World Affairs Council - Cincinnati & NKY

Established: 1923 - Connecting The World To Our Region For 100 Years

Mission: To ignite our community’s engagement in foreign affairs and its diverse cultures.

Serving our community: Through global education, international exchange, and cultural awareness initiatives, the World Affairs Council strengthens Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky’s international identity and engages individuals with foreign affairs. 

The Council educates globally-minded students today for globally-minded graduates and employees tomorrow. We seek to provide access to global opportunities to the underserved student population in the region (low cost or no cost programs).  

Professional development opportunities for teachers around global competency and skill building is a top priority. 

While exploring regional trade issues, countering gender-based violence, cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, and more, the Council provides opportunities for local specialists to build global ties with more than 150 international leaders annually through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. 

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EXPLORE through understanding the world, its people and cultures: Through the Council's Global Summer Camp, we explore a new culture with our friends in the Covington Independent Schools reaching over 100 students. The students were eager to learn about the new Global Guide Fellow, Rojina, and discover more about her life in Nepal and a refugee camp. They learned that Rojina’s classroom did not have any chairs so students sat on the floor. There was also no electricity and they didn’t have computers. All of this was shocking to the students. In reflecting on their learning from Rojina’s presentation one student shared, “When she said she had a lack of education and it was hard for her to find food, I learned to be grateful for what I have because not everybody has what I have.”  

ENGAGE in discussing global perspectives on relevant topics from around the world: The Council invited a speaker to town, Belquis Ahmadi with the U.S. Institute of Peace who moved many to tears with her talk. Belquis Ahmadi brought a very passionate voice to the women that have been left behind in Afghanistan and has truly lived experience. Ahmadi spoke about the rights which have now been stripped away from women and girls under the rule of the Taliban. Pre-Taliban rule, women had the right to vote, they could learn languages and history, women’s rights were enshrined in the Afghani constitution, women could be in parliament, women could go to university. 

EXPERIENCE meetings and dinners with international visitors: The Council hosted an exchange delegation discussing U.S. Foreign Policy with local judges and representatives. Does U.S. Foreign Policy affect the every day Cincinnatian or local Northern Kentuckian? Foreign Policy sometimes feels like one of those issues that sounds really important, but it still goes over our head. (Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one.) While we might not always recognize how foreign policy affects us, it is there. We are the ones who create foreign policy. Our actions as a region can shape policies.

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Staff 

Michelle Harpenau Glandorf, CFRE, President & CEO

Melissa McDonald, Director of Global Education

Emily Rose, International Programs Lead

Azalea Laverde, Administrative & Communications Associate

Board Leadership 

Michele Mansfield, Board Chair, The Procter & Gamble Company

Dale Dean, Board Chair Elect, DeanHouston, Inc.

John Pinney, Vice Chair, Bricker Graydon LLP

Craig Lane, Treasurer, MunichRe America

Tim Roberts, Secretary, The BAUTE | ROBERTS Group – Comey & Shepherd Realtors