Glendon College’s new director of the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), Susan Pond, has been recognized by the NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence (SFA COE) with the prestigious title of senior Fellow.
The award recognizes the relationship Pond developed with SFA COE in supporting its strategy and related products for the NATO Alliance and Partners.
Senior Fellow is an honorary title awarded to highly distinguished senior experts who have forged positive connections with the NATO SFA COE and are committed to supporting its activities and projects on a continuing basis.
The NATO SFA COE is a multinational entity that provides expertise contributing to the development and experimentation of concepts and doctrines, and also conducts education and training activities for instructors, mentors and personnel belonging to other Nations.
The organization states its mission is “to improve effectiveness of the Alliance in promoting stability and reconstruction efforts for conflict and post-conflict scenarios through related lessons learned, education and training analysis, development of concept and doctrine activities” as well as “to provide a unique capability to Alliance, NATO Nations and NATO Partners in the field of SFA.”
The award was presented to Pond by Col. Matteo Luciani, director, and Maj. Ludovica Glorioso, legal advisor from NATO SFA, while on a visit to Glendon College, where they also met with Principal Marco Fiola and Professor Francis Garon, as well as students from Glendon’s Masters in Public and International Affairs (MAPI).
The presence of Luciani and Glorioso at the Glendon Campus was a follow up to the signature earlier this year of a Letter of Cooperation (LOC) between NATO SFA and Glendon.
“These meetings with NATO SFA COE representatives allowed us to further discuss the role of Glendon’s School of Public and International Affairs, in support of the development of an education hub, as well as a unique summer internship opportunities for MAPI students at the SFA Centre of Excellence in Rome,” said Pond.
Pond was recently at the offices of the Italian delegation to the United Nations on Oct. 31, where she was given the opportunity to speak about York University and Glendon College, as well as the University’s role in support of ongoing research. Previous to her role as director, Pond served Glendon as a senior Fellow where she taught graduate students and provided expertise on defence and security issues. She also served in several leadership roles at NATO for more than three decades.
The Glendon School of Public and International Affairs is preparing for an exciting year of programming, beginning with the Glendon Global Debate event “Arctic security, are we ready for the future?” on Nov. 29.