2023 – The State of Democracy Abroad and at Home
Chair: Greg Dixon
2022 – Systemic Racism and What We Can Do About It
Chair: Laura Espinosa
2021 – Women in Leadership: Why it Matters
Chair: Iyabo Obasanjo
2019 – Human Migration: Law, Policy and Human Rights
Chair: Dan Hotchkiss
2018 – America’s Place in the World: Power, Influence, and World Order
Chair: Lucia Green-Weiskel
Speakers:
- Barry Posen is Ford International Professor of Political Science at MIT and the director of MIT’s Security Studies Program.
- Charles Maynes is an independent radio producer based in Moscow.
- Patrick Lawrence is a longtime columnist, essayist, critic, and lecturer.
- Jendayi E. Frazer is a visiting professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, a former US Ambassador to South Africa, and the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2005-09.
- Syaru Shirley Lin teaches political economy at the University of Virginia and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
2017 – The World’s Oceans: Protecting an International Resource
Chair: Brian Williams
Speakers:
- Rashid Sumaila, PhD, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia
- CAPT (ret) Andrew Norris, US Coast Guard Trial Attorney
- Heidi Weiskel, PhD, Staff Scientist, Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW)
- Matt Rigney, Author, Educator, Fisherman
- Andrew Sharpless, CEO Oceana, International ocean conservation organization
2016 – Education
Chair: Becky Miller
Speakers:
- Andy Calkins, Deputy Director, Next Generation Learning Challenges at Educause
- Elizabeth Suneby, Author – books for children and teens
- Sameer Honwad, Assistant Professor of Education, University of New Hampshire
- EK Cho, Associate Professor of Education, University of New Hampshire
2015 – Climate Change
Chair: Beth Miller
Speakers:
- Stephen P. Hamburg, chief scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund
- Kate Sheppard, senior reporter, environment and energy editor, Huffington Post
- Keya Chatterjee, executive director, Society of Environmental Journalists
- Dale Jamieson, professor of environmental studies and philosophy, New York University
2014 – Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities
Chair: Ted Trainer
Speakers:
- Marvin G. Weinbaum, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Fawzia Afzal-Khan, professor of English at Montclair State University
- Khan Hussan Zia, writer and former Pakastani Naval Officer
2013 – Europe and the Eurozone
Chair: Lisa Braiterman
Speakers:
- Heather Conley, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Dr. Vello Pettai, professor of comparative politics at the University of Tartu in Estonia
- Dr. Catherine L. Mann, International Business School at Brandeis
- Dr. Thomas Wright, fellow in the Managing Global Order project, Brookings Institution
2012 – Arab Spring and Beyond
Chair: Maria Getoff
Speakers:
- Hisham Melhem, Washington bureau chief of Al-Arabiya Television
- Jillian Schwedler, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
- Michele Dunne, director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, Atlantic Council
- Jon B. Alterman, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy and Director, Middle East Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
2011 – Water: A Human Right and Resource
Chair: Nick Dempsey
Speakers:
- R. Allyn Clarke, Bedford Institute of Oceanography
- Dr. Christopher L. Kukk, Western Connecticut State University
- Dr. Juliet Christian-Smith, Pacific Institute
- Dr. Shimon C. Anisfeld,Yale University
- Patricia Jones, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
2010 – Empowering Women and Children for Global Health
Chair: Suellen Peluso
Speakers:
- Jennifer Prah Ruger, core investigator for the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS
- Susan M. Davis, president & CEO of BRAC USA
- Scott Hansen, American Institute in Taiwan’s Economic Section
- Lisa Adams, assistant professor in the department of medicine, Section of Infectious Disease and International Health, Dartmouth Medical School, and Director of the Global Health Initiative (GHI).
- Richard Waddell, assistant professor of medicine in the Section of Infectious Disease and International Health at Dartmouth
- Ann Cotton, founder of the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED)
2009 – Global Justice
Chair: David Cummiskey
Speakers:
- Joel H. Rosenthal, president, Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs
- Janice Bially Mattern, associate professor international relations, Lehigh University
- Linda Bishai, senior program officer, Education and Training Center/International, United States Institute for Peace
- Dr. Lee R. Schwartz, director of the Office of the Geographer and Global Issues, US Department of State
- Allen Springer, professor of government, Bowdoin College
2008 – Religion and International Politics, Now and into the Future
Chair: Rosemarie Smurzynski
Speakers:
- Stanley R. Sloan, author, educator, visiting scholar at Rohatyn Center for International Studies, Middlebury College
- Jayakiran Sebastian, director of Multicultural Mission Center, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
- Emmanual Twesigye, professor of Christian studies, Ohio Wesleyan University
- Emran Quereshi, author, educator, Wertheim Fellow at Harvard University
- Paul Beran, director for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
- Hilary Rantisi, director, Middle East Initiative, Kennedy School of Government
2007 – Island Opened Late – No IA Conference Held
2006 – Power Shifts: Regional Hotspots Confronting the U.S.
