SIPA building photographed at night. Photo courtesy of Florida International University via Creative Commons’ flickr.
Simone Garvey-Ewan/Staff
The School of International and Public Affairs, launched in spring 2009, will be hosting its fifth annual Geopolitical Summit this month, America at the Crossroads: Power and Strategy in U.S. Foreign Relations.
Entailing two sessions, this summit will feature two of the world’s most prominent experts on international relations: Senior Associate in Carnegie’s International Economics Program Moises Naim and Dean of the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Vali Nasr. Naìm and Nasr, along with eight University panelists, will discuss issues facing the nation and the world.
Topics at hand include: shrinking the American role around the globe, America’s role in foreign policy and Nasr’s book entitled “The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat.”
Many students like graduate Anthony Mercado, in the Industrial/Organization Psychology program, commend SIPA in its efforts to obtain renowned speakers.
“So here’s what I think about SIPA, everything that SIPA’s been able to do – I think that it’s a disservice to the students to not go to all the events,” Mercado said.
SIPA’s summits have featured some of the world’s most prominent experts on domestic and international affairs. For this summit John F. Stack, Jr., executive director of SIPA, will serve as the moderator, with Moisès Naìm in session one and Vali Nasr in session two.
“Look at who has come on behalf of the University and who they’ve brought us. People talk about ‘oh where are the big speakers and the big lecturers?’ SIPA hosts them,” Mercado said.
Naìm is not only a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the International Economics Program, he is also a chief international columnist for Spain’s and Italy’s largest dailies as well as one of the columnists in the Financial Time’s “The A-List.”
Nasr is also the author of “The Dispensable Nation” and a member of the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Advisory Board to advise the secretary of state on global issues.
Director of University Relations Sandra Jimenez explained the selection of the guests.
“The theme is usually discussed by FIU’s president, the dean, and the director of SIPA in order to talk about topics and issues that are current. Based off that, we search for expert speakers in this topic and that’s how these two speakers were chosen,” Jimenez said.
This Summit is funded by Ruth and Shepard Broad through the Shepard Broad Foundation, Inc. Their foundation has given great support to universities worldwide. The children of Ruth and Shepard Broad, Morris Broad and Ann Bussel continued their parent’s legacy and became the first major donors towards SIPA’s building naming the auditorium after their parents.
The event will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the Graham Center Ballrooms starting at 9 a.m. Jimenez said there are over 250 confirmed attendees so far.
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