Although a political peace for much of the Middle East seems elusive, members of the UC Davis community are quietly working through established networks of colleagues and alumni to accomplish what political diplomacy and military intervention have not yet achieved in this war-torn region.

They hope their efforts will help rebuild nations like Iraq and Afghanistan, and mend severed relationships with others like Iran.

UC Davis faculty members have long been active overseas, pursuing research interests with their international counterparts, and many UC Davis alumni now serve in leadership positions in their home countries. Over the years, a global network has developed that is ideally positioned to carry out academic diplomacy.

"Universities generally communicate as a single community around the world, whether it has to do with teaching or especially with regard to research," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, who this spring visited Iran with a group of campus leaders. "By our natural proclivities, we don't consider national boundaries to be real boundaries to our communications. So the door may be cracked just a bit for us, permitting us to ask questions that might not otherwise be asked."

Furthermore, he noted that academicians, unlike career diplomats, are not bound by the particular political or economic stances of their countries, and thus are able to engage in "totally open and free-ranging communication."

Helping the veterinary community

One such meeting of the minds occurred in September in Kuwait City during the International Veterinary Medical Seminar and Workshop, focused on rallying support in the global veterinary community to restore veterinary services and education in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bennie Osburn participated both as dean of UC Davis' School of Veterinary Medicine and as president of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, along with several UC Davis veterinary alumni.

"Our goal was to respond to the serious destruction and disarray of the animal and public health infrastructure in Afghanistan and Iraq," Osburn said. "The veterinary colleges there have been decimated, and there is no veterinary service. Diseases such as foot and mouth disease and parasitic diseases are rampant."

Despite the challenges, Osburn said the conference participants are eager to join in the rebuilding effort. He is now preparing an assessment of what will be needed in terms of facilities, equipment, teaching materials and training.

"We'll also assist our colleagues as they form educational standards and professional associations," he said. "And we will develop memoranda of understanding, work plans and specific funding proposals to the U.S. aid agencies and related organizations that will foster master's and doctoral training in the United States, as well as scientific collaborations with research programs in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan."

He hopes that UC Davis, working with the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, can help coordinate research collaborations and provide specialized training in advanced degree programs. He notes that educational exchanges would offer rare opportunities for U.S. veterinary students to observe foreign animal diseases and work on international veterinary projects.

Ag work starts with table grapes

Meanwhile, in UC Davis' College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, an initiative is under way to help rebuild Afghanistan's agriculture, focusing first on that country's table grape industry. The Afghanistan Agricultural Initiative grew out of a July 2002 meeting of Afghan community members in the United States, UC Davis researchers and members of California's horticultural industry. They agreed to develop a renewal plan for Afghanistan and charged Patrick Brown, director of the college's international programs, with making connections within Afghanistan's agricultural ministry and the international community.

The campus now is a partner with the private nonprofit organization Roots of Peace on a $6 million federally funded project, focused on rejuvenating the table and raisin grape industry on lands from which land mines have recently been removed. Last spring UC Davis shipped 4,000 grapevine cuttings to Afghanistan, where they were planted in a nursery vineyard. Once grown, they will supply the vines for re-establishing the nation's table-grape industry.

Throughout the year, UC Davis also held three workshops in Afghanistan focused on table-grape production and post-harvest handling. Future efforts will address the need for cold storage for grapes, training in grapevine trellising, improving the size and quality of the grapes, and developing market opportunities.

Dean Neal Van Alfen notes that such efforts are a natural outgrowth of his college's land-grant tradition, which dates back to 1862 when the United States established a system of colleges to teach agriculture and technical skills.

"One of the significant contributions of the land-grant concept was that higher education should be available to the masses, not just to the elite," Van Alfen said. "This opening of opportunity to those who are academically qualified has had an energizing effect on our nation, and the opening of this opportunity to international scholars has been a major contribution that the U.S. has made toward world prosperity and political stability.

"We have many friends in other countries because of their experience in our universities, including individuals in nations like Iran, with whom we have poor political relationships," he said. "Because they have lived and learned here in the United States, they understand us better."

Some question how resources are used

Some people look askance at the use of public university resources to benefit other nations, which someday may be competitors in the global marketplace. Van Alfen understands these concerns but believes that international efforts are right -- both morally and pragmatically.

"Where we can help, we should help," he said. "We must naturally focus most of our attention locally, but we gain as much as we give in most of our international activities."

He noted, for example, that much of California's agriculture is dependent on the availability of germplasm, or genetic plant material, for crops that originated in various parts of the world.

"In a similar way, much of the scholarship of our faculty members cannot be limited by national borders," he said. "We need to understand the world, not just California, if we are to be of service to the taxpayers who support the university. For example, knowledge of insect ecology in Asia may lead to a better biological control for an insect pest in California."

In late April, Van Alfen traveled to Iran with Chancellor Vanderhoef; Enrique Lavernia, dean of the College of Engineering; Bill Lacy, vice provost for university outreach and international programs; Bob Kerr, director of the international alumni and visitors program; and Mohammad Mohanna, a Sacramento businessman and member of the UC Davis Foundation Board.

During a week's stay in Iran -- the first official visit to that country by any U.S. university since the 1979 Iranian revolution -- the UC Davis group went to the University of Tehran and three other universities, toured a new hospital and had dinner with alumni. Although no formal agreements or contracts were signed, the group returned home hopeful for what the future may bring for the two nations, which currently share no diplomatic relations.

"Our primary intentions are to push the door open even more than the crack that we squeezed through and to have exchanges of both students and scholars that more resemble our exchanges in the past," Vanderhoef said.

Stakes are high

As the leader of UC Davis' international programs, Vice Provost Bill Lacy is keenly aware of what is at stake. "Our leadership in higher education, science, engineering, innovation, and economic and global development relies on freedom of inquiry, international collaboration and building an international community," he said. "Moreover, our national security is inextricably linked to our international activities."

He notes that former Senator William Fulbright perhaps best described international scholarly exchanges as opportunities "to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason and a little more compassion into world affairs and, thereby, to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship."