Learning it All in 2023
I am wrapping up another busy year of learning and, just like last year, I've discovered more opportunities to keep me busy learning more in 2024. My top areas of learning this year included Elder Law, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), and Technical Skilling, esp. around AI, that helped me grow even more in 2023.
Elder Law
I just wrapped up my second year in the Stetson Elder Law LLM program, covering Tax and the Elder Law Client in the Spring and Long-Term Care Planning in the Fall. These courses were pretty intense since they went deeper into their respective areas and we spent quite a bit of time comparing some state-specific scenarios in addition to the general Federal guidance. I also prioritized attending the Tax Intensive at the Stetson SNT Conference in the fall to reinforce some of my learning from earlier in the spring. I continued to learn more from other practitioners across the country in the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) who held their annual conference online in August.
I was also pleased to see a couple of my contributions on Veterans Law published in related journals this year. My case summary for Goffney v McDonough from the Federal Circuit was included in the Veterans Law Journal in March. And my article on "VA Accreditation: Knowing when you need it," was included in The Elder Law Advocate in April, published by the Elder Law Section of The Florida Bar.
Given how many Veterans may be eligible for additional benefits under the PACT Act, it is important to stay current on related cases and updates as the initial set of claims are processed. As of 20 Dec, the VA reported over 637k Total PACT Act Claims Approved and over 220k New Enrollees in the PACT Act Planning Population. Learn more from the latest bi-weekly VA PACT Act Performance Dashboard.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
This year has been undeniably significant in the area of DEI from academia to the workplace, and for someone who has studied the challenges for people from the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) to get the recognition and support they need, this year's events certainly highlighted the gaps in many US-centric DEI programs that were ill-equipped to deal with the global fallout of the Israel-Hamas war.
Given my previous research on U.S. hate crimes, I can't say it's surprising to see the recent increase in reported incidents across ethnic and religious lines, particularly affecting Jewish and Muslim communities. However, it is still disheartening to hear why these cases continue to be underreported and misclassified which makes it more difficult to get an accurate picture of the prevalence of bias-motivated incidents across the country, particularly for ethnoreligious communities where multiple dimensions of diversity intersect.
And even though the Federal government has made progress converging on an acceptable definition for MENA, we are still several years away from those changes being meaningfully implemented to provide the insights needed to effectively support these communities (I wrote about this more in March and September).
In the meantime, acknowledging the impact on these communities, whether they prefer from a secular or religious perspective, is crucial in mitigating the long-term negative consequences of bias-motivated behavior in different contexts. Understanding how antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias manifest in different circumstances has been an ongoing effort given the many cultural nuances one may encounter while working in a global organization. Thankfully, organizations like the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation make resources available to address antisemitism as well as establish Employee Resource Groups from an interfaith perspective.
Many companies have already established MENA ERGs as well, from a secular, ethnic perspective, which community members may prefer. I'm pleased to continue to support the MENA ERG/BRG Exchange on LinkedIn, uniting MENA ERG/BRG representatives across multiple organizations to share resources, ideas, and experiences to foster more recognized MENA ERG/BRG communities globally.
Technical Skilling, esp. AI
This year was a busy one again for technical skilling, esp. with the flood of AI announcements that I honestly lost count of - no wonder CNN named Satya Nadella Business CEO of the Year!
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"It was the year of artificial intelligence, and no Big Tech company leaned into the trend like Microsoft." - CNN, "Microsoft’s Satya Nadella is CNN Business’ CEO of the Year," Dec. 26, 2023
In addition to gaining more AI fluency throughout the year, esp. learning all the different Copilots we have now (and there are quite a few), I finally focused on getting my Microsoft Certified Trainer credential. I've really enjoyed delivering more workshops this year and learning from the MCT community how to continuously improve those deliveries was the main motivation for me to get that checked off my to-do list.
And, of course, I had to put all that AI training to good use with some prompt engineering in Microsoft Designer to cap the year off with some phenomenal creations I could never pull together on my own.
Hope you enjoyed my end of year recap! Here's to learning even #MoreIn24!
Reference
Elder Law
DEI
Technical Skilling
This Past Year's Newsletters
Technical Expert (Level III) at BAE
11 个月I am always impressed by your knowledge, expertise and how you explain complex/detailed information. Glad to work with you!
Senior Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft
1 年Amazing Nivine K. Zakhari! You are an inspiration to us all.