Mid-Term and Spring Break

The Ford School Community as well as the U of M Community are now in the midst of the chaos of Mid-Term.  That is the part of our exciting school life; nobody question the statement that the most important mission of students is studying.  Meanwhile, Mid-Term has a special meaning for the IEDP team.  

The time to visit Grenada is approaching.  

We have broken up into two groups, based on our availability and schedule; the first group will depart from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport this Friday.  The following group will join them on Sunday.  I personally have two papers due on Thursday and need to finish two paper works by Friday (and packing). 

It is a quite exciting moment to think about what would happen in St. George's.  That is a very moment to escape from approaching deadline...

The IEDP team has already concluded group presentations and preliminary assessments; these are the pre-trip preparations.  That gave us an interesting insight to look at international development; the unique challenges that each of the small island developing states has faced.  When confronting each of multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder issues, disaster management, Millennium Development Goals, tourism, and waste management, some of recipes, best practices, rules of thumb, or whatever, can not be applied because of stricter constraints. 

Our final outcome does need to overcome this aspect; the trip to Grenada during the spring break aims to confirm to what extent our understanding and tentative analyses fit the reality and deepen our problem-solving thinking toward a possible (and feasible) solution.

So, we are thrilled to "study" and "research" during the Spring Break, apart from our paperworks for a while.

Finally, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for the supports given to the IEDP projects; this time let us thank especially Zana of the International Policy Center, for your mindful support to the final-minute preparation to make our trip safe.  

Of course, the members of the Documentation Committee also appreciated from the bottom of our heart the final minutes efforts made by other committees, along with your Mid-Term assignments and exams !!

We also hope that we can update periodically during the trip.