Past Events and Programs

2024 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• The Planet, Corporate Responsibility, Regeneration and Us – What Lies Ahead?
   Lynette Preston Cameron, award-winning technology executive and sustainability strategist

• Ukraine and the World - Russia's War With Ukraine
   Steven Pifer, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine

• Blue Skies Ahead - Your Air Travel Just Got Easier
   Jon Stout, Manager of the Charles Schulz Sonoma County Airport

• Diplomacy in a Time of Conflict: Managing the New Cold War with Russia and China.
   Keith McCormick, U.S. Department of State (retired).

• Germany, Russia, Ukraine and the World: What Next?
   Colonel Peter Frank, prior Military Assistant for the German Under Secretary of Defense.

• Uncovering the Politics of Climate Change
  David Callaway, former editor-in-chief of USA Today,
   and founder/editor of Callaway Climate Insights

• Whither the Dollar: Exorbitant Privilege No More?
   Barry Eichengreen, Teacher, lecturer and author,
    and he is the George C. Pardee and  Helen Pardee
    Professor of Economics and Political Science at UC Berkeley.

• At the Crossroads” – How sick is Planet Earth and can we heal it?
  Gregory S. Stone, Ph.D., Chief Ocean Scientist and
   Marine Conservationist for The Metals Company

• The Lack of Trust Threatens Journalism and Democracies. Can It Be Fixed?
   Larry Kramer, Journalist, Entrepreneur, Media Executive
   Video link available, Click Here

2022 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• Russia:  The Failure of Democracy in Russia and the War Against Ukraine
  Mikhail Tsypkin, Author and Speaker
  
  
• Where Is China Going? Implications for the U.S.
  Frank Lavin, CEO and founder of Export Now
  
  
• Election ’22! 
  David McCuan, Professor and Chair of Political Science at Sonoma State University
  
  
• Is Mexico at a Critical Turning Point?
  Alex Saragoza, Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley
  
  
• The U.S., Russia and China: Today’s Global Ménage à Trois — The Chinese Perspective
  Douglas W. Lee, Historian, teacher and author
  
  
• The Rules of War and International Humanitarian Law 
  Jill Hofmann, International Services Pacific Division Lead (IHL) with the American Red Cross
  Video link available, Click Here
  
  
• War and Beyond: How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Will Reshape the World Order
  Keith McCormick, U.S. Department of State (retired)
  Video link available, Click Here
  
  
• Democratic Decline in the United States: A Comparative Perspective
  Professor Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law at the University of Chicago
  Video link available, Click Here
  
  
• Migration and the Upending of the Western Political Order
  Mark Randol, former Director of Counterterrorism Policy at the Department of Homeland Security, and Senior Specialist in Domestic Intelligence and Counterterrorism at the Congressional Research Service in Washington.
  
  
• In Retrospect: America’s 20-Year Project in Afghanistan
  Tamim Ansary, an Afghan-American author of  Games Without Rules, West of Kabul, East of New York, and The Invention of Yesterday.

2021 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• What Biden Faces: The U.S. and the World After Afghanistan
  Keith McCormick, U.S. Department of State (retired)
  Video link available, Click Here
  
  
• Seeking Leadership for a Changing Arctic
  David A. Balton, Senior Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Polar Institute.  Previously Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries in the Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science.
  Video link available, Click Here
  
  
• Does China Have a Grand Strategy
  Dr. Thomas Fingar, security specialist, author, and fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
  Video link available, Click Here
  
  
• The New Wealth of Nations: Education
  Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla, Dr. Bhalla, economist, author and columnist, Executive Director for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan at the International Monetary Fund.
  Video link available, Click Here
  
  
• Climate Change . . . Designing Electricity Rates for an Equitable Energy Transition
  Professor Severin Borenstein,  E.T. Grether Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
  
  
• America Before the ‘Arab Spring’: George W. Bush and the Middle East
  Dr. Daniel Zoughbie,  Lecturer in International and Area Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and Vice Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
  
  
• Telemedicine at Home and Abroad
  Dr. James Gude Medical Director of Global Offsite Care
  Dr. Joseph Benoit Prosper Founder and Medical Director of the Telemedicine Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
  Video link available, Click Here
  
  
• Restoring Trust: An Inside Look at how the Biden Administration is Engaging the World
  Keith McCormick, U.S. Department of State (retired).
  
