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Lecture Series
All Distinguished Voices lectures are free and open to the public, and require a ticket. For more information, please contact Sarah Dufresne at 904-620-2117 or sdufresn@unf.edu
Postponed until Fall 2009
AMBASSADOR JEFFREY DAVIDOW
ARE WE LOSING LATIN AMERICA?
After a 34-year career with the State Department, Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow retired with the personal rank of career ambassador and now assumes the role as president of the Institute of the Americas.
During his foreign service career, he focused his efforts on improving relations between the United States and Latin America. As early as 1979, while serving as a congressional staff aide, he organized the first congressional hearings to explore the feasibility of a North America free-trade zone. He went on to hold senior positions in U.S. embassies in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Guatemala and Chile.
Davidow was appointed ambassador to Venezuela in 1993 and three years later, was named assistant secretary of state, acting as the State Department’s chief policymaker for the hemisphere. In 1998, President Bill Clinton named him ambassador to Mexico and President George W. Bush asked him to remain in that post until 2002.
After leaving Mexico in September 2002, he went to Harvard University as a visiting fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
Davidow is the author of two books, “A Peace in Southern Africa: The Lancaster Conference on Rhodesia” and “The U.S. and Mexico: The Bear and the Porcupine.”
This lecture is co-hosted by UNF and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Global Issues Evenings.
Previous Lectures
This lecture is complete.
DR. PERRY ZIRKEL
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
6:30 p.m. in the University Center
THE WACKY WORLD OF SCHOOL LAW
Dr. Perry Zirkel is the Andrew Robinson Eminent Scholar Chair in Educational Policy and Economic Development at the University of North Florida. He is the university professor of education and law at Lehigh University, where he formerly was dean of the College of Education and more recently held the Iacocca Chair in Education for a five-year term.
While at UNF this spring, Zirkel has been sharing his expertise with faculty and students, functioning in an advisory capacity to the Schultz Center of Teaching and Learning in Jacksonville and working collaboratively with P-12 educators as well as statewide centers at the Florida Institute of Education, located on the UNF campus. He has been involved in helping to build an agenda for intervention and research within selected urban schools and educational agencies.
He has written numerous publications on various aspects of school law, with an emphasis on legal issues in special education. He regularly writes a column in Phi Delta Kappan, Principal magazine and Teaching Exceptional Children.
As past president of the Education Law Association and co-chair of the Pennsylvania special education appeals panel from 1990 to 2006, Zirkel is the author of the two-volume reference “Section 504, the ADA and the Schools” and the recent CEC monograph “The Legal Meaning of Specific Learning Disability.”
He has a Ph.D. in Educational Administration, a J.D. from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Laws degree from Yale University.
This lecture is part of the Robinson Eminent Scholar Lecture Series, sponsored by the College of Education and Human Services.
This lecture is complete.
H.E. HUSAIN HAQQANI
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
MANAGING THE TRANSITION IN PAKISTAN
Husain Haqqani currently serves as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States and is a leading journalist, diplomat and former advisor to Pakistani prime ministers. He is a professor at Boston University and a former director of the Center for International Relations. He is also the co-chair of the Hudson Institute’s Project on the Future of the Muslim World as well as editor of the journal Current Trends in Islamist Thought.
He came to the U.S. in 2002 as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington D.C. and is an adjunct professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
He started his journalism career with work as an East Asian correspondent for Arabia—The Islamic World Review and as a Pakistan and Afghanistan correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review. During this period, he wrote extensively on Muslims in China and East Asia as well as Islamic political movements.
This lecture is co-hosted by UNF and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Global Issues Evenings.
This lecture is complete.
LT. GEN. DOUGLAS LUTE
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
THE OUTLOOK FOR SUCCESS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute serves in the United States Army. On May 15, 2007, he was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as assistant to the President and deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan. The position oversees the war in Iraq and war in Afghanistan.
In the early 90s, he deployed and fought with the regiment in Operation Desert Storm, and he later served on the staff of the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. He went on to command the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry at Fort Hood, Texas, as well as served on the Joint Staff in the Directorate for Strategic Plans and Policy( J-5) and held a War College Fellowship at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.
In June 2004, Lute began more than two years as Director of Operations (J-3) at U.S. Central Command, overseeing combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa. He was appointed to the rank of Major General in 2004 and to the rank of Lieutenant General in 2006. He assumed duties as Director of Operations, the Joint Staff, in September 2006.
This lecture is co-hosted by UNF and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Global Issues Evenings.
This lecture is complete.
