The Summit “Diplomacy, Global Governance, and Transitional Justice” will take place at the College of Charleston on February 20-21, 2025. Our speakers are diplomats, journalists, academics, and practitioners working on conflict resolution and transitional justice.
At the Summit, we will celebrate the life and legacy of Karen Linehan Mroz by addressing themes central to her life and work. Karen was instrumental in establishing the Mroz Institute at the College of Charleston to carry forward the EWI mission, leaving a lasting impact on our students and community.
This is the 4th annual summit organized by the Mroz Institute. The recordings from previous summits are available on the Mroz Institute YouTube Channel.
- 2024 Summit on Conflict, Cooperation, and Diplomacy
- 2023 Food Security Summit
- 2022 Mroz Institute Inaugural Convening
Program
Thursday, February 20, 2025
- 2pm-2:50pm. Session 1: Fireside chat on El Salvador’s civil war through the lens of a photographer – with Robert Nickelsberg. Robert Nickelsberg worked as a TIME magazine photographer for 30 years, specializing in political and cultural change in South Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. His recent book is “Legacy of Violence: Images From El Salvador’s Civil War.”
- 3pm-3:50pm. Session 2: Karen Linehan Mroz and her impact on CofC and students“ – remarks by President Hsu, Provost Austin, Dean Arias, Dean Ganaway, Dr. Pehl, and Dean White.
- 4pm-4:50pm. Session 3: “Mentor, Mother, and Middle East Maven: The Life and Legacy of Karen Mroz“ – Keynote Address by Randa Fahmy. Randa Fahmy is internationally recognized for her work in global government affairs, energy policy and national security with more than 30 years of legal and public policy experience, including service in the executive and legislative branches of the US government.
- 5pm-5:50pm. Session 4: Fireside chat on diplomacy in Latin America with Ambassador Francisco L. Palmieri, US Chargé D’affaires (Chief of Mission) of the Venezuelan Affairs Unit, located in the US Embassy to Columbia.
- 6:00 pm. Welcome reception
Friday, February 21, 2025
- 9am-9:50am. Session 5: Panel discussion with Dr. Emily Whalen about her book “A Better World: John Edwin Mroz and the EastWest Institute, 1980-2020, a Microhistory of Track II Diplomacy.” Dr. Emily Whalen is a historian of U.S. foreign policy and of the Middle East. She is a Senior Non-resident Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
- 10am-10:50am Session 6: “The Peaceful Resolution of Disputes” by Dr. Emilia Justyna Powell, Professor of Political Science and Law at the University of Notre Dame. Co-sponsored by the Notre Dame Club of Charleston.
- 11am-11:50am. Session 7. “From Impunity to Accountability: Grand Corruption and the Path to the International Anti-Corruption Court” by Ambassador Allan Rock, former Canadian Ambassador to the UN and a former Interior Minister of Canada. Currently, he is a member of the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity and a Senior Advisor to the World Refugee and Migration Council.
- Noon-12:50pm. Session 8: “Can Leaders Get Away with Mass Murder? Do Global Human Rights Norms Still Matter?” by Ambassador Stephen Rapp, US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice (2009- 2015) and Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
