Past Events
What starts here starts with you.
The University will publicly launch the most ambitious fundraising effort in our history. The What Starts Here campaign invites our alumni and friends to unlock the potential of our students, recruit and retain the world’s best faculty, and create a vibrant future of Texas and beyond.
Dean JR DeShazo will recognize LBJ School supporters and attendees will hear from students who have been directly impacted by their generosity.
Join us for food, drinks, live music and networking following the program. The menu will include Frito Pie, Mexican-style street tacos and brisket sliders.
WHO'S INVITED: All alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of the LBJ School are welcome.
Immediately following the event, everyone is invited to march down to the UT Tower to enjoy a free concert by The Black Pumas.
FREE PARKING in the LBJ School lot.
On Wednesday, March 2, the Asia Policy Program, the Clements Center for National Security, Strauss Center for International Security and Law, Intelligence Studies Project, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and the LBJ School of Public Affairs are hosting War in Ukraine: An Expert Panel Discussion. The event will take place at 12:15 p.m. CT in the Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom, UNB 3.202. The event is free and open to the public.
NOTE: The event sponsors follow the University of Texas's public health-related policies. There is an inherent risk of exposure to viruses and other health threats in any public space. Attendees voluntarily assume all associated risks. All UT guidelines and FAQs about COVID-19 can be found at Protect Texas Together.
BIOGRAPHY
Bobby Chesney is the director of the Strauss Center, holds the James Baker Chair, and serves as the associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Texas School of Law. In 2009, he served in the Justice Department in connection with the Detention Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493. He also previously served the intelligence community as an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board and as a member of the Advanced Technology Board. In addition to his current positions at The University of Texas at Austin, Chesney is a member of the American Law Institute, and a senior editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, and a former nonresident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. He is a co-founder and contributor to Lawfare, the leading source for analysis, commentary and news relating to law and national security. He co-hosts the National Security Law Podcast which he co-hosts with his Texas Law colleague Steve Vladeck. Chesney's scholarship focuses on U.S. national security policies and institutions, encompassing both domestic and international law issues. Follow him on Twitter: @bobbychesney
William Inboden is executive director and William Powers, Jr. Chair at the Clements Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, distinguished scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, and editor-in-chief of the Texas National Security Review. Inboden is also an associate with the National Intelligence Council, a member of the CIA's Historical Advisory Panel, a member of the State Department's Historical Advisory Council, senior fellow with the Trinity Forum, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Vandenberg Coalition. Previously he served as senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council at the White House, where he worked on a range of foreign policy issues including the national security strategy, strategic forecasting, democracy and governance, contingency planning, counter-radicalization and multilateral institutions and initiatives. Inboden also worked at the Department of State as a member of the policy planning staff and a special advisor in the Office of International Religious Freedom, and has worked as a staff member in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He is the author of Religion and American Foreign Policy, 1945-1960: The Soul of Containment (Cambridge University Press) and co-editor of The Last Card: Inside George W. Bush's Decision to Surge in Iraq (Cornell University Press), and has published numerous articles and book chapters on national security, American foreign policy and American history. His book on the Reagan administration's national security policy, titled The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan in the White House and the World, is forthcoming in 2022 with Dutton, a PenguinRandomHouse imprint.
Sheena Chestnut Greitens is an associate professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and founding director of the Asia Policy Program. Her work focuses on East Asia, authoritarian politics and American national security policy. She is currently working on two main research projects: one on China's internal security policies and their implications for China in the world, and another on authoritarian diasporas, particularly focused on North Korea. From 2015 to 2020, Greitens was an assistant professor of political science at the University of Missouri and co-director of the University's Institute for Korean Studies. Her work on China and North Korea has appeared in academic journals and edited volumes in English, Chinese and Korean, as well as in major media outlets. She has previously testified before Congress on security issues in the Indo-Pacific. Her first book, Dictators and their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence (Cambridge, 2016) received the 2017 Best Book Award from both the International Studies Association and the Comparative Democratization section of the American Political Science Association. In 2017-18, Greitens served as the first lady of Missouri, where she helped lead the state's trade mission to China and South Korea, and successfully advocated for major legislative and administrative reforms to Missouri's policies on foster care, adoption and child abuse prevention. She holds a doctorate from Harvard University, an M.Phil from Oxford University, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a bachelor's degree from Stanford University.