STEVEN WEISMAN
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
POLICY OPTIONS FOR THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ON THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS
Steven Weisman, editorial director and public policy fellow beginning in 2008, had been the chief international economics correspondent of The New York Times since 2006. He served as a member of the editorial board of the Times, specializing in politics and economics. His work has appeared in the Times Book Review, Times Magazine, and the paper's news, features, and culture sections since 1968. Before serving as chief international economics correspondent, he was chief diplomatic correspondent and won the Edward Weintal Prize in 2004 for his reporting on diplomacy and international affairs, awarded by the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Earlier he served as deputy foreign editor for the Times. Weisman wrote about the emergence of Japan and India as global economic powers while serving as bureau chief for the Times in Tokyo and New Delhi. He also covered the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. During the first term of President Ronald Reagan, Weisman was senior White House correspondent, specializing in foreign policy, budget, tax, and other economic issues. His coverage of the New York City fiscal crisis earned a Silurian Society Award in 1975. He is the author of “The Great Tax Wars: Lincoln to Wilson—The Fierce Battles over Money and Power That Transformed the Nation,” which received the Sidney Hillman Award in 2003 for the book that most advances the cause of social justice.
This lecture is co-hosted by UNF and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Global Issues Evenings.
This lecture is complete.
DR. NAOMI ZACK
Monday, February 2, 2009
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
ETHICS OF DISASTER
Dr. Naomi Zack received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Columbia University in 1970 and after a 20-year absence from academia, began teaching at the University at Albany, SUNY, in 1990. She has been a professor of Philosophy at The University of Oregon since 2001. She has spoken widely and written numerous articles on the issues of race, gender and 17th century philosophy. Her book publications include “Inclusive Feminism,” “Philosophy of Science and Race,” “Bachelors of Science: Seventeenth Century Identity Then and Now,” “Race and Mixed Race” and the short textbook “Thinking about Race.” Zack is also the editor of “American Mixed Race,” and “Women of Color and Philosophy.”
More recently Zack has been involved in the application of philosophy to disaster preparation and emergency response. Forthcoming books include “Ethics for Disaster” and “The Handy Philosophy Answer Book.” In addition to her research, she is interested in existentialism, contemporary ethics and philosophy of science.
This lecture is part of the Distinguished Voices Inquiry and Insight Lecture Series.
This lecture is complete.
SHARON WAXMAN
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
LOOT: THE BATTLE OVER THE STOLEN TREASURES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
Sharon Waxman is a former culture correspondent for The New York Times and holds a master's degree in Middle East studies from Oxford University. She covered Middle Eastern and European politics and culture for ten years before joining The Washington Post and then The New York Times to report on Hollywood and other cultural news. She is the author of “Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World” and “Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System.”
This lecture is co-hosted by UNF and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Global Issues Evenings.
This lecture is complete.
DAVID BROOKS
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK
David Brooks, author and New York Times columnist, has a gift for bringing audiences face to face with the spirit of our times with humor, insight and quiet passion. He is a keen observer of the American way of life and a savvy analyst of present-day politics and foreign affairs.
He is a bi-weekly Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, a column he has been writing since 2003, and is a regular analyst on “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” as well as National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” He has served as a former writer, editor or columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek and The Weekly Standard as well as other major print media.
Brooks is the author of two books, “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” which was a New York Times bestseller, and “On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.” He describes his books as comic sociology, descriptions of how we live and the “water we swim in.”
He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1983 and worked as a police reporter for the City News Bureau, a wire service owned jointly by the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times.
This lecture is co-hosted by UNF and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Global Issues Evenings.
This lecture is complete.
STEVEN LEVITT
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
7:30 p.m. in the UNF Arena
AN EVENING WITH STEVEN LEVITT
Steven Levitt is a prominent American economist and the best-selling author of “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything,” which spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list, with over three million copies sold worldwide in more than 30 languages.
Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt shows how economics is, at root, the study of incentives—that is how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.
He has appeared widely on television and maintains the popular “Freakonomics” blog, which can be found on The New York Times Web site. He is currently working on a second book, tentatively titled “Superfreakonomics.”
Winner of the 2003 John Bates Clark Medal, Levitt is currently the Alvin H. Baum Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago, director of the Initiative on Chicago Price Theory at the University of Chicago, and editor of the Journal of Political Economy.
He received a doctorate in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.
This lecture is part of the Presidential Lecture Series and is supported by the UNF Foundation.
This lecture is complete.
