Trust in Information in the Age of Artificial Intelligence with Bret Shafer
2024-09-11 11:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Bret Schafer is a senior fellow and head of the Alliance for Securing Democracy’s information manipulation team. Bret is the creator and manager of Hamilton 2.0, an online open-source dashboard tracking the outputs of Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state media outlets, diplomats, and government officials. As an expert in computational propaganda, state-backed information operations, and tech regulation, he has spoken at conferences around the globe and advised numerous governments and international organizations. His research has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, and he has been interviewed on NPR, MSNBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and the BBC. Prior to joining GMF, he spent more than ten years in the television and film industry, including stints at Cartoon Network and as a freelance writer for Warner Brothers. He also worked in Budapest as a radio host and in Berlin as a semi-professional baseball player in Germany’s Bundesliga. He has a BS in communications with a major in radio/television/film from Northwestern University, and a master’s in public diplomacy from the University of Southern California, where he was the editor-in-chief of Public Diplomacy Magazine.
This luncheon meeting will be held at noon on September 11th at the McGlinn Conference Center.
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Experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in E. Timor with Jaymi Smith
2024-10-02 12:15 - 13:15 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
This is a zoom presentation
Jaymi Smith graduated from Penn State Berks with a degree in Global Studies in Spring 2023. Currently, she is serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Timor-Leste, a small island in Southeast Asia.
In her presentation, she will share her experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer, including what it’s like to live and work in a completely different culture, the challenges and rewards of living in a less developed country, and the important lessons she has learned about herself along the way. She will also introduce you to the rich culture and history of Timor-Leste, a place many may not yet be familiar with.
If you have ever considered becoming a volunteer or are simply interested in the process and experiences of a Peace Corps volunteer, we invite you to join Jaymi for this presentation. She looks forward to sharing her journey.
This is a virtual presentation co-sponsored with Penn State Berks.
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Stuck in the Middle - Germany and World Affairs at a Major Turning Point as result of Ukraine War with Ron Granieri
2024-10-09 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Brief biography: Ronald J. Granieri is a 2024 Templeton Fellow and the Director of the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He also hosts People, Politics, and Prose, a monthly event series at FPRI. Dr. Granieri is also Professor of History in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the United States Army War College. A graduate of Harvard and the University of Chicago and a former Federal Chancellor Scholar of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Dr. Granieri is the author of The Ambivalent Alliance: Konrad Adenauer, the CDU/CSU, and the West, 1949-1966 (Berghahn, 2003) as well as articles on German History, European-American Relations, the Cold War, and contemporary politics in journals such as Orbis, Central European History, Foreign Policy, and The International History Review and has also published op-ed essays in The Hill and the Washington Post.
This luncheon meeting will be held at noon on October 9th at the McGlinn Conference Center.
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Globally Adept: How Lifelong Learning Shapes a Better World with Carol Jenkins
2024-11-13 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Carol Jenkins is the CEO of World Learning Inc., which encompasses three distinct branches: The Experiment in International Living; School for International Training, which includes SIT Study Abroad and SIT Graduate Institute; and the nonprofit global development and exchange unit World Learning. Jenkins also serves as president of the global development and exchange division, where she oversees programs in more than 30 countries. Jenkins has served in multiple positions at World Learning over more than a decade. She first joined in June 2007 as senior director of international programs after a 16-year career in humanitarian aid and development. She spent seven years at the organization, including three years as head of its International Development and Exchange. In 2014, after nearly a year working on business and program development for World Vision in East Africa, Jenkins returned to World Learning. Under Jenkins’s leadership, World Learning’s development portfolio has seen revenue increase by 14 percent with continued anticipated growth. She oversaw the merger of World Learning’s three development and exchange offices into one location, leveraging the assets of more than 100 staff members. She was named CEO in February 2018. Prior to joining World Learning, Jenkins was director of program development for International Medical Corps, where she managed a team of technical business development professionals to improve the quality of field programs and expand the coverage to project recipients. She also previously spent 12 years working for World Vision, including a period during which she was posted in Southern Africa. Jenkins holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Messiah College in Pennsylvania. She was a fellow at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at University of California, Los Angeles, in 2012 and a participant in the Leadership Program at the International Civil Society Center.
This luncheon meeting will be held at noon on November 13th at the McGlinn Conference Center.
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Bringing Order to Anarchy - Governing the World to Come with Charles Kupchan
2024-11-20 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Charles Kupchan is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government.
From 2014 to 2017, Kupchan served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs on the staff of the National Security Council (NSC) in the Barack Obama administration. He was also director for European affairs on the NSC during the first Bill Clinton administration. Before joining the Clinton NSC, he worked in the U.S. Department of State on the policy planning staff. Previously, he was an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University.
Kupchan has served as a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs, Columbia University’s Institute for War and Peace Studies, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the Centre d’Étude et de Recherches Internationales in Paris, and the Institute for International Policy Studies in Tokyo. From 2006 to 2007, he was the Henry A. Kissinger scholar at the Library of Congress and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. From 2013 to 2014, he was a senior fellow at the Transatlantic Academy. Kupchan received his BA from Harvard University and MPhil and DPhil from Oxford University
Linked below is recent article by Charles Kupchan that he suggests circulating to your members to help shape and inform our conversation.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/deep-roots-trumps-isolationism

This event will be held at noon on September 20th via Zoom Webinar.
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Don’t Give Up on Haiti- There is a Way Forward with Keith Mines
2024-12-11 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Keith Mines is vice president of the Latin America program at USIP.
Mines joined USIP after a career at the State Department, where he was most recently director for Andean and Venezuelan affairs. In 32 years of diplomatic and military service, he has worked on governance and institution building in Central America and Colombia; Middle East peace in Israel and the West Bank; post-conflict stabilization in Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan; global financial stability and the environment in Brazil; security sector reform in Hungary; famine relief and tribal reconciliation in Darfur and Somali; and creating a culture of lawfulness as the first director of the Merida Initiative in Mexico City.
A frequent contributor to publications such as the Foreign Service Journal and Orbis, Mines has written extensively on post-conflict stabilization, peacebuilding and negotiations, and the roots of civil conflict. His book, “Why Nation Building Matters: Political Consolidation, Building Security Forces, and Economic Development in Failed and Fragile States,” was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2020. Mines has a bachelor’s in history from Brigham Young University and a master’s in foreign service from Georgetown University.
This event is being held at the McGlinn Conference Center on December 11.
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The War in Ukraine in 2025 and Beyond-Tell Me How This Ends with Michael O'Hanlon
2024-12-18 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Michael E. O’Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He directs the Strobe Talbott Center on Security, Strategy and Technology, as well as the Defense Industrial Base working group, and is the inaugural holder of the Philip H. Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy. He co-directs the Africa Security Initiative as well. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia, Georgetown, and George Washington universities, and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He also serves as a member of the Defense Policy Board at the U.S. Department of Defense. O’Hanlon was a member of the external advisory board at the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011-12. O’Hanlon’s latest book, “Military History for the Modern Strategist: America’s Major Wars Since 1861” (Brookings and Rowman & Littlefield, 2023) was published in January 2023.
O’Hanlon’s other books include “The Art of War in an Age of Peace: U.S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint” (Yale, 2021); “Defense 101: Understanding the Military of Today and Tomorrow” (Cornell, 2021); “The Senkaku Paradox: Risking Great Power War over Limited Stakes” (Brookings, 2019); “Beyond NATO: A New Security Architecture for Eastern Europe” (Brookings, 2017); “The Future of Land Warfare” (Brookings, 2015); and “Strategic Reassurance and Resolve: U.S.-China Relations in the 21st Century” (with Jim Steinberg, Princeton University Press, 2014). He edited “Brookings Big Ideas for America” (Brookings, 2017). Previously, he wrote “Crisis on the Korean Peninsula” (with Mike Mochizuki, McGraw-Hill, 2003); “Winning Ugly: NATO’s War to Save Kosovo” (with Ivo Daalder, Brookings, 2000); and about a dozen other books.
O’Hanlon has written several hundred op-eds in major domestic and international newspapers. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Survival, Washington Quarterly, Joint Forces Quarterly, and International Security, among other publications. O’Hanlon has appeared on television or spoken on the radio more than 4,000 times since September 11, 2001.
O’Hanlon was an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office from 1989-1994, where he won the Director’s Award in 1992. He also worked previously at the Institute for Defense Analyses. His doctorate from Princeton is in public and international affairs, where he was awarded a National Science Foundation fellowship. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees, also from Princeton, are in the physical sciences. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1982-84, where he taught college and high school physics in French. Earlier, he worked on a dairy farm in Upstate New York, where he grew up, and attempted (unsuccessfully) with a team of Princeton experimental physicists in the “Gravity Group” to disprove Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
Affiliations:
Columbia University, adjunct professor
George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, professional lecturer
Georgetown University, Center for Security Studies, adjunct professor
U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Policy Board, member
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Sudan with Dr. Randall Fegley - EVENT CANCELLED
2025-01-08 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
EVENT CANCELLED
Dr. Randall Fegley, Associate Professor of History at Penn State Berks, was named Executive Director of the Sudan Studies Association (SSA) during the organization?s 32nd Annual Conference on May 24, 2013, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. This followed his completion of a two-year term as SSA President. In this role, Fegley will oversee the organization?s transition to a new generation of officers and board members.
The Sudan Studies Association (SSA) is an independent professional society founded in the United States in 1981. Membership is open to scholars, teachers, students, and others with interest in the Sudan. The Association exists primarily to promote Sudanese studies and scholarship.

