LEIMSIDOR Bruce

EXPERIENCE
 
University Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy (University of Venice), Professor, Laurea specialistica, Lavoro, cittadinanza sociale, Interculturalità, Nov. 2003- 2016. Teaching responsibilities include courses on the advanced undergraduate and the graduate level on immigration, immigration related legislation, and the immigration program of the European Union.
 
In conjunction with my position at Ca’ Foscari, I have served as visiting professor at major universities in Korea, Taiwan, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Ukraine and Russia. I have also been a guest lecturer at other Italian universities and, repeatedly, at the university in Salzburg (Austria).  In the U.S, I have lectured on asylum issues at the University of Minnesota, U. California at Berkeley, the University of Arizona, Brandeis University, New York University, George Mason University, and the University of North Carolina.
 
During this period I also published scholarly articles on the immigration legislation and practice in the European Union and articles on African and European refugee situations in the International Herald Tribune and in major German and Italian daily newspapers.
 
Comune di Venezia, Venice, Italy, (Venice City Government) regular consultant on asylum issues, Sept. 2005- 2010 (concurrent with above).  Provide regular, weekly consultation to the staff of the city’s program for asylum seekers, interviewing asylum applicants with a view toward assessing their claims in terms of the Geneva Convention and other asylum instruments. Advising the staff of the program as to the possible approaches to handling the applicants’ individual asylum situations.  From January 2007 through December 2007 I headed a unit of representatives of the Venice city government in agreement with the Italian Interior Ministry to supervise activities of the immigration police at the Port of Venice. The project aimed at assuring that the estimated 3,000 irregular entrants through the Port of Venice each year were given the opportunity to request asylum when appropriate.  As of January 2008, head of the city’s asylum program, representing the program to the Ministry of the Interior, international organizations (UNHCR, IOM), the European Union, and NGOs. Coordination and supervision of staff.
 
UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)/ ICMC-  Consultant 2002- 2003 (Nairobi, Kenya): Senior Consultant to a department responsible for organizing, supervising and providing technical support to UNHCR’s resettlement operations in East, Central, and Southern Africa. Responsibilities involved frequent travel to countries in the region (Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and the DR Congo) to assess the need for resettlement out of region of refugee populations, to train local UNHCR staff and staff of NGOs, to advise the UNHCR branch offices in those countries on their resettlement programs, and to prepare groups of cases for presentation to governments of resettlement countries. The position required working with local and international UNHCR staff, officials of the governments of the host and the resettlement countries, NGOs, and the refugee communities themselves in order to facilitate the resettlement process.  
 
HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Soc.), Director for Central Europe, 1982- 2002 (Vienna, Austria): Managed the organization’s major overseas office, which, over time, assisted Iranian, ex USSR, ex Yugoslavian, and other East European refugee applicants and smaller numbers of Iraqi, Syrian, Afghan, and Ethiopian refugee applicants develop claims for entry as refugees in the US, Canada, Australia, and European countries. The office became the US State Department’s single overseas processing entity for Central Europe.
 
The position necessitated obtaining detailed information concerning human rights abuses in the countries of the claimants’ origin and developing and maintaining extensive knowledge of immigration legislation, procedures, and social conditions effecting immigrants and foreigners in possible countries of first asylum and resettlement. In addition to preparing cases documenting persecution and serious discrimination for presentation to immigration authorities on behalf of up to 3000 clients per month. As director, I was responsible for producing country conditions reports on countries of origin for presentation to governmental policy makers in possible countries of resettlement. I was regularly consulted by the US departments of State and Justice on issues concerning refugee legislation and regulations and prepared testimony for US congressional committees on refugee affairs.
 
I represented the program not only with immigration officials of the receiving countries, but also with consular and embassy officials, frequently on an ambassadorial or ministerial level, with international organizations (IOM, UNHCR) and with other NGO’s involved in refugee and human rights and minority rights issues.  I also represented the agency with the host governments in Austria and in Italy.  I handled public relations in Central Europe for the agency, speaking frequently to press and presented the program to on site board of directors’ missions and to US Congressional delegations. I supervised the agency’s field posts in Italy, Greece, and Croatia.
 
My position also carried with it major management responsibilities. I supervised a staff of up to 45 professionals and clericals from several different ethnic backgrounds and ran a budget at times of over US $ 2,000,000 per year.
 
HIAS, Field representative (1995- 7, and then Assistant Executive VP, 1997- 1982, New York, NY): Represented the agency at meetings with other NGOs, organized and set agenda for meetings of the agency’s international network of resettlement affiliates, advised international network of affiliates on programs to improve service delivery and to increase potential for integration of refugees, drafted congressional testimony on refugee affairs, represented the agency in US government consultation on refugee legislation. As special assignment, organized and supervised the agency’s response to the Mariel Cuban refugee crisis in 1981. Supervised HIAS, Rome refugee processing office on an emergency basis 1979- 80.
 
Oberlin College, Occidental College, Indiana University: (1966- 1974) Professor of Romance Philology. Taught Spanish, Portuguese, and French literature of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Specialized in literature written under persecution.
 
EDUCATION
MA, PhD, Princeton University, 1966 Woodrow Wilson fellow. 1963, 1966
BA, Swarthmore College, magna cum laude, 1963