On Jan. 6, 2013, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressed the Syrian population for the first time in six months amid a 22-month-old civil war that has claimed the lives of an estimated 60,000 Syrians.

Obama’s six hour visit reflects not only the acknowledgement that the country has made progress in the area of human rights, but also a shifting U.S. foreign policy that is more concerned with China’s influence in the region that the President signalled last year with the deployment of 2,500 troops to Australia. In recent years, Myanmar has eased many of its harshest restrictions on its population and released hundreds of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. Professor of Southeast Asian history Geoffrey Robinson discusses the country’s introduction of liberal reforms, the ethnic tensions that remain that makes this progress tenuous, and the larger historical narrative relevant to Myanmar’s current status.

The final days of the Presidential election were interrupted by an unexpected hurricane that devastated the East Coast. The death toll of Superstorm Sandy has reached at least 110 and the fiscal damages are in billions of dollars. Traffic jams, flooding, lack of public transportation and days without power have crippled the region and its residents. Sandy refocused climate change as a real political issue with costly implications. The role of the FEMA, the federal agency that manages disaster relief, also became a critical issue. Earth and Space Sciences Professor William Newman discusses how Sandy revealed many of the unique challenges our generation faces and how we have handled crises in the past.

July 9, 2012 – In recent years, social media has been the force dominating our communication with one another.

From rekindling connections between long lost elementary school besties on Facebook, maintaining current friendships through memorable Instagrams and forging new ones through the discovery of like-minded people hashtagging interests and trends, social media has become an important presence in modern society.

At UCLA, professors, TAs and students alike are utilizing this tool beyond its purely social dimensions and are integrating it in the classroom as an educational strategy aimed at widening the scope of academic possibilities.

Pictured: History professor Tobias Higbie’s Twitter page.

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This story is part of the Daily Bruin’s Orientation Issue.