North Korea under Kim Jong Un-A Security Challenge with a Few Good Options - with Dr. Terrence Roehrig
2025-01-15 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
This will be a virtual event.
Professor of national security affairs, Terrence Roehrig has been a research fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University in the International Security Program and the Project on Managing the Atom. He is a non-resident expert at the Center for Korean Legal Studies at Columbia University. He has published numerous books, articles and book chapters on Korean and East Asian security issues, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance, Korean maritime issues, human rights and transitional justice. He has given presentations to U.S. Forces Korea, the U.S. Embassy Seoul and the ROK JCS J-5. He has been a past president of the Association of Korean Political Studies.
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American Foreign Policy: The Next Four Years
2025-01-15 16:00 - 17:00 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
The World Affairs Council of Greater Reading will hold a forum on “American Foreign Policy: The Next Four Years”, Wednesday, January 15, 2025, 4-5 p.m., the McGlinn Conference and Spirituality Center, 460 Bernardine Street, Reading, PA. The event is free of charge. Advanced registration is encouraged but not required.
Dr. Irene Langram, vice president for academic affairs, Albright College, Dr. Randall Newham, professor of political science, Penn State University, Berks Campus, and Dr. Nicholas Nicollete, associate professor of political science, Alvernia University will address aspects of American foreign policy as it projects within the incoming presidential administration. The panelists each will present for about 8 minutes followed by question and answer and the opportunity for robust exchange with the audience in attendance.
The forum presents a good opportunity for people to attend a World Affairs Council of Greater Reading program who are not normally available to attend during the day. Eighty-eight people attended a parallel event on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict this past January 17. We welcome members and non-members alike. The event is attractive for teachers who may want to bring students outside of the school day and for faculty and students at all levels to attend independently.

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How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impacts of Economic Warfare with Dr. Narges Bajoghli
2025-02-19 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Narges Bajoghli (pronounced: Nar-guess Baa-jogh-lee) is a scholar, public intellectual, and award-winning author whose work explores the intersections of media, power, and resistance in global politics. She serves as the Faculty Lead of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and is the co-director of the Rethinking Iran Initiative. Narges is also the co-Editor-in-Chief of Visual Anthropology Review, where she helps shape the conversation around innovative approaches to visual storytelling in anthropology.
Her first book, Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic (Stanford University Press), received widespread acclaim and multiple awards for its groundbreaking ethnographic approach. Her second book, How Sanctions Work in Iran, offers an in-depth analysis of the impact of sanctions on Iranian society. Narges’s forthcoming book, Workshop of War, examines the legacy of chemical warfare in the Middle East and its broader implications for global military experimentation and violence.
Narges’s research and writing have been featured in prominent outlets, including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, and The Atlantic. She is a frequent commentator on issues such as sanctions, resistance movements, and the role of media in shaping political ideologies. Her graphic novella, Sanctioned Lives, visually captures the everyday realities of life under sanctions and is part of a broader transmedia project bringing critical discussions of sanctions to new audiences.
As an educator, Narges has received multiple teaching awards for her innovative courses on ethnography, media, and the politics of resistance. She is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of global leaders and thinkers, fostering intellectual curiosity, and bridging the gap between academia and public discourse.
Beyond academia, Narges leads The Big Invisible Initiative, a film series amplifying stories excluded from mainstream discourse, and Feminist Futures, a multimedia platform for cutting-edge essays and art. She is passionate about creating accessible spaces for dialogue on complex global issues and inspiring others to envision a more just and equitable future.
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Oversight of Government Programs and Funds: Domestic and International Structures and Challenges - with Ann Calvaresi Barr
2025-02-20 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
This event is rescheduled for Thursday February 20 due to an inclement weather forecast.
Former Inspector General Ann Calvaresi Barr led the oversight of activities conducted by USAID, the U.S. African Development Foundation, the Inter-American Foundation, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. In fiscal year 2017, USAID alone managed nearly $30 billion in budgetary resources to provide humanitarian assistance and advance economic growth and democracy around the world. Ms. Calvaresi Barr also works with the Inspectors General of the Department of State and the Department of Defense to coordinate each OIG’s activities under the Lead Inspector General for Overseas Contingency Operations initiative. Ms. Calvaresi Barr took office in November 2015 and worked tirelessly to strengthen OIG’s contributions to and support of integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness in the Nation’s complex foreign assistance programs and operations.
Ms. Calvaresi Barr previously served as the Deputy Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Transportation from 2010 to 2015. In that position, Ms. Calvaresi Barr provided leadership and direction of audits and investigations of transportation issues, as well as oversight of Office of Inspector General operational support activities.
Ms. Calvaresi Barr joined the U.S. Department of Transportation as the Principal Assistant Inspector General for Auditing and Evaluation in March 2009. She directed and oversaw all audit work on the Department’s air, highway, public transit, maritime, and rail programs, including implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which invested over $48 billion in the Nation’s transportation infrastructure. She assumed this position after a 25-year career at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
At GAO, Ms. Calvaresi Barr served as a director in the Acquisition and Sourcing Management team in Washington, DC. As a senior executive, Ms. Calvaresi Barr was responsible for directing numerous engagement teams, producing reports, and delivering congressional testimony on technology transfer, the defense supplier base, and contract management. Ms. Calvaresi Barr started her GAO career in 1984, working on healthcare and intergovernmental relations issues. From 1988 to 1993, she completed an overseas tour in GAO’s former European office in Frankfurt, Germany, where she worked largely on defense, international affairs, and national security issues. Prior to her GAO career, she worked for the City of Reading, PA, and for the City Manager of Rockville, MD.
Ms. Calvaresi Barr is a graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, where she earned a B.A. degree in political science in 1982. She also holds a 1984 master of public administration degree from American University in Washington, DC; is a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Senior Executive Fellows Program; and received a Massachusetts Institute of Technology fellowship in Foreign Politics, International Relations, and the National Interest.
This event is rescheduled for Thursday, February 20 due to an inclement weather forecast.
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Academic World Quest 2025
2025-03-11 08:30 - 14:00 | Reading Area Community College, PA, United States
The Greater Reading World Affairs Council’s local AWQ competition is scheduled for
March 11th, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Schmidt Training and Technology Center at Reading Area Community College.

