Early Bird

Town Hall and Panel: Crisis in Afghanistan today at noon

The event focuses on supporting refugees and resettlement efforts and will take place virtually and in person in the Tivoli Ballroom. Pizza included.

By Gregor Mieder

September 14, 2021

All Roadrunners are invited to attend a discussion on what is happening in Afghanistan, the current efforts for evacuation and refugee resettlement and how we all can get involved to help the relief efforts.

Town Hall and Panel: Crisis in Afghanistan

Today

Noon-1:15 p.m.

In person at the Tivoli Ballroom and via Zoom.

Pizza will be served.

The event will include an introduction by Gregor Mieder, director of the Immigrant Services Program, with moderation by Becky Trammell, Ph.D., dean of the College of Health and Applied Sciences

Panelists include:

Atim Otii 

Otii is director of the Denver Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and a leader in immigration integration who has helped thousands of immigrants throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Prior to joining the city, Otii served as the immigration legal-services director for Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains for six years, where she led several immigrant-focused programs including direct legal representation and social-service support in Colorado and New Mexico. Otii leads DOIRA’s work centered on integrating immigrant and refugee communities through inclusive policy, programming and partnerships. 

Richard Mac Namee

Mac Namee is the director of the Cybersecurity Center at MSU Denver and is assisting No One Left Behind in the evacuation of Afghanistan. Mac Namee is a former U.K. and NATO Special Operations Commander and Operator with extensive experience in covert intelligence collection, technical surveillance and cyberoperations against terrorist organizations and serious organized crime. His service included secondment to serve with MI5 as well as assisting a number of commercial and governmental entities in information-technology infrastructure protection. He is also a former professor of Practice at the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M.

Nike Pulda

Pulda is a former Fulbright scholar from Austria who completed her master’s degree in International Affairs with a focus on national security and diplomacy at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Governance and Public Service. She has been actively engaged in helping to support evacuation and resettlement efforts for people in/from Afghanistan.

Metra Mehran

Mehran is an Afghan refugee, activist, Fulbright scholar, graduate of Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Governance and Public Service and a fellow with the National Center for Dialogue and Peace. She co-founded the Feminine Perspectives Movement in Afghanistan and is working with the Women’s Scholarship Endowment program in Afghanistan.

The event is sponsored by MSU Denver’s College of Health and Applied Sciences and MSU Denver’s Immigrant Services Program. Special thanks go out to IT Services and panelists.