Steve B. Slick is the director of the Intelligence Studies Project, a joint partnership between the William P. Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law. He retired in 2014 after 28 years as a member of CIA's clandestine service. Between 2005 and 2009, Slick served as a special assistant to the president and the senior director for intelligence programs and reform on the staff of the National Security Council, and previously was previously director for intelligence programs at the NSC. While serving at the White House, Slick participated in efforts to restructure and reform the intelligence community informed by recommendations of the commissions charged with investigating the 9/11 attacks and the flawed pre-war analysis of Iraq's unconventional weapons programs. These efforts included a series of executive orders on U.S. intelligence issued in August 2004, key provisions in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, the administration's responses to recommendations by the "WMD Commission," as well as significant amendments to Executive Order 12333 that were approved by President George W. Bush in 2008.
Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the university's Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and the author and editor of nine books on contemporary politics and foreign policy, most recently The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office. His other books include Henry Kissinger and the American Century; Liberty's Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama; and Foreign Policy Breakthroughs: Cases in Successful Diplomacy (with Robert Hutchings). Suri writes for major newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Daily News, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Boston Globe, Foreign Affairs, Fortune, The American Prospect and Wired—as well as for various online sites and blogs. He is a popular public lecturer, and appears frequently on radio and television. Suri teaches courses on strategy and decision-making, leadership, globalization, international relations and modern history. His research and teaching have received numerous prizes. In 2007, Smithsonian magazine named him one of America's "Top Young Innovators" in the arts and sciences.
Zoltan Feher is an America in the World Consortium Predoctoral Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin; a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow with the Notre Dame International Security Center at the University of Notre Dame; and a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in International Relations at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He also is a World Politics and Statecraft Fellow with the Smith Richardson Foundation. Previously, he worked as a professional diplomat for his home country, Hungary, for 12 years, serving as foreign policy analyst at the Hungarian embassy in Washington, DC and later as Hungary's deputy ambassador and acting ambassador in Turkey. He holds a Master of Arts in political science and a Master of Arts in American history from Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest), a law degree (J.D.) from Pázmány Catholic University (Budapest), and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University. His dissertation, The Sources of American Conduct: U.S. Strategy, China's Rise, and International Order, examines U.S. strategy vis-à-vis China in the early post-Cold War period, focusing on how and why the United States ended up facilitating China's rise. His theory has implications for understanding why established great powers often help the emergence of rising states that may over time become peer competitors.
Alexandra Sukalo is a postdoctoral fellow at the Clements Center and will be joining the Naval Postgraduate School in the fall as an assistant professor of modern Russian history and security policy. She earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Russian and East European history, and has spent considerable time living and conducting research in Eastern Europe. Sukalo has worked at U.S. Embassy Moscow in the regional security office, and prior to beginning her Ph.D., she served as an Eurasian military analyst with the Department of Defense. Her current book project explores the creation of the Soviet Union's security organs in the Union’s western republics, including Ukraine, under Lenin and Stalin.
The Space Security, Safety, and Sustainability (SSSS) Program at The University of Texas at Austin's Strauss Center and the Cockrell School of Engineering, in partnership with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), Lockheed Martin and Privateer, will hold the 8th annual Space Traffic Management conference, "Anthropogenic Environmental Impact and Assessment of Space Traffic on Space Operations and Implications for Climate Change Monitoring." Northstar Earth and Space and Kayhan Space are also co-sponsors.
The conference will take place on Wednesday, March 2 and Thursday, March 3, 2022, in the Bass Lecture Hall of the LBJ School at The University of Texas at Austin and via Zoom Webinar. The conference is being organized by SSSS Program Lead Dr. Moriba Jah and the IAA Space Traffic Management Committee.
Registraton is required.
On Thursday, Feb. 24, the Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law will host Joby Warrick, journalist for the Washington Post, for a talk on his latest release, Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America's Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World. Join us from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. CT at the University of Texas in the Robert L. Patton Building, RLP 1.302B.
