultural phenomena and the sociology of religion. He has been Visiting Professor of Sociology, at Universidad Central de Venezuela (Central University of Venezuela, Spain).