  
• The Iran Deal Redux: Do We Want War or Diplomacy?
  Dr. David Perry, Dr. Donna Brasset-Shearer and their team of Iran experts.
  Video link available, Click Here.
  
  
• Yemen: The Forgotten War
  Mohammed Al Samawi, Yemeni native, war survivor, author and interfaith activist, researcher and writer for Boehncke Information Technology GmbH in California.

2020 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• Public Financing of Elections: A Political Empowerment Tool in the Age of Citizens United
  Joanna Zdanys, Counsel, Democracy Program, Brennan Center for Justice and Hazel Millard, Senior Research and Program Associate, Democracy Program, Brennan Center for Justice
  
  
• The 2020 General Election: Chaos, COVID, and Crisis
  Dr. David McCuan, Professor and Chair of Political Science at Sonoma State University

• Good Morning, Mr. President — Time for Your First Foreign Affairs Briefing
  Keith McCormick, U.S.State Department (retired)

• Hong Kong Not Going Gentle into That Good Night — But What Next?
  Thomas Hout, Adjunct Professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey, CA

• The Central American Child Migration Crisis: a Test of our Legal and Moral Obligations
  Lisa Frydman,  Human rights lawyer and Vice President for International Programs at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

• The Debt Buildup in America: What Might the Future Hold?
  Maya MacGuineas, President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

• Coming up Strong — How Santa Rosa Schools Face the Pandemic
  Dr. Diann Kitamura, Santa Rosa Schools Superintendent

• CxC Amplified: WACSC’s Unprecedented Programming Extravaganza!
  Putting the World Back Together May 4 – May 8

• The Census . . . how it works . . .  and its potential big impact on California
  Jim Masters, Certified Community Action Professional, National Community Action Partnership

• Indonesia’s Democracy and Economic Development
  Puspa Delima Amri, PhD. in Economics and Political Science from Claremont Graduate University and MA in international relations from the School of Advanced International Studies Johns Hopkins University

• Annual Dinner: The U.S. – South Korea Alliance:  Linchpin under Stress?
  Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, Retired U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea 2008-2011, currently President and CEO of the Korean Economic Institute of America, Washington, D.C.

• How to Save a Constitutional Democracy … Including Ours
  Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law and Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago; member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

PAST PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• Control of Nuclear Weapons: Needed Now More Than Ever
  William J. Perry, 19th U.S. Secretary of Defense; the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor (emeritus); Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute and Hoover Institution; Director, Preventive Defense Project, all at Stanford University

• Soaring Ambitions and Daunting Challenges: China’s Future and Its Implications for the United States
  Dr. Thomas Fingar, Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University
  
  
• Better Health, Lower Cost:  How Other Advanced Democracies Provide Health Care to All at Half the American Health Care Cost
  T.R. Reid, American reporter, documentary film correspondent, author, and lecturer
  
  
• The Impact of Gun Violence on the Education of our Youth
  Rep. Mike Thompson, Representative to Congress for California’s 5th Congressional District and Kelly Drane, Research Manager at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence

• The Global Rise of Populism
  Anna Grzymala-Busse, Political Science Scholar and Professor at Stanford

• Identity and the Rise of Global Populism
  Francis Fukuyama, Internationally acclaimed political scientist, author, Stanford professor

• Defeating Terrorist Ideology – how to stop the recruitment and radicalization of younger people into terrorist groups
  Farah Pandith, World-leading expert in countering violent extremism

• Where Is Russia Going?
  Jeremy Kinsman, formerly one of Canada’s top career diplomats

• Artificial Intelligence – What It Is and Its Effects Now and in the Future 
  Jonathan Miranda, Director of Strategy-Technology, Salesforce
  Video available – Click here

• The Current Economic Outlook and the Implications for Monetary Policy:
  John C. Williams, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

• Bridging the Gulf: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Arabian Gulf
  Ambassador Susan Ziadeh, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arabian Peninsula Affairs, former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar

• NAFTA and TPP: What They Are, Their Potential Impact and Effectiveness
  Harley Shaiken, Director, Center for Latin American Studies and Member of the Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley