Mroz Institute World Affairs Colloquium

The Mroz Institute World Affairs Colloquium brings to the campus and community speakers with prominent international experience to address topics of world interest. In this series the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs’ (LCWA) faculty and advisory board, as well as alumni of the EastWest Institute, invite prominent global citizens to present their life and work.

The World Affairs Colloquium stimulates discussions with students, faculty and the community as a part of LCWA’s mission to be the College’s place where disciplines merge, the realities of the world are confronted and where knowledgeable, engaged citizens of that world come of age. 

The World Affairs Colloquium is connected thematically to LCWA’s World Affairs Signature Series, a coordinated year-long series of courses, events and community outreach organized around a specified theme.

Fall 2023

“Global Disruptions and National Security Challenges” with General Moseley 

September 18, 2023, 6pm (Wells Fargo Auditorium, Beatty 115)

The existing set of accepted norms that have defined the post-Cold War global order is in transition. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine threatens the security architecture in Europe. China is viewed as a competitor but also a threat to US economic and national security interests. Iran’s nuclear program and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs challenges the stability and security on the Korean Peninsula. What is the role of diplomacy to address these security threats?

General Moseley retired after a distinguished 40-year military career as the 18th Chief of Staff of the US Air Force. He served as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organizing, training and equipping of over 700,000 Active Duty, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Civilian forces. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Moseley and the other service chiefs served as advisers to the President, the National Security Council and the Secretary of Defense. He was the point of contact for all military, policy and political engagement with the countries of the Middle East and Asia. General Moseley is a career fighter pilot with close to 3,000 hours of total flying time. He currently serves as Chairman of Hillwood Aviation with offices in Texas and activities around the world.

This talk will be held in-person. It is open to students, faculty, staff, and the general public. You can also join us remotely via webinar. Register for the webinar today!

“Identity and International Relations: A View From Brazil” with Ambassador Santos

October 2, 2023, 6pm (Wells Fargo Auditorium, Beatty 115)

What is Brazil’s identity and how has it changed over time? What is Brazil’s role as a regional leader in Latin America? Is Brazil an environmental powerhouse or an ecological villain? What are Brazil’s global ambitions and how does its membership in BRICS advance Brazil’s interests?

Join the discussion on Brazil’s identity with Consul General of Brazil in the US Luís Cláudio Villafañe Gomes Santos.

Luís Cláudio Villafañe Gomes Santos is a diplomat, historian and biographer. As a diplomat, he served at several Brazilian Embassies including Mexico City, Washington, Montevideo, and Quito. He was Ambassador of Brazil to Nicaragua from 2017 to 2022 He is the author of several books about Brazil’s foreign relations history.

This public talk is sponsored by the Department of Hispanic Studies and Mroz Global Leadership Institute. It’s open to students, faculty, staff, and community members. This is an in-person event. We will also live-stream the talk. Register for the webinar 

Spring 2023

The main theme of the Mroz Global Leadership Institute for Spring 2023 is food, water, and energy security. 

“Weaponization of Everyday Life in Ukraine: the 3-day War Revisited” with Dr. Max Kovalov

January 24, 2023, 6pm

Along with a full-fledged military invasion, Russia weaponized everyday life in Ukraine, in Europe, and inside Russia. It weaponized energy resources, the power grid, nuclear power, food, memory and history, religion, and citizenship. Max Kovalov discusses the weaponization of everyday life in Ukraine following Russian invasion. Dr. Kovalov is an instructor of International Studies and Bennett Director of the Mroz Global Leadership Institute at the College of Charleston. His research focuses on democratization, politics of memory, populism, and political institutions in post-Communist states. 

“Global Human Rights with Human Rights Watch”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Ken Roth and Jonathan Fanton

January 29, 2023, 3:30pm

Ken Roth and Jonathan Fanton talk about the challenges to human rights presented by autocracies and democracies, about the work done by human rights organizations, and about prosecuting human rights violations in post-war Russia.

Ken Roth is the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, which he led from 1993 to 2022. Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading international human rights organizations. Jonathan Fanton served on the board of Human Rights Watch. Fanton also served as president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences from 2014 to 2019 and has been a special adviser to the World Refugee & Migration Council since its launch in 2017. As president of the American Academy, Fanton directed one of the nation’s oldest honorary societies and independent policy research centers.

“International Anti-Corruption Court and Global Governance”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Dr. Jonathan Fanton and Judge Mark Wolf

January 30, 2023, 6pm

Jonathan Fanton and Judge Wolf will discuss the initiatives to create the International Anti-Corruption Court, its mandate and goals, and challenges related to the Court’s functioning.

Jonathan Fanton, Ph.D., served as president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences from 2014 to 2019 and has been a special adviser to the World Refugee & Migration Council since its launch in 2017. As president of the American Academy, Fanton directed one of the nation’s oldest honorary societies and independent policy research centers. 

Judge Mark Wolf is the Chair of Integrity Initiatives International, an international network of individuals and organizations working on the International Anti-Corruption Court. Judge Wolf has been a champion of anti-corruption measures for many decades.

“Global Water Stress: An Intensifying Crisis that Demands Urgent Attention.”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Farwa Aamer

February 6, 2023, 6pm

Farwa Aamer will discuss the way water crisis is shaping up around the globe and will focus on the consequences of this crisis. She will draw attention to the social, economic, and political aspects of water and climate change and the role played by women and women groups in ramping up action. She will also give an overview of the work and projects on water security done by the Stimson Center.

Farwa Aamer is a Research Analyst with the Stimson Center’s Energy, Water, & Sustainability program. Her research focuses primarily on the security and political dimensions of transboundary river water governance in the Himalayan region. Farwa periodically organizes and convenes several Track II dialogues and discussions designed to facilitate greater inter-and intra-regional cooperation on issues around water security and hydrodiplomacy in South Asia, Central Asia and the Euphrates-Tigris river basin. Prior to joining the Stimson Center, Farwa served as the Director of South Asia program at the EastWest Institute.

Ambassador of Switzerland to the US Jacques Pitteloud’s guest talk on transatlantic relationships 

February 16, 2023, 5pm

Jacques Pitteloud has served as Ambassador of Switzerland to the US of America since 2019. He has been serving in Swiss Foreign Service since 1987 as a Swiss Strategic Intelligence Officer, a personal advisor to two successive Defense Ministers, and Swiss Ambassador to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and the Seychelles. After having been a witness of the Rwanda Genocide in 1994, Dr Pitteloud created an organization dedicated to the task of hunting down and bringing to justice the perpetrators and he managed to have several of them prosecuted both by the international as well as domestic courts. Ambassador Pitteloud headed the Swiss Delegation to the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

“Food Security Summit” co-hosted by the Mroz Institute

March 24, 2023

The Food Security Summit, organized by the Provost Office, co-hosted by Mroz Institute, will focus on food security as an element of national security, global hunger issues, and domestic hunger challenges. The Summit will feature guests from the World Food Program, US Department of Agriculture, Lowcountry Food Bank, Global Food Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. More details about the speakers and events are coming soon.

Food Security Summit Program

• 9am – “State of Global Hunger” with Barron Segar, President and CEO of World Food Program USA
• 9:45am – “Global Hunger” with Dan Glickman, Former US Secretary of Agriculture and Rebecca Middleton, Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer, World Food Program WFP USA. Moderated by Hollis France, Chair of Political Science Department, College of Charleston.
• 10:45am – “Hunger in our Backyard” with Nick Osborne, President and CEO, Lowcountry Food Bank and Shannon Maynard, Executive Director, Congressional Hunger Center. Moderated by Lauren Ravalico, Associate Professor of French and Associate Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, College of Charleston
• 11:30am – Keynote address by Gresham Barrett, Senior Advisor to the Executive Director at World Food Program.
  The full program and speaker bios are at https://foodsummit.cofc.edu/.

Fall 2022

The main theme of the Mroz Global Leadership Institute for Fall 2022 is post-crisis reconstruction, development, and diplomacy. Post-crisis reconstruction is a multidimensional process which focuses on security and peacebuilding, the return to political stability, and economic and social development.

Armed conflicts, public health emergencies, natural disasters, and other crises have been a recurring feature of human history. Since WWII, military conflicts among states have been rare but instrastate and civil wars have been more frequent. Since 2012, the number of instrastate conflicts around the world almost doubled. Similarly, the number of natural disasters in past forty decades quadrupled. These crises have led to losses of life and wealth, human displacement, and political instability.

What happens after crises are over? How do countries deal with post-crisis reconstruction? What are the challenges of physical and social rebuilding efforts faced by countries? What are the priorities of reconstruction? What is the role of diplomacy and international assistance in post-crisis reconstruction? These are the key questions addressed by the Mroz Global Leadership Institute in the 2022-23 academic year.

“Deep Divisions and Democratic Innovation: Evidence from Northern Ireland.” 
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Dr. Jamie Pow

September 8, 2022, 5pm

Dr. Jamie Pow is a lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast. His research focuses on the way citizens interact with democratic decision-making, including through elections, mini-publics and referendums. This talk is co-hosted by Center for International Education and Mroz Global Leadership Institute. 

“Tensions, challenges, and diplomacy in the Middle East”
Fireside chat with Ambassador Dennis Ross

October 12, 2022, 5pm
Robert Scott Small (RSS) 235

Ambassador Dennis Ross is counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Prior to returning to the Institute in 2011, he served two years as special assistant to President Obama and National Security Council senior director for the Central Region, and a year as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. This talk is co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Charleston (WACC) and Mroz Global Leadership Institute.

“Leadership in a Crisis Filled World”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Dr. John Izzo

October 24, 2022, 6pm
Wells Fargo Auditorium, Beatty 115

The last three years have shaken the seeming stability of the post-Cold War and post-financial crisis period. The pandemic, war in Europe, tensions in Taiwan, accelerating climate change, food crisis, runaway inflation, and increasingly threatened democracies all suggest that we have entered a new crisis filled period. These crises are interacting to create both immense threats and an opportunity to re-think how we lead. In this talk, Dr. Izzo will explore how Dr. Izzo will explore how leaders, citizens, businesses and organizations adapt to meet these growing challenges. The new era will require a new kind of leadership as well as attention to the system itself that has accelerated these crisis.

John Izzo, Ph.D., a coach and friend of John Edwin Mroz, is a bestselling author and one of the most sought after voices on leadership. He has spoken to more than one million people, taught at three major universities, advised more than 750 organizations and been featured in the media by Fast Company, PBS, CBC, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and INC magazine. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia where he is co-founder of Blueprint, an NGO dedicated to a new model for men and masculinity.

“Coalition leadership in post-conflict states”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with James Creighton

November 14, 2022, 6pm 
Wells Fargo Auditorium, Beatty 115

James Creighton will explore the leadership lessons derived from his unique opportunity to design a nine-nation NATO brigade, build a multinational military and civilian team, and command what was designated as Combined Team Uruzgan. Combined Team Uruzgan engaged in counterinsurgency operations, combat, peacekeeping and nation-building activities.

Honorable James Creighton is a State Representative in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the Chief Executive Officer for Eagle Point Global Solutions, LLC. He has coordinated and executed high-level discussions in Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Berlin, Belgium, among others. His book “Coalition Leadership: Combined Team Uruzgan, 2010-2011” will be published by the Marine Corps University Press in 2023.

Spring 2022

“Forging a Coalition in Favor of Freedom Around the World”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Damon Wilson

January 27, 2021

Join us for a talk on democracy and democratic renewal around the world. Our guest is Damon Wilson, President CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy, a private, non-profit, non-partisan foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democracy throughout the world. Prior to joining the Endowment, he helped transform the Atlantic Council into a leading global think tank as its executive vice president. Previously, Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council helping to enlarge a Europe whole, free, and at peace; to secure freedom through NATO enlargement; to deter and counter Russian aggression; and to work with a united Europe as a leading US partner to support democracy in the world. This talk is a co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Charleston (WACC) and the Mroz Global Leadership Institute.

“US-EU relations and security challenges”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Belgium Ambassador to the US Jean-Arthur Régibeau

January 26, 2021

Ambassador Régibeau will discuss the US-EU relations and security challenges. This talk is co-sponsored by the Mroz Global Leadership Institute, the Department of German and Russian Studies, and the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs.
Ambassador Régibeau served as the diplomatic advisor to the Minister of Defense from 1999 to 2002 and he went on to be First Secretary at the Belgian Embassy in Berlin. In 2016, he served as Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Armenia, Belarus & Uzbekistan.

Fall 2021

“The Forcibly Displaced: Global Response to Refugee Crises“
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Ambassador Allan Rock

November 8, 2021

Today millions of people are displaced around the world due to conflicts, violence, persecution, and natural disasters. Displaced people face many challenges related to basic needs such as safety, shelter, food, health, and education, to name just a few. Who is responsible for the safety and protection of displaced people? Allan Rock will discuss the role of individual countries, international organizations, and the international community in protecting the lives and the rights of displaced people.
Allan Rock is president emeritus and a professor of law at the University of Ottawa and senior adviser at the World Refugee and Migration Council. He served as Canada’s Ambassador to the UN and as Justice Ministers and Health Minister. Rock is president emeritus and a professor of law at the University of Ottawa and senior adviser at the World Refugee and Migration Council. He served as Canada’s Ambassador to the UN and as Justice Ministers and Health Minister.

“The art and value of diplomacy in an interconnected world,”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with Dr. Richard Haass

October 14, 2021

Does the Vegas rule – what happens there stays there – apply to today’s world? Richard Haass’ answer to this question is “no.” He suggests that events outside our borders affect all of us and shape our understanding of the world. We cannot simply ignore the outside world. Dr. Haass will discuss the challenges of our interconnected world and the role of diplomacy in addressing these challenges.
Richard Haass is the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, a veteran diplomat, and a prominent voice on American foreign policy. He is a veteran diplomat and an established leader of nonprofit institutions.

“US-China Relations: Issues, Challenges, and Prospects,”
Mroz World Affairs Colloquium Series with David Firestein

October 4, 2021

US-China relations have deteriorated in the past years as the two states engaged in disputes about trade, human rights in Hong Kong, technological competition, security concerns in the South-China Sea, and the status of Taiwan. David Firestein will discuss the US-China relations and the prospects for the future.

David Firestein is the president and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations and he is an expert on China, Russia, diplomacy, and foreign policy. The Voice of America’s Mandarin Service wrote in 2016 that Firestein is “one of the world’s best non-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese.”

“Understanding International security and addressing global challenges,”
Fireside chat with Deborah Lee James

September 24, 2021

In the next 20 years, our country and world will face unprecedented challenge and complexity. Changing climate, aging populations, disease, financial crises and technologies that divide more than they unite, are straining societies and governments. At the international level, the world will be shaped by China’s competition with the US and Western led international system, with a greater risk of conflict. Meanwhile, North Korea, Iran and terror will continue to threaten the US and our allies. How should the US and the international community address these challenges? Deborah James served as the 23rd Secretary of Air Force. She spent 11 years at SAIC, government technology contractor working on cyber security and technological innovations. SAIC has an office in North Charleston. She is the author of “Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success.”