Date: 27 September 2005

The MAIDS Programme appoints a new Director & Deputy Director

The MA in International Development Studies (MAIDS) Programme committee is proud to announce that Associate Professor Dr. Chantana Banpasirichote will succeed Associate Professor Surichai Wun’Gaeo as the new Programme Director. The Programme also welcomes Dr. Puangthong Pawakapan, lecturer in the Department of International Relations, as the new Deputy Director. She is succeeding Assistant Professor Dr. Thitinan Pongsudhirak.

The MAIDS Programme would like to express its most sincere gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Surichai Wun’Gaeo, who was at the heart of the programme’s conception and administration since the very beginning. He will remain a precious source of advice for the MAIDS Programme as a committee member. The programme would also like to thank Dr. Thitinan Pongsudhirak for his contribution to the programme as part the teaching and thesis supervision team.

Dr. Chantana’s long-standing involvement in the MAIDS Programme and experience as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Political Science made her an ideal candidate for the post of Director. Apart from her new administrative responsibilities she will continue to play active role in the programme’s teaching, coordinating the Politics of Public Policy and Development Project Management courses, as well as lecturing in the Independent Studies course. In the upcoming months and years Dr. Chantana’s ambitious mandate is be to consolidate the MA programme’s foundation, now in its second year of existence, and make it a focal point for international development studies in Southeast Asia.

The new Deputy Director Dr. Puangthong holds a PhD in History from the University of Wollongong, Australia. Prior to joining the Department of International Relations at Chulalongkorn she held successively the posts of coordinator for the Peace Information Center, a Thai civil society organization, of senior reporter for the regional desk of the Thai newspaper The Nation, of Research Affiliate with the Cambodian Genocide Program of Yale University, and tutor for the Thai language course at the National University of Singapore.

The MAIDS Programme wishes the best of luck to the new Director and her Deputy.