Biography
Joby Warrick joined the Washington Post's national staff in 1996. He has served with the Post's investigative and national security teams, and currently writes about the Middle East, terrorism and weapons proliferation. He is the author of three nonfiction books, including his 2021 book Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America's Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World. His second book, Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, was awarded a 2016 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. His first book, The Triple Agent, recounts the 2009 suicide attack by an al-Qaeda informant on a CIA base at Khost, Afghanistan, that killed seven U.S. intelligence operatives. Before joining the Post, Warrick covered the fall of communism in Eastern Europe as a UPI correspondent and worked as a reporter at the Delaware County (Pa.) Daily Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. While in Raleigh, he co-wrote "Boss Hog," a series of investigative stories that documented the political and environmental fallout caused by factory farming in the Southeast. The series won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for public service. His honors and Awards include the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, 2016; Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for public service, 1996; White House Correspondents Association Edgar A. Poe award, 1996; Overseas Press Club of America Bob Considine Award for best newspaper interpretation of international affairs, 2003.
For more information on this event, contact Elizabeth Doughtie: elizabeth.doughtie@utexas.edu.
On Wednesday, Feb. 23, the Center for European Studies and the Clements Center for National Security are hosting a conversation on U.S.-German relations and the future of the transatlantic security partnership after the 2021 German elections with Sharyl N. Cross, director of the Kozmetsky Center at St. Edwards University, and Sebastian Bruns, McCain Fulbright Visiting Professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. Join us on Zoom for "After Merkel: The Future of Transatlantic Security" at 12:15 p.m. CT.
Dr. Sharyl Cross is the director of the Kozmetsky Center at St. Edward's University & global policy scholar at the Kennan Institute/Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She held previous appointments as professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany and distinguished professor of political science at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Cross has extensive teaching and publication experience in international relations with area concentrations on Russia/Eurasia and South East Europe. Her most recent book, co-authored with Paul Bolt, China, Russia and Twenty First Century Global Geopolitics was published by Oxford University Press in 2018.
Dr. Sebastian Bruns is the McCain Fulbright visiting professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. The program was created by Congress to bring mid-career international academics to USNA to teach classes on subjects pertaining to their regional background. Scholars will also practice outreach to DC-area think tanks and military higher education institutions around the country. Before coming to the U.S., Bruns — who hails from Germany — directed the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security (CMSS) at the Institute for Security Policy, Kiel University (ISPK), continental Europe's only think tank for seapower. He also founded and chaired the Kiel Seapower Series.
For more information about this event, contact Elizabeth Doughtie: elizabeth.doughtie@utexas.edu.
Join the LBJ School Student Ambassador team to talk about classes, culture and life as an LBJ student.
On Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, the Strauss Center will welcome Dr. Paul Angelo, fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, for a talk on U.S. security assistance to Latin America, with a focus on Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. This talk will be a part of our Brumley Speaker Series.
Registration required. Seating is limited and not guaranteed.
Please note: Format is subject to change as we are continually monitoring health conditions. Masking and social distancing are optional but highly recommended. For those experiencing COVID-19 symptoms prior to the event, please refrain from attending the event. We will maintain a roster of all attendees and will provide the list to UT Health Austin for contact tracing purposes.
Biography
Paul J. Angelo is a fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). His work focuses on U.S.-Latin American relations, transnational crime, violent actors, military and police reform, and immigration. A former active-duty naval officer, he has extensive experience in military and government service.
Angelo was formerly an international affairs fellow at CFR, and in this capacity, he represented the U.S. Department of State as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where he managed the ambassador's security and justice portfolio. In the Political Section, he provided technical assistance to the Honduran police reform commission; supported strategy development and agenda-setting for Afro-descendent, indigenous and LGBTQ networks to improve civic engagement; and led policy and legal analysis on violence, crime and migration trends. His previous service in the Navy included tours in a United Kingdom-based NATO position, on board a destroyer deployed to the Asia-Pacific region, and as an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he taught Spanish and Latin American politics courses.
During his naval career, Angelo deployed to Colombia on three occasions over the course of more than a decade. During his longest mission in Colombia, he served as the U.S. Embassy's principal liaison to the Colombian military and police in the highly conflictive Pacific coast. He was directly responsible for the planning of inter-agency missions focused on improving local governance, rule of law, and security in support of Plan Colombia, and he spearheaded the coordination and implementation of the Embassy's largest bilateral humanitarian mission in 2011.
Angelo holds a B.S. in political science (with honors) from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, an M.Phil. in Latin American studies (with distinction) from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a Ph.D. in politics from University College London. He was recently selected for commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, through which he supports U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command as a Foreign Area Officer. Angelo's written commentary has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, The Hill and Survival: Global Politics and Strategy.
