Leadership and Power: Struggles of a Contemporary World will be the theme of the 42nd annual Frank Church Symposium which begins Wednesday, Feb. 27.
The symposium will be held on the third floor of the Pond Student Union Building in the Salmon River Suite, with the exception of the keynote speech which will take place in the Bistline Theater at the Stephen’s Performing Arts Center Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 6 p.m.
All symposium events are free and open to students, ISU faculty, staff and the public. The symposium is organized by the International Affairs Council (IAC) and events will run from Feb. 27 through March 1.
“[Our goal] is to continually get people interested and involved in the IAC and to successfully put on a symposium every year,” said International Affairs Council President Zandra Higley. “That is the goal, to try to top ourselves every year. We try to make it a little better, a little more memorable and a little more inspiring than the year before.”
Higley believes they have definitely succeeded in “topping themselves” this year.
The keynote speech will take place at the Bistline Theater and will feature General Amos “Joe” Jordan who will speak on “Global Deal-Breakers: 8 crucial challenges facing the United States.”
Jordan is currently a Senior Fellow at the Wheatley Institution and previously held numerous government security and international studies positions. Jordan is also a former U.S. Army Brigadier General who served on President George H.W. Bush’s Intelligence Oversight Board.
“The keynote speech is going to be great. It’s going to be a huge event,” said Higley. “This is the first time ever we’ve gone up and utilized the Performing Arts Center, and the Bistline Theater is an awesome venue. We’re going to have a really great reception afterwards.”
The IAC partnered with the ISU Engineering department and the ISU Foundation for the first time this year. Pauline Thiros, director of planned giving at the ISU Foundation, and Janet Schubert of the ISU Engineering Department played a major role in contacting and securing Jordan as a keynote speaker.
In addition, symposium programs are expanded to include short biographies and abstracts of the speakers and delegates, which is new from past years.
Club Correspondence Chair Walter Radovitch said the IAC worked to expand the audience for the symposium this year.
“In prior years, we’ve had a lot of political scientists on the panels as our delegates but this year, we kind of shifted,” explained Radovitch. “We have a sociologist coming, a psychologist, there’s a couple people focusing on economics, history professors, I think there’s one political science [delegate] and there’s [a delegate] from the National Defense University.“
This year’s symposium will consist of a number of lectures and panels during which guest speakers and delegates will speak on a broad range of topics relating to this year’s theme. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with delegates during panel discussions.
Higley explained that the symposium aims to inspire discussion.
“The symposium as a whole is an insane source of information,” said Higley. “I attended one semester and it changed the way I looked at the world.”
She added that the symposium is a great opportunity to network and gain insight into the issues discussed.
According to Higley, panels will consist of a short 5 to 7 minute ‘speech’ from each delegate followed by audience-delegate discussion.
Panel topics this year will include women and gender, education, health care, environment, economics, post-modernism and drones and cyber warfare.
Delegates will include Dr. Ron Scapp, College of Mount Saint Vincent; Dr. Ramona Linville Higley, Weber State; Dr. Chandra Silva, Boise State University; Dr. Robert Ostergard, University of Nevada—Reno; Dr. Chima J. Korieh, Marquette University; Dr. Kristina Lybecker, Colorado College—Colorado Springs; Luis M. Fernandez, MD; Dr. Roger Kangas of the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies; Dr. Thomas E. Doyle II, University of Texas—San Marcos; and Richard H. Foster in addition to keynote speaker Jordan and several ISU faculty members who will act as moderators and guest speakers.
“When you see this whole thing put together, it’s just amazing,” said Higley. “It’s like, ‘I can’t believe I had a part in that.’”
For more information about the Frank Church Symposium or the International Affairs Council, contact Zandra Higley at ude.usinull@dnazlgih or visit https://sites.google.com/a/isu.edu/isuiac/.