Ten Berks County school districts (Antietam, Boyertown, Conrad Weiser, Governor Mifflin, Exeter, Muhlenberg, Schuylkill Valley, Twin Valley, Wilson, Wyomissing) ten advisors and eighty-nine students will compete for a chance to advance to the National level, with hotel and dining expenses covered by individual, college and corporate sponsors.

The Status of Women's Global Leadership with Linda Robinson. An International Women's Day Event.
2025-03-12 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Linda Robinson is senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) where she writes about women’s political and economic leadership, the relationship between gender equality and democracy, technology-facilitated violence, and current international affairs. She was previously a senior international researcher and director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation. She has also been a fellow at the Wilson Center, the Merrill Center at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard. A former foreign correspondent for U.S. News & World Report and senior editor at Foreign Affairs, Ms. Robinson provides frequent commentary on international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. Her books include Masters of Chaos, a New York Times bestseller; Tell Me How This Ends, a Foreign Affairs bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of 2008; One Hundred Victories, about Afghanistan; and Intervention or Neglect, about Central America. She received the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Reporting on National Defense and the Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University for reporting on Latin America. She has published over twenty RAND studies and hundreds of articles based on extensive field research, and has testified before Congress on special operations, the Iraq war, and the Middle East.
This hybrid luncheon event is being held at the McGlinn Conference Center
Register to attend this live event in person!
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The Role of the Inspector General in the Battle for Honest and Accountable Government with Glenn Fine
2025-04-09 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Glenn Fine is a nonresident fellow in the Governance Studies program at The Brookings Institution.
Fine served as the Inspector General for the Department of Justice from 2000 to 2011 in the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Administrations. As the Inspector General, he supervised and issued reports of investigations and audits on many high-profile issues facing the Department of Justice.
After practicing law at a firm, Fine returned to government, and in January 2016 he became the Acting Inspector General for the Department of Defense. In this role, he led the largest inspector general’s office with more than 1700 staff in 50 offices around the country and the world, for over four years.
Fine has testified more than 50 times before Congressional committees and has written articles on the role of inspectors general, federal investigations, and management in federal agencies. He has received numerous honors for his inspector general work, including being named the Lawyer of the Year by the National Law Journal.
Fine graduated from Harvard College, where he majored in economics. He was the co-captain of the Harvard basketball team and was selected in the 10th round of the 1979 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs. Instead of trying out for the Spurs, he attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship.
Fine earned a law degree from Harvard Law School. After law school, he worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington D.C. Fine is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School.
This luncheon meeting is being held at the McGlinn Conference Center
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WAC Annual Excursion 2025: The U.S. Army War College and Dickinson College
2025-04-10 08:30 - 16:00 | PA
The World Affairs Council of Greater Reading presents: A Tale of Two Colleges. The U.S. Army War College and Dickinson College. An in-depth tour of The War College.
APRIL 10, 2025, ITINERARY8:30 a.m.: Tour bus departs from Walmart, Wyomissing.10: a.m.: Arrive at Dickerson.11:30 a.m.: Depart for luncheon at Fiddler’s Bar & Grill.1:30 p.m.: Depart Fiddler’s for the War College.4:00 p.m.: Depart War College.
CostMembers: $85.00Non-members: $100.00Ambassadors: $75.00 Spouse at member’s rateStudents: $45.00Includes transportation, breakfast, luncheon, programs, snacks.
Receipt of payment confirms your reservation.Seating is limited. Reservations required by March 31, 2025.
Please send checks to:WAC of Greater ReadingP.O. Box 6301Reading, PA 19610610-375-7880

Dickinson College

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.
Andrew T. WolffDickinson Collegewolffan@dickinson.edu
Dr. Andrew Wolff is an associate professor of Political Science and International Studies at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Politics and European History from Washington and Lee University (1995), a master’s degree in European Studies from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (2003), and a doctorate in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University’s SAIS (2010).
Dr. Wolff has been a Fulbright NATO Security Studies scholar hosted by the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium (Fall 2021) and an associate fellow at Johns Hopkins University SAIS – Europe in Bologna, Italy (2020-2021). From 2018 to 2020, he served as the Dickinson College Director of European Studies at the K. Robert Nilsson Center for European Studies in Bologna, Italy. Prior to pursuing graduate degrees, Dr. Wolff worked as a legal staff assistant for Senator Paul D. Coverdell (Georgia) in the United States Senate (1996-1997), and he taught high school English in Prague, Czech Republic (1997-1999).
Dr. Wolff’s primary research interests are NATO enlargement, European security issues, transatlantic relations, geopolitics, and American foreign policy. He has published articles in International Affairs, Contemporary Security Policy, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, and Journal of Transatlantic Studies.
About Dickinson CollegeFounded in 1783 by Benjamin RushSlogan: Freedom is made safe through character and learning Enrollment: 2,134Vision: To be a leader in global education

The U.S. Army War College

1:30 p.m. — 4:00 p.m.
The US Army War College educates and develops leaders for service at the strategic level while advancing knowledge in the global application of Land power.
The purpose of US Army War College at this time in our Nation’s history is to produce graduates from all our courses who are skilled critical thinkers and complex problem solvers in the global application of Landpower.Concurrently, it is our duty to the Army to also act as a “Think Factory “for Commanders and Civilian Leaders at the strategic level worldwide and routinely engage in discourse and debate on ground forces’ role in achieving national security objectives. We will accomplish this dual purpose along the following lines of effort:
• Provide high quality Professional Military Education at the strategic level that further develops accomplished officers and civilians, both graduates and faculty, who depart our institution armed with the right balance of theory, history, practice, and communication skills to clearly articulate options for solutions to complex strategic problems and immediately be of value to any organization.
• Aggressively Conduct Research, Publish, Engage in Discourse, and Wargame with the entire faculty, staff, students and fellows; generate ideas and test concepts as the Army’s intellectual broken field runner for the application of Land power at the strategic level.
• Conduct Strategic Leader Development through agile, constantly reviewed and updated courses of instruction and other products that advance strategic leadership skills and senior leader abilities in the Profession of Arms.
• Attract, Recruit, and Retain a high quality faculty and staff.

Threat Multiplier: Climate Change, the Military, and Global Security with Sherri Goodman
2025-05-14 11:30 - 13:30 | PA
Sherri Goodman, Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and Polar Institute, and Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security, is credited with educating a generation of US military and government officials about the nexus between climate change and national security, using her famous coinage, “threat multiplier,” to fundamentally reshape the national discourse on the topic. Sherri serves as Vice Chair of the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board and on the EXIM Bank’s Council on Climate. A former first Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security) and staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Goodman has founded, led, or advised nearly a dozen research organizations on environmental and energy matters, national security, and public policy.
Her new book, Threat Multiplier: Climate Change, the Military and Global Security was published in August 2024. It will be on sale at the luncheon event.
This hybrid luncheon event is being held at the Flynn Complex Alvernia University, This event is also available virtually for those not wishing to attend the luncheon.
Important Notice: The venue for the World Affairs Council luncheon May 14 has been changed from the McGlinn Conference and Spirituality Center to the Tom and Helen Flynn Complex of Alvernia University. The Flynn Complex is directly across 460 Bernardine Street from the McGlinn Center. Instead of turning into the McGlinn Center from Bernardine Street turn just the opposite into the Flynn Complex. Easy to see. Plenty of parking. Convenient short walk into the Flynn building.
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Sudan Nightmares: An Update with Dr. Randall Fegley
2025-05-21 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Dr. Randall Fegley, Associate Professor of History at Penn State Berks, was named Executive Director of the Sudan Studies Association (SSA) during the organization?s 32nd Annual Conference on May 24, 2013, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. This followed his completion of a two-year term as SSA President. In this role, Fegley will oversee the organization?s transition to a new generation of officers and board members.
The Sudan Studies Association (SSA) is an independent professional society founded in the United States in 1981. Membership is open to scholars, teachers, students, and others with interest in the Sudan. The Association exists primarily to promote Sudanese studies and scholarship.
THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD VIRTUALLY.
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Take Me Out To The Ballgame
2025-06-11 18:00 - 21:00 | Redners Event Center, First Energy Stadium, 1950 Centre Avenue, Reading, PA, 19605, United States
Bring your family and meet other members of the World Affairs Council of Greater Reading for a night at the all new Redners Event Center in the First Energy Stadium, aka “Baseballtown” . Watch the R-Phils play the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in a brand new climate controlled event center located above the home run wall!
Tickets are $60 per person for ages 5 and older. Kids 4 and under are free. Price includes game ticket, seating in the event center, and a 2.5 hour AYCE buffett consisting of:

BBQ Ribs, Chicken, and Sandwiches
Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers
Veggie Lasagna
Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans, Pasta and Potato Salad
Tossed Salad, Fruit, Cookies, Apple Crisp

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Is There a New AmericaS First Policy? with Dr. Ryan Berg
2025-06-18 12:00 - 13:30 | This event is being held VIRTUALLY
Dr. Ryan C. Berg, has focused broadly on U.S. – Latin American relations. He contends that the new administration will move from “An America First” foreign policy to an “AmericaS First”, focusing more and more on Latin America, due to the fact that its agenda intersects with the region so much. Dr. Berg will focus on these oft ignored regions of Latin America and the reasons for this enhanced US interest. More importantly, he will attempt to share how this revived interest will be interpreted by our friends to the south.
Dr. Berg obtained a Ph.D. and an M.Phil. in political science and an M.Sc. in global governance and diplomacy from the University of Oxford, where he was a Senior Hulme fellow. Earlier, he obtained a B.A. in government and theology from Georgetown University. He is the director of the Americans Program and head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He also serves as a professor at Catholic University of America and a course coordinator at the US Foreign Service Institute. Dr. Berg was a Fulbright scholar in Brazil and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed academic and policy-oriented journals. He routinely testifies before the Senate Foreign relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
THIS EVENT IS BEING HELD VIRTUALLY
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Europe in the Post-Atlantic Age with Ron Granieri
2025-09-10 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Ronald J. Granieri is a 2024 Templeton Fellow and the Director of the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He also hosts People, Politics, and Prose, a monthly event series at FPRI. Dr. Granieri is also Professor of History in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the United States Army War College. A graduate of Harvard and the University of Chicago and a former Federal Chancellor Scholar of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Dr. Granieri is the author of The Ambivalent Alliance: Konrad Adenauer, the CDU/CSU, and the West, 1949-1966 (Berghahn, 2003) as well as articles on German History, European-American Relations, the Cold War, and contemporary politics in journals such as Orbis, Central European History, Foreign Policy, and The International History Review and has also published op-ed essays in The Hill and the Washington Post.
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Putin's War Against the West with John J. Sullivan
2025-10-08 12:00 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
Ambassador John J. Sullivan, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, was recently named a Distinguished Senior Fellow in Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program. He is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC and New York offices and co-leads the firm’s National Security practice.
Ambassador Sullivan’s career spans four decades in public service in prominent diplomatic and legal positions under five U.S. presidents. His earlier positions included Deputy Secretary of Commerce under President George W. Bush, following his service from 2005 to 2007 as the general counsel of the department. In President Bush’s first term, he served as deputy general counsel of the Defense Department. In the George H.W. Bush Administration, Ambassador Sullivan was counselor to Assistant Attorney General J. Michael Luttig in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.
In private practice at Mayer Brown, which he first joined in 1993, Ambassador Sullivan has been a member of the Supreme Court and Appellate practice and was a co-founder of the National Security practice.
Ambassador Sullivan received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was Book Reviews Editor of the Columbia Law Review. He was a law clerk for Associate Justice David H. Souter of the Supreme Court of the United States, and for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His many professional honors include the Distinguished Alumnus Award of Columbia Law School’s DC Alumni Association.
This luncheon event is being held at the McGlinn Conference Center, Alvernia University
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The Promise and Peril of Trump's America First Statecraft - with Charles Kupchan
2025-10-15 12:00 - 13:15 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
Charles Kupchan is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government.
From 2014 to 2017, Kupchan served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs on the staff of the National Security Council (NSC) in the Barack Obama administration. He was also director for European affairs on the NSC during the first Bill Clinton administration. Before joining the Clinton NSC, he worked in the U.S. Department of State on the policy planning staff. Previously, he was an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University.
Kupchan is the author of Isolationism: A History of America’s Efforts to Shield Itself From the World (2020), No One’s World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn (2012), How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace (2010), The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century (2002), Power in Transition: The Peaceful Change of International Order (2001), Civic Engagement in the Atlantic Community (1999), Atlantic Security: Contending Visions (1998), Nationalism and Nationalities in the New Europe (1995), The Vulnerability of Empire (1994), The Persian Gulf and the West (1987), and numerous articles on international and strategic affairs.
Kupchan has served as a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs, Columbia University’s Institute for War and Peace Studies, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the Centre d’Étude et de Recherches Internationales in Paris, and the Institute for International Policy Studies in Tokyo. From 2006 to 2007, he was the Henry A. Kissinger scholar at the Library of Congress and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. From 2013 to 2014, he was a senior fellow at the Transatlantic Academy.
Kupchan received his BA from Harvard University and MPhil and DPhil from Oxford University
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Pub Global Trivia 2025
2025-10-24 17:00 - 20:00 | Sly Fox Taphouse, 820 Knitting Mills Way (Parking/entry in rear), Wyomissing, PA, 19610, United States
Spotlight your business, community organization, school, or circle of friends as a team in the Pub Global Trivia competition.
Sly Fox Taphouse on October 24th at 5pm* Parking and entrance at rear of building