DR. ZORBA PASTER
Monday, October 20, 2008
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
HOW TO LIVE A LONG, SWEET LIFE
Zorba Paster is a family physician and National Public Radio talk show host. His down-to-earth style and irrepressible enthusiasm have made him a favorite with health and fitness-conscious public radio listeners for more than a decade. Paster first appeared on radio as a guest expert on Wisconsin Public Radio’s statewide newsmagazine, “Morning People” with Tom Clark, which quickly became a weekly, national talk show called “Zorba Paster On Your Health.”
His column, “The Doctor’s In,” based on the radio series, was a popular monthly feature of Your Health Magazine in the late ‘90s. Since 2000, Paster has been editor of TopHealth, an employee newsletter that reaches more than one million readers monthly. His book, “The Longevity Code: Your Personal Prescription for a Longer, Sweeter Life,” was published in February 2001.
Paster has traveled and studied extensively in Asia and India, where he volunteered medical expertise and services for the Tibetan refugee population in Northern India’s Himalayas. A clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he mentors medical students and also maintains a full-time clinical practice in Oregon, Wis.
This lecture is part of the Distinguished Voices Inquiry and Insight Lecture Series.
This lecture is complete.
JOHN ZOGBY
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
THE WAY WE’LL BE
John Zogby, president and CEO of Zogby International, is the hottest pollster in the United States today. He has conducted polls and focus groups around the world, though he has gained the most publicity for his polls of U.S. presidential elections.
He first gained attention in the 1992 presidential election when he released a survey showing the New York State Gov. Mario Cuomo would lose in his home state to incumbent President George H. W. Bush. Zogby also correctly polled the cliffhanger result of the presidential election won narrowly by George W. Bush.
Since 1996, Zogby has polled for Reuters News Agency, the largest news agency in the world, and for four years, conducted polls for NBC News. He regularly appears on all three nightly network news programs, plus NBC’s “Today Show,” ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and is a frequent guest for Fox News and MSNBC special programs, along with CNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”
His analytical expertise has been published on the opinion pages of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Christian Science Monitor and Newsday to name a few. Zogby’s new book, “The Way We’ll Be,” was released this summer and is a portrait on the new American consumer.
This lecture is co-hosted by UNF and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Global Issues Evenings.
This lecture is complete.
DR. JARIK CONRAD
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
THE FRAGILE MIND: HOW IT HAS PRODUCED AND UNWITTINGLY PERPETUATED AMERICA'S TRAGIC DISPARITIES
Dr. Jarik Conrad is a true-to-life example of the power of emotional intelligence. He grew up in a housing project in East St. Louis, Ill., a place so economically challenged that it has been described as the most distressed small city in America. He is now president of the Conrad Consulting Group, LLC, which helps organizations solve complex people-related challenges.
He has broad leadership experience across a number of industries, including positions with the St. Louis Cardinals, Union Carbide Corporation, The Pillsbury Company, Citigroup, CSX and the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce. He recently led Blueprint for Prosperity, an initiative to improve the quality of life for citizens in Jacksonville.
Conrad has several publications and his latest book is “The Fragile Mind: How it has Produced and Unwittingly Perpetuated America’s Tragic Disparities.” He serves on the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations and several local nonprofit boards. He has also been named one of the top 40 professionals under 40 in Jacksonville by the Jacksonville Business Journal.
He earned his doctorate in Education from the University of North Florida. He earned a Master of Industrial & Labor Relations degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois.
This lecture is complete.
MARTIN INDYK
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
7:30 p.m. in the University Center
THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
Middle East expert Martin Indyk is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at Brookings Institution. He is a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, where he served two tours. During this time, he helped strengthen U.S.-Israeli relations, reinforce the U.S. commitment to advance the peace process and substantially increase the level of mutually-funded beneficial trade and investment.
Indyk served as special assistant to President Clinton as well as senior director of Near East and South Asian Affairs Israel. While at the Council, he served as principal adviser to the president and national security adviser on Arab-Israeli issues, Iraq, Iran and South Asia. He was also a senior member of Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s Middle East peace team, serving as the White House representative on the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission.
Before entering government service, Indyk served for eight years as founding executive director for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research institute specializing in Arab-Israel relations. He has also been an adjunct professor at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and has been widely published on U.S. policy towards the Arab-Israeli process, U.S.-Israeli relations and threats of Middle East stability posed by Iraq and Iran.
This lecture is co-hosted by UNF and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville’s Global Issues Evenings.
An Evening With Archbishop Desmond Tutu – November 12, 2005
