Daniel Kurtzer is 45th annual Leo Camp Memorial Lecturer. Kurtzer joined the United States Department of State and was serving as a junior officer at the American Embassy in Cairo when Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. He served in Israel between the years of 1982 and 1986, then became Deputy Director of the State […]
Colin P. Clarke is a political scientist at the RAND Corporation, where his research focuses on terrorism, insurgency and criminal networks. At RAND, Clarke has directed studies on ISIS financing, the future of terrorism and transnational crime, and lessons learned from all insurgencies between the end of WWII and 2009. In addition to his work […]
Mary Thompson-Jones, Ed.D. is a Professor at the U.S. Naval War College. Before joining the USNWC, she directed a master’s program in Global Studies at Northeastern University. Prior to entering academia, she had a highly successful diplomatic career, spanning 23 years a as U.S. Foreign Service Officer in leadership roles in the Czech Republic, Canada, […]
Steven Karl Pifer (born 1953) is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center on the United States and Europe as well as the director of Brookings' Arms Control Initiative. He was formerly senior adviser with the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C., and the third United States Ambassador to Ukraine from […]
Andrew T. Wolff, Associate professor of political science and international studies at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. My primary research concerns are NATO, European security, and American foreign policy. At Dickinson, he teaches courses on American foreign policy, European security, national security, international diplomacy, and international relations. In the Fall 2021 semester he was in […]
Fahad Nazer is the official spokesperson for the Embassy of Saudi Arabia to the United States. He was appointed to this role on January 18, 2019. Prior to this appointment, Nazer was a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and served as an International Fellow at the National Council on U.S. […]
Dr. Ely Ratner served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. Prior to confirmation, he served as the Director, DoD China Task Force and as a Senior Advisor to China to the Secretary of Defense. Before arriving at the Department of Defense, Dr. Ratner was the Executive Vice President and Director of […]
Kani Xulam is a native of Kurdistan. He studied International Relations at the University of Toronto, holds a BA in history from the University of California Santa Barbara and an MA in the International Service program at American University. At the University of Toronto, he represented Kurdistan at the Model United Nations, which passed a […]
2026 Academic World Quest will take place at the McGlinn Conference Center near Alvernia University on March 12th, 2026. Sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Greater Reading, this local competition will host teams from high schools around Berks County. In previous years we have hosted teams from Antietam, Governor Mifflin, Twin Valley, Conrad Weiser, […]
Dr. Paul D. Esqueda is a Professor Emeritus Engineering. His areas of interest are project management, negotiations, and operations management. He has a particular interest in developing negotiation case studies. For the last 30 years, Esqueda has been primarily dedicated to administration in academic institutions. Past positions include Division Head of Engineering, Business, and Computing […]