Chair: Josh Spero
Speakers:
- Jeffery Taliaferro, associate professor of political science, Tufts University
- Sean Kay, associate professor of politics and government, Ohio Weslyan University
- Alan Stolberg, assistant professor of national security studies, U.S. Army War College
- Theresa Hitchens, director of the Center for Defense Information, Washington DC
- Eric Budd, associate professor of political science, Fitchburg State College
2005 – Food Security: Global Challenge to People, Cultures and Nations
Chair: Lloyd Yanis
Speakers:
- Ellen Messer, visiting professor of international affairs and anthropology, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
- Sara Sievers, director for research, advocacy and policy, Association Francois Xavier Bagnoud
- Mark McPeak, deputy director, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
- Brian Tokar, author, educator, faculty at Vermont’s Institute for Social Ecology
- Jim Slama, founder and president of Sustain and FamilyFarmed.org
2004 – The World’s Largest Democracy: India
Chair: Joann O’Hara
Speakers:
- Harry G. Barnes, Jr., former United States ambassador to India
- Anne E. Monius: professor of South Asian Religions, Harvard Divinity School
- Kilaparti Ramakrishna, senior associate for international environmental law, Woods Hole Research Center
- Katharine Sreedhar, director, UU Holdeen India Program
- Dr. Prabhakar Tamboli, executive director, international training programs, University of Maryland
2003 – Islam: One-Fifth of the World’s People
Chair: Karen Mathiasen
Speakers:
- Dr. Hibba Abugideiri, professor, George Washington University
- Dr. Anthony F. Lang, program officer, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
- Dr. Azza Karam, director, Women’s Program at the World Conference on Religion and Peace
- Heather Gregg, Ph.D. candidate in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2002 – Contemporary China: Challenges of Global Engagement
Chair: Anne Howe
Speakers:
- Brantly Womack, professor, University of Virginia
- Yasheng Huang, associate professor, Harvard Business School
- Dan Hai Mu Esquire and Dr. Rong Yi, Boston University
- Xiaorong Li, research scholar, University of Maryland (presented by Helena Cobban)
- Harry Harding, dean, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
2001 – The U.S. and the Challenges of International Leadership and Cooperation
Chair: Ross Fenster
Speakers:
- Stewart Patrick, Center on International Cooperation, New York University
- Michael Klare, Hampshire College
- Aaron M. Knight, chief of staff, World Federalist Association
- Joshua Spero, Dartmouth School of Government
- Rose Gottemoeller, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
2000 – International Ethics
Chair: Caren Yanis
Speakers:
- Valora Washington, executive director, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
- Joel Rosenthal, president, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
- Sherman Teichman, director, Institute for Global Leadership, Tufts University
- Lawrence Grossman: president, NBC News from 1984 to 1988 and of PBS from 1976 to 1984
- Lori Knowles, professor, University of Wisconsin Schools of Law and Medicine
1999 – Reaching Beyond States: The Role of International NGOs
Chair: Helena Cobben
Speakers:
- Ann Florini, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Heather Foote, UU Service Committee
- Ricky Goldstein, Human Rights Watch
- Xiaorong Li, University of Maryland
- Susannah Sirkin, Physicians for Human Rights Campaign against Land Mines
1998 – People, States, and Globalization
Chair: Tom McNaugher
Speakers:
- Stephen Blank, Pace University
- Bridget Rosewell, Business Strategies Ltd. London
- Ed Lincoln, Brookings Institue
- Michael Berlin, Boston U. School of Journalism
- Shibley Telhami, Univ of Maryland
1997 – Trouble in the Neighborhood: Co-Existence in North America
Chair: Susan Rak
Speakers
- Marilyn Halter, Boston University
- Betty Haskins, United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs
- William LeoGrande, American University
- Susan Purcell
- Monique Simard, deputy leader, Parti Quebecois
1996 – The Impact of Political Decisions on World Health
Chair: Burt Jaffe
Speakers:
- John Hammock, director, Oxfam America
- Elizabeth Reed, director, AIDS Program, WHO
- Leonard Marcus, M.D., Tufts University Medical School
- Ellen Chesler, author
- David Cummiskey, professor of medical ethics, Bates College
1995 – Competing Interests in the Global Village: The UN at 50
Chair: Margaret Noel
Speakers:
- Franics Deng, Brookings Institution and special envoy to the UN
- Jane Holl, Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict
- Kemal Kurspanic, Oslobodeniye, Sarajevo
- Lorenzo Morris, Howard University
- George Moffett, Christian Science Monitor
1994 – Religion, Race & Ethnicity: Sources of Conflict in International Affairs
Chair: Ken Cummisky
Speakers:
- Stanley Heginbotham, Ford Foundation
- Adrien Wing, University of Iowa Law School
- Ian Lustick, U. of Pennsylvania
- Ann Mayer, U. of Pennsyvannia
- Karen Dawisha, U. of Maryland