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| Spring 2003 | a publication for alumni, family, and friends |
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Gloria Hanson
Wesleyan Today readers will remember Micic from various articles written about him during the four years he was a student. He arrived in Mitchell from the ex-Yugoslavia and set records in hurdles for the track team. He captured the hearts of many on campus with his generous ways and friendly smile. Through various outlets, the campus community has kept in touch with Micic and recently learned of his new venture in Washington, D.C. "My wife Holly knew about the way the Wilson center operates as an academic institution. In short, they need a lot of interns every year so they can provide all the necessary logistical help to their senior scholars and fellows," Micic said. Micic is a research assistant to Ambassador Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, who has been part of every attempt for mediation between belligerent sides in the Yugoslav conflict from 1992-98. Ahrens, a fellow at the Wilson center, is writing a book focusing on conflict resolution in the Balkans. "Prevention of War: Mediation in Yugoslavia's Ethnic Conflicts" is the working title of his book. "My job is composed of several aspects, but it is mainly logistical in its basic character. For example, I am frequently asked to check the general content of his manuscript and double check if there is anything contradictory in it," Micic said. With so many political institutions and organizations in the Balkans, names and roles need to be clarified and explained to the average American reader in the simplest way, Micic said. "Since I am someone who has lived in two out of six states of the ex-Yugoslavia, I can make a valid contribution to this process," Micic said. "Also, I'm quite often in the Library of Congress checking out all necessary publications that are related to the region of Southeast Europe and the Balkans in general. At this point, demographic information about the number of victims in the process of ethnic cleansing is very important and only available at institutions such as the Library of Congress." Micic said the opportunity to work for Ambassador Ahrens is very exciting. He points out that the ambassador is also an attorney who speaks 10 languages, one of which is Chinese. In 1999, Ahrens was appointed head of presence for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a position he still holds. Ahrens also was special envoy to the European Presidency to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; served as ambassador to Colombia from 1996-99; and was ambassador and head of the Asia division of the German Foreign Minister in 1996. He also was an ambassador-at-large at the International Conference on the former Yugoslavia from 1991-96, served as ambassador to Vietnam from 1984-86, as well as in other diplomatic assignments in Beijing, Belgrade and Hong Kong. Micic says his historical research and writing class at DWU, taught by Assistant Professor of History Sean Flynn, prepared him for the research he currently does for Ambassador Ahrens. "My entire education at Dakota Wesleyan, as a Christian school, has
strongly developed my humanitarian side. This became extremely relevant to
this project since the Ambassador's main approach in his book is basically
the same - humanitarian," Micic said. His wife received a prestigious fellowship from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she works in the museum's archives. "By the end of her fellowship she will have to present a paper about her findings at the museum's archives," he said, adding that she is also finalizing her doctoral dissertation and will be eligible to graduate in June. It was his wife, Micic says, who encouraged him to look into the internships available at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. After gathering the needed recommendations and writing the cover letter to his application, he had only one more step to complete, the telephone interview with the intern coordinator. "I don't know why, but he seemed to like my application. He told me that during a telephone interview that he conducted with me," Micic said. "That interview was my last test and two weeks later I was accepted." Dakota Wesleyan University |
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Eight months after graduation, Vladimir
Micic is married and living in our nation's capitol working for a German
ambassador at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. And
that's after he taught a language class at Stanford University.