Oral History

The Vermont Council on World Affairs welcomes Vietnamese Parliamentarians from our Open World Program to Vermont where they will stay with host families for one week.

Open World has been forging lasting positive relationships between emerging and established leaders in the former Soviet Union and their American counterparts since 1999. Program participants have a range of diverse backgrounds, and they come to the U.S. with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of American democracy and the rule of law in the U.S. While here, they are introduced to best practices in critical areas like sustaining NGOs, tackling corruption, and promoting an independent judiciary, and so much more.

Participants:

Le Thi Thanh Lam
Ms. Thanh Lam serves as a Member of the Executive Committee of the Provincial Party Committee as the Vice Head of the National Assembly Delegation. She previously served with the Hau Giang Provincial Labor Confederation as a Member of the Executive Committee of the General Confederation, the Member of the Executive Committee of the Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Union, Secretary of the Party Cell, and the  Chairperson of the confederation.

Hai Hung Nguyen
Mr. Nguyen is a lieutenant general in the Vietnam People’s Army, and was elected to the legislature in 2016. He currently serves on the Defense and Security Committee, and is chair of the friendship parliamentary groups for Singapore and China. He was elected to represent the Hai Duong province, and is interested in national security issues.

Minh Cuong Quan
Mr. Quan has been a member of the Communist Party since 1997, and is the Deputy Secretary of the Dong Nai Provincial Party Committee and Dean of the Dong Nai delegation to the National Assembly. He currently sits on the National Assembly’s Committee for Defense and Security. He studied at the People’s Police University, and later earned a law degree.

Tao Nguyen
Mr. Nguyen has represented the Lam Dong province in the National Assembly of Vietnam since 2016, and currently serves on the Law Committee. In addition, he serves as Vice Chairman on the Lam Dong Provincial Football Federation. Mr. Nguyen is a lawyer, and previously worked in the Department of Justice, in the Department of Foreign Affairs, and other public-sector roles.

Quynh Mai Dung Thai
Ms. Thai has been a member of the Communist Party since 2009, and joined the National Assembly in 2021. She represents the Duc Lam community in the Duc Tho district, and is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and is Vice Chair of the Vietnam-Australia Friendship Parliamentary Group. She holds a doctor of economics degree, and master of public policy. She previously worked at the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and in other economic roles.

The delegation will be accompanied by Duc Cong Dao, Political Specialist, US Embassy in Hanoi.

James Gunger will be representing the Vermont Council on World Affairs. Interpretation provided by Dinh Quynh Ngo.

From Gary DeCarolis:

Hemant holds degrees from the University of Vermont, Tribhuvan University, and University of North Bengal. He has worked in education as an Education Counselor and Assistant Principal. He is a current board member of the Community Health Centers of Burlington and is serving as president of Druk International Shito-Ryu Karate Do Association. He has been awarded the Susan Brody Hasazi Doctoral Dissertation Award, the Outstanding Community Partner Award “CELO Award,” the Quality Leader Award, World Council for Total Quality Excellence in Education, and is a Leadership Training Graduate of Vermont Leadership Institute.

Hemant is a former refugee from Bhutan, and has a family of 5 – him, his spouse, and three boys. His eldest son is now a senior at UVM and the two other boys are in elementary school in the Burlington School District. Hemant's hobbies include photography, hiking, and skiing starting soon. Sports include karate and soccer.

From Melinda Moulton:

Known for telling little-known true stories of extraordinary people who have shaped our world, Tanya Lee Stone has threaded themes of female empowerment throughout her body of work for nearly 20 years, writing narrative nonfiction as gripping as fiction. Stone is the author of the Sibert Medal winning Almost Astronauts, NAACP Image Award winning Courage Has No Color, and Golden Kite Award winning The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie. Other works include Girl Rising, Elizabeth Leads the Way, Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?, The House that Jane Built, Sandy’s Circus, and Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly Was Invented. Her work has been recognized by the Bank Street Flora Straus Steiglitz Award, Jane Addams Honor, YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, NPR Best Books, and NCTE Orbis Pictus Honors. Stone also writes poetry and fiction and is the author of A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, which is #42 on ALA’s Top 100 Banned Books of the Decade.

Before becoming a writer, Stone studied English at Oberlin College, earned a Masters Degree in Science Education, and was an editor of children’s nonfiction books for many years. She is the Program Director of the Professional Writing Program at Champlain College, in Burlington, Vermont.

For more information visit: www.tanyastone.com

From Melinda Moulton:

David E. Sellers is an American architect based in Vermont known for using an improvisational approach to modern architecture which eventually led to what is known as design build.

His work focuses on designing and building with nature, with special emphasis on custom craftsmanship and a preference for sustainability. His work in town and community planning has received national recognition for pedestrian and human-scaled settlement patterns.