Board of Advisors
Global Studies Center: Board of Advisors
(Composition and Expectations)
Prof. Nancy Condee, Pitt’s inaugural Director of the Center, has created a Board of recognized global and community leaders to serve as advocates and ambassadors for the GSC. She has enlisted individuals who are professionally or personally connected to one of the four GSC mission areas (Economy, Health, Security, and Society) and are willing to enhance GSC connections so as to foster partnerships, collaborations, and networks that advance targeted GSC projects. The Advisory Board serves as a periodic sounding board for the Director personally, for the Center, as well as for collaborating partnerships. These collaborating partnerships are forged largely with Pitt’s schools and centers (Arts and Sciences, Business, Law, Public Health, Public and International Affairs, and their affiliated centers, including the Honors College, the Humanities Center and the World History Center), but also with extra-university organizations, such as the Consortium for Education Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS). BOA members work in cooperation with the Director and staff to promote the GSC mission, as well as its fund-raising priorities.
Karen Wolk Feinstein – Board of Advisors Chair
Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD, has had experience and held leadership positions in the academic, philanthropic, corporate, governmental and health-reform communities. Academically, she has taught graduate level courses at Boston College, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh covering urban planning, social welfare policy, management, health reform and global health. Dr. Feinstein edited the Urban & Social Change Review for ten years, and has had the pleasure of speaking throughout Canada, Israel, the UK and the US on topics related to health care and health reform. She has published a number of books, monographs, papers and reports, including the recent book Moving Beyond Repair: Perfecting Health Care. Dr. Feinstein has served, and currently serves, on a number of local and national academic boards, including boards of visitors and overseers, and formerly the Board of Carlow College. She is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Chatham University.
As President of one of the first “conversion” health foundations, Dr. Feinstein has chaired both Grantmakers In Health and Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania. In the former capacity, she advised new conversion foundations around the US in successful transitions from hospital boards to endowment boards. Dr. Feinstein was appointed to the Advisory Boards of the Hogg Foundation in Austin, Texas and the Milbank Memorial Fund in New York City. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation, for which she is the founding and current CEO, has won numerous national awards for its pioneering work in aging, women’s health and health reform.
Dr. Feinstein’s corporate leadership roles include membership on the Allegheny Conference on Community Development (Board and Executive Committee—and first woman member), former Chair of the International Women’s Forum local chapter and Board member of the National City Bank of Pennsylvania. Her civic service includes participation on the Executive Committee of the United Way and numerous leadership positions on advisory boards and transition teams for state, county and city governmental leaders. Dr. Feinstein is appointed to the Center for Innovation of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the Executive Committee of the Network for Regional Health Improvement. She is the recipient of numerous national and regional awards including Pittsburgher of the Year in 2003.
Sue Ellen Ganz – Board of Advisors Member
Sue Ellen Ganz is a graduate of Boston College (B.A. Political Science), Emmanuel College (M.A. French Literature) and the New England School of Law in Boston (J.D.). Her law school honors include the Arthur V. Getchell Memorial Scholarship. She also was a Visiting Scholar at McGill University and studied for a year at the Université de Paris –Sorbonne.
Ms. Ganz’s career has included teaching high school French in Kingston Jamaica and supervising legal cases at the Immigration and Refugee Services Office of the Catholic Charitable Bureau in Somerville, Massachusetts. The cases involved deportation, extended voluntary departure, labor certification, legalization, political asylum and petitions for alien relatives. More recently, she served as the Immigration Law Attorney for the Refugee and Immigration Service Center of the Jewish Family and Children’s Services in Pittsburgh. In this capacity, Ms. Ganz provided full representation for a variety of cases dealing with the diversity visa lottery, fiancé petitions naturalization, green card applications, petitions for alien relatives, political asylum, travel documents and visa extensions. She also supervised law students and paralegals and represented clients before the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Ms. Ganz has had extensive experience as a volunteer including her present service as Vice Chair of the Advisory Board of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and as a mentor in the United Jewish Federation Be a 6th Grade Mentor Program. Her volunteer work has also assisted the Sewickley Academy and the Beaver Butler Counties Heart Ball. She is a very active volunteer at the Beth Samuel Jewish Center, Ambridge, PA.