Enjoy an exciting, fun-filled, evening-and potentially major bragging rights- while the funds your team raise, support the Alan Miller Scholarship Fund for Berks County students planning on majoring in International Relations, Global affairs, Political Science or Public Administration.
Mark the date in your calendar. Recruit your Team – four members. Plan to attend as a Cheerleader.
An evening of fun with the proceeds benefiting scholarships for outstanding Berks County High School Senior students interested in International Relations, Political Science, Public Administration, and Global Studies.

Scholarships are in recognition of the late Alan Miller, Esq., longtime World Affairs Board member and former Berks County Solicitor.

October 24, 2025 @ Sly Fox
820 Knitting Mills Way, Wyomissing
Buffet begins at 5:30pm | Trivia begins at 6:30pm
Cheerleader Tickets: $35 includes food!
Join in an evening of enlightenment and fun. Audience guests are invited and encouraged to cheer on their favorite teams!

Click here to register and pay at the door as a cheerleader!

– or register and pay online with PayPal –

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Event Sponsors
Your contribution will fund the Alan Miller Scholarships awarded annually to Berks County High School Students planning to major in International Relations, Global Studies, Political Science or Public Administration.
Individual or company name /logo will be:– on Constant Contact email blasts– displayed on video screen during the event– placed on the WAC website– announced throughout the evening of the event
Platinum – $1,000Gold – $750Silver – $500Bronze – $250

Team Participants
Team up with 3 or 4 adult participants!
* Teachers, corporate execs, college professors, young professionals, friends and family* Answer fun, challenging, and internationally-themed questions* full year of bragging rights as winner in Pub Global Trivia!
Register your team now for a night of food, fun, and friendship!
Click here to register your team!