On Tuesday, Feb. 15, the Strauss Center, Clements Center and the Intelligence Studies Project are pleased to welcome Amy Zegart, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, for a virtual talk on her newly released book, Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence. Steve Slick, director of the Intelligence Studies Project, will moderate the discussion.
"Today we face a critical juncture for American spy agencies, as big as 9/11 — only most people don't know it," says Zegart, one of the country's leading experts on intelligence and a professor at Stanford University. "New dangers come from tech, not terrorists. Emerging technologies like AI and social media are weakening the strong and empowering the weak, fundamentally changing dynamics of international conflict. To be blunt: The U.S. is losing its intelligence advantage."
To help us better understand these looming threats, Zegart has written Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence (Princeton University Press; Feb. 1, 2022). It's the first comprehensive book on the past, present and future of American intelligence—and outlines what's urgently needed to protect our nation today. The book draws on over 30 years of research (including new research just for this book) and hundreds of interviews with current and former intelligence officials. Weak intelligence makes us more vulnerable to attacks on our power grids, water supply, elections, corporate network servers and nuclear weapons. Helping the American public better understand these evolving threats is crucial.
Registration is required. Please note: You must have a registered Zoom account to be able to register and log in.
Biography
Amy B. Zegart is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a professor of political science, past co-director of Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs. She has previously served as a national security analyst for CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and National Public Radio. In September 2021, The Atlantic published two pieces by Zegart on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, available here. Watch her recent broadcast media appearances.
Students at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin will pay tribute to the life and legacy of former congresswoman, distinguished public servant and teacher Barbara Jordan during the 25th annual Barbara Jordan National Forum (BJNF) throughout the month of February.
The theme of the 2022 celebration, "The Common Good," comes from this quote from Jordan's 1976 keynote address to the Democratic National Convention:
"A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good."
All events will be streamed live on the LBJ School's YouTube channel.
25th Annual Barbara Jordan National Forum — Schedule of Events
Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022
EVENT: Policy Alliance for Communities of Color (PACC) First Friends: Community Building through Mentorship
This engagement session will lay out Barbara Jordan's role as a mentor and mentee, explore peer mentorship programming at LBJ, and engage participants on the role of mentorship in their lives. Speakers include First Friend Coordinator David Cruz and JEDI Director Estevan Delgado.
Monday, Feb. 21, 2022
EVENT: Upholding the Common Good: Within the LBJ Community
Join the BJNF co-chairs for an activity celebrating Barbara Jordan’s birthday and opening the final week of Barbara Jordan National Forum. Tune in to @thelbjschool on Instagram during the day as the co-chairs take over.
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022
EVENT: Distinguished Lecture: Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner
The 62nd mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, visited the LBJ School to remark on the importance of upholding the "common good" in public service, while also honoring the legacy of legendary Houstonian Barbara Jordan.
Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022
EVENT: Honorary Address from Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette
The LBJ School welcomed Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, president and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University, for a distinguished address on the legacy of Barbara Jordan. This event marked the inaugural presentation of the Barbara Jordan Public Service Award.
Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022
EVENT: Strengthening Democracy Through Civil Dialogues: Voting Access & Community Engagement
Rudy Metayer (EMPL '16), president & executive director of the Texas Black Caucus Foundation, and Brencia Berry (MPAff '16), director of coalitions and community engagement at the Democratic National Committee, discussed the current landscape of voter access and participation — both in Texas and nationally — and how investing in community engagement and coalition building is integral to ensuring inclusive and equitable representation and policymaking that combats racial disparities.
On Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, The University of Texas at Austin's Intelligence Studies Project, Strauss Center for International Security and Law, Clements Center for National Security, Global (Dis)Information Lab and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies will host Russian politician, author and historian Vladimir Kara-Murza for a public talk on freedom and dissent in contemporary Russia.
Dr. Kiril Avramov, director of the Global (Dis)Information Lab, assistant professor at UT's Department of Slavic & Eurasian Studies, and ISP fellow will moderate the conversation.
*This event is in-person. Advance registration is required.
The event sponsors follow the University of Texas's public health related policies. There is an inherent risk of exposure to viruses and other health threats in any public space. Attendees voluntarily assume all associated risks. All UT guidelines and FAQs about COVID-19 can be found at Protect Texas Together.