Annie M. Prucey – Board of Advisors Member
Annie Prucey is Vice President and Director of Education Programs for the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. In this capacity, Ms. Prucey oversees the Council’s academic outreach in secondary schools and assists the shaping of public policy programs for Council members, community groups and the general public. She represents the Council at major academic programs and promotes the work of the Council both regionally, nationally and internationally. In addition, Ms. Prucey manages the Council’s business affairs, including administrative and financial supervision, and works closely with the President and CEO of the Council in the supervision and management of personnel, fundraising, marketing and public relations. Established in 1931, the Council provides programs for students, teachers, post-secondary institutions, business and civic leaders and the general public about developments around the world. Each year, the Council organizes and hosts over 150 events focused on the foreign policy challenges which lie ahead for the nation and their implications for the Pittsburgh region. Many of these events are geared toward student audiences, reaching more than 10,000 students and teachers in nearly 300 regional schools.
Prior to her 17 years of experience in nonprofit management and international education, Annie Prucey received a Bachelor’s in International Studies/Business and Spanish from Grove City College. Her previous foreign experiences include completion of an intensive language program in Sevilla, Spain; teaching English to high school students and promoting international exchange in Gifu Prefecture, Japan; and, most recently, co-leading an educational tour to Brussels, Belgium and Vienna, Austria for a group of teachers from Pittsburgh. In addition to her Council duties, Ms. Prucey serves on the Program Committee of the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, the Community Advisory Committee of the YWCA’s Center for Race and Gender Equity, the Local Arrangements Committee for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, and the Board of Trustees of the Community at Holy Family Manor. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has named her as one of “The Top 48 Making a Difference in Education.”
Anahita Firouz Radjy – Board of Advisors Member
Anahita Firouz Radjy is a novelist, lecturer and business advisor. She was born and grew up in Tehran, and worked for the National Iranian Television as a producer and interviewer. On her paternal side, she is from the Qajar royal family (1785-1925); and, on both sides, her ancestors were prominent figures in the history of Iran in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ms. Radjy was greatly influenced by the model of both her grandfathers, who distinguished themselves in their careers of public service.
Ms. Firouz is the author of In the Walled Gardens (Little, Brown and Co.), a novel set in pre-revolutionary Iran that has been translated into several languages. She holds a Master’s degree in Education and has taught at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of English. Ms. Firouz currently lectures at Carlow University’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program and gives lectures on writing, Iran and the Middle East across the US. Her preeminent interest is how the ‘East’ and ‘West’ intersect culturally, politically and socially.
Ms. Firouz was also a co-founder of the American Middle East Institute in Pittsburgh, and continues with independent projects focused on the Middle East. She is Principal Advisor for Business Development & Strategy at Digital Site Systems, Inc. (founded by her husband), a high technology company with North American and international customers.
Daniel H. Simpson – Board of Advisors Member
Since 2001 Daniel Simpson has been Associate and Foreign Editor for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as well as at The Toledo Blade. He writes editorials and a weekly column on international and national economic and political issues. He also serves on the Post-Gazette’s Editorial Board. The paper enjoys a large circulation of a quarter million readers.
Prior to entering the newspaper industry, Ambassador Simpson enjoyed an illustrious 35-year career with the US Department of State. His positions included that of Ambassador at the US Embassies in the Central African Republic, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As Regional Director for Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, his efforts impacted the country’s 2000 elections and its progress toward democratization, governance and human rights.
Ambassador Simpson’s academic positions have included Deputy Commandant for International Affairs at the US Army War College (member of the Academic Board and the Command Group), where he was responsible for the international affairs elements of all programs. Later, as Vice President of the National Defense University with a $70 million budget, 190 faculty members and over 5,400 students, he reported to the University’s President and supervised half of its programs. Ambassador Simpson also chaired the $10 million National Security Education Program and served on the Board of the US Institute of Peace. He has been an active participant in numerous international affairs related programs at the University of Pittsburgh and other universities and organizations since coming to our region.