For registration, sponsorship, or general questions
Call 610-375-7880

Is the Midddle East at an Inflection Point? with Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer
2025-10-29 19:30 - 21:00 | Albright College, McMillan Student Center South Lounge, 13th and Bern Streets, Reading, PA, 19612, United States
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 Department’s Egypt desk in Washington, D.C. He later served on the Policy Planning Staff, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. When asked why he was drawn to the Middle East, he later replied: “The work never seems to be finished in this region. It is not a place where tuxedos and cocktail parties characterize diplomacy.”
Kurtzer joined the staff of Secretary of State James Baker. He helped write Baker’s noteworthy speech to American Israel Public Affairs Committee in May 1989. The speech was originally drafted by Harvey Sicherman, who used uncontroversial pro-Israel language in his text. Kurtzer’s revisions included an attention-getting line that encouraged Israel and its supporters to abandon the Greater Israel idea. According to Aaron David Miller, he and Kurtzer wrote short memos for Baker on issues at hand, rather than longer, strategic papers.
Kurtzer was also part of the Clinton administration’s team of advisers on the Arab–Israeli peace process. According to Miller, Kurtzer left in 1994 because he “felt shut out by” the Special Middle East Envoy, Dennis Ross.
In 2006, he retired from the State Department and the U.S. Foreign Service with the rank of Career-Minister and assumed a chair in Middle East policy studies at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He co-chaired, with Scott Lasensky, the Study Group on Arab-Israeli Peacemaking, a project supported by the United States Institute of Peace. They published their recommendations in a 2008 book.
Kurtzer is the co-author of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East; co-author of The Peace Puzzle: America’s Quest for Arab Israeli Peace, 1989–2011; and editor of Pathways to Peace: America and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. He is also a frequent contributor of academic articles and opinion pieces.
This is a free event and open to the public.

ISIS Funding and the Future of Terrorism with Colin P. Clarke
2025-11-12 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
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 at RAND, he is an associate fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT)-The Hague, in the Netherlands, and a lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University where he teaches courses on terrorism, insurgency and the future of warfare.
Clarke has briefed his research at a range of national and international security forums, including the U.S. Army War College, US Air Force Special Operations School, Society for Terrorism Research International Conference, the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) and the Counter ISIS Financing Group (CIFG), which is part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
He appears frequently in the media, has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, and has published his research in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Politico, Lawfare, and numerous scholarly journals, including Small Wars & Insurgencies, Historical Methods, and Military Operations Research.
Clarke is the author of Terrorism, Inc.: The Financing of Terrorism, Insurgency, and Irregular Warfare, published in 2015 by Praeger Security International and is currently working on Terrorism: The Essential Reference Guide, also by Praeger and due to be published in 2018. He received his Ph.D. in international security policy from the University of Pittsburgh.
This will be a hybrid event with the luncheon speaker live on zoom.
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America in the Arctic: Foreign Policy and Competition in the Melting North with Mary Thompson Jones
2025-12-10 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
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, Guatemala, Spain, and Washington, D.C. She retired with the rank of Minister-Counselor, having received several Superior and Meritorious Honor awards along the way.
Dr. Thompson-Jones’ new book, America in the Arctic, Foreign Policy and Competition in the Melting North, has been praised by Sen. Angus King, I-ME, as “a finely crafted chart that can guide us through rough seas ahead to a peaceful and prosperous future,” and by Amb. Paula Dobriansky, former Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, as “a compelling testament to the importance of U.S. engagement and a must-read for policymakers.” She is also the author of To the Secretary: Leaked Embassy Cables and America’s Foreign Policy Disconnect
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Russia-Ukraine: Negotiated Settlement of Continued War with Ambassador Steven Pifer
2025-12-17 12:00 - 13:15 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
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 1998 to 2000.
He served at the United States Embassies in Warsaw, London and Moscow, and as advisor on the U.S. delegation to the negotiations on intermediate-range nuclear forces in Geneva.
From 1978 to 2004 he was a foreign service officer with the US Dept. of State. From 1996 to 1997, he served special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council. From 1998 to 2000, he served as the United States Ambassador to Ukraine. From 2001 to 2004, he served as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, with responsibility for Russia and Ukraine.
This webinar event will he held on zoom.
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Transatlantic Security in an Era of Great Power Competition with Dr. Andrew T. Wolff
2026-01-14 11:30 - 13:30 | McGlinn Conference Center, 460 Saint Bernardine Street, Reading, PA, 19607, United States
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 Brussels, Belgium as a Fulbright NATO Security Studies scholar. He was also a visiting professor with the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium teaching courses on European defense and security governance in Europe.
Wolff is an Associate Professor of International Studies & Political Science. Contributing faculty to Security Studies program.
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The Saudi Arabian Vision and the Future of Saudi/U.S. Relations with Fahad Nazer
2026-01-21 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual Event, PA, United States
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. Arab Relations. Additionally. He was also a columnist for the daily newspaper Arab News. His publications have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, CNN, Foreign Policy, YaleGlobal Online, The National Interest, and Newsweek. Nazer earned his BA in political science from New York University and an M.A in political science from Saint John’s University in New York City. He has also completed the credit and examination requirements of the PhD program in political science at the Catholic University of America in Washington.
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