2010

Ingrid Betancourt, author

Topic: Every Silence Has an End

 

Jean-Louis Bruguière, High Representative of the European Union to the United States

Topic: Transatlantic Cooperation in the Fight against Terrorism

 

Hon. Emanuel Cleaver, U.S. Congressman from Missouri

Topic: Cuba Today: Reflections on My Visit

 

H.E. Gary Doer, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S.

 

George Friedman, CEO of STRATFOR

Topic: The Next 100 Years

 

David Gergen, former Presidential Advisor

Topic: Remarks on Issues Affecting the United States

 

Ambassador John Herbst

 

Dr. Dale A. Neuman, Director, Harry S Truman Center for Governmental Affairs at UMKC, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at UMKC

 

Dr. Christopher Preble, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the CATO Institute

Topic: Giving Diplomacy a Chance: The Iranian & North Korean Nuclear Problems

 

Dr. Roland Quinault, Fulbright-Robertson Visiting Chair of British History at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri

Topic: Winston Churchill Speaks to the 21st Century

 

Condoleezza Rice, diplomat, political scientist, and concert pianist

 

Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea

H.E. Han Duk-Soo, Ambassador to the U.S., Republic of Korea

 

Dr. John D. Sullivan, Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise

Topic: Governance and Emerging Markets in Fragile States

 

Daniel Wildcat, Native American scholar

Topic: Red Alert! Saving Our Planet with Indigenous Knowledge

 

Hon. Jason Yuan, Republic of China’s (Taiwan’s) Representative to the United States

2011

Hon. Fernando de la Rua, former President of Argentina

 

Eric Greitens, Senior Fellow at the University of Missouri Truman School of Public Affairs

Topic: The Heart and the Fist

 

Parag Khanna, author

Topic: How to Run the World

 

Hon. Junq-Tzer Lin, Governor of Taiwan province

Topic: Taiwan’s Challenges and Opportunities

 

John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, Co-Director of the Program on International Security at the University of Chicago

 

Gerald Seib, Washington Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal

Topic: Beyond Iraq & Afghanistan and How the 2012 Elections Will Shape It

 

Teng-Kee Tan, Dean of UMKC’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management

 

Laura Unger, Special Advisor at Promontory

Topic: After the Financial Crisis: The Four Corners of Risk in the Post Dodd-Frank World

 

H.E. Mauro Vieira, Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S.

 

Stephen Zack, President of the American Bar Association

2012

Ayad Akhtar, author

Topic: American Dervish

 

Dr. Gary Armstrong, Professor of Political Science at William Jewell College

Topic: Clash of Civilizations

 

Erin Ennis, Vice President of the U.S.-China Business Council

Julie Walton, Chief Representative of the U.S.-China Business Council’s Shanghai Office

Topic: Doing Business in China

 

Dr. Nader Hashemi, Assistant Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver

Topic: This Islamic World: The Crisis of Religion and Politics

 

Ambassador Allan Katz, U.S. Ambassador to Portugal

 

Charles A. Kupchan, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, author, and Professor at Georgetown University

 

Hon. Gary Locke, U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China

Topic: China Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections

 

Tibor Nagy, Vice Provost for International Affairs at Texas Tech University

 

Jacob Prado, Mexican Consul in Kansas City

Topic: Mexican Foreign Policy

 

H.E. Ebrahim Rasool, South African Ambassador to the U.S.

Topic: Development and Diplomacy

 

Anthony Shadid, author of House of Stone

 

Ike Skelton, Partner in Washington, D.C., office of Husch Blackwell, U.S. Representative for 34 years

 

H.E. Jorge Skinner-Klee, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States from Guatemala

 

Dr. Thimios Zaharopoulos, Special Assistant to the President at Park University

Topic: Greek Debt Crisis: What’s Happening and What Does It Mean?

2013

Ambassador Terence McCulley, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria

 

Diana Untermeyer, wife of U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, author of Qatar: Sand, Sea, and Sky

 

H.E. Darío Paya, Permanent Representative of Chile to the Organization of American States

Topic: Update on Chile

 

Graham Paul, Consul General of France in Chicago

Topic: U.S.-France Relations

 

Neal Conan, National Public Radio reporter, editor, and former senior host of Talk of the Nation

 

Frederick Jiang, Senior Vice President of Ivy Investment Management Company

Topic: The Myth and Fact about the Chinese Economy

 

Daniel Markey, senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations

Topic: No Exit from Pakistan

2014

Robert Jervis, Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics at Columbia University and past president of the American Political Science Association

Topic: Why Does the U.S. Spend So Much on Security and Feel So Insecure? Fear, Interests, and Opportunity in Contemporary American Foreign Policy

 

Alexander G. Tsiovkh, Ph.D., Director of Ukrainian Studies at the KU Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies

Lidiya Zubytska, doctoral student in political science at the University of Kansas and native of Ukraine

Gregory J. Cook, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel

Topic: Ukraine: A Nation in Transition, an Uncertain Future

 

Haroon Ullah, member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s policy planning staff

Topic: Political Violence and Extremism in Pakistan

 

Dr. Vandana Shiva, physicist, ecologist, activist, and author

Topic: Cultivating Diversity, Freedom, and Hope

 

Ioanna Efthymiadou, Consul General of Greece & EU Local Chair in Chicago

Christina Sevilla, Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President

Fred Baehner, Publisher, IBNewsMag

Gino Serra, Honorary Vice Consul of Italy & Partner, Bryan Cave LLP

Timothy Lynch, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Law, UMKC School of Law

Ambassador Allan Katz, former U.S. Ambassador to Portugal

Topic: European Union and the United States: An Important Relationship for the Midwest

 

Sigurd Pacher, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Austrian Embassy

 

Haroon Ullah, member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s policy planning staff

Topic: New Trends in Shadow States: How ISIS Could Reshape the Middle East

 

Hon. Roey Gilad, Consul General of Israel to the Midwest

Topic: Israel: Facing the New Challenges in the Middle East

 

Janet Napolitano, former Secretary of Homeland Security, Governor of Arizona, and Attorney General of Arizona

Topic: Of Borders and Bridges

 

Amanda Aikman, a consultant with the International Labour Organization (ILO)

Christopher Budke, former FBI special agent for more than 30 years

Katie Cronin, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Kansas School of Law

Teresa Moore, Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri

Topic: Human Trafficking: Global Crisis – Local Implications

 

Dr. David Sanders, founder, School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Topic: Global Health within the Context of Globalization: Challenges and Key Actions

 

Ambassador Robert Ford, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria and Algeria

Topic: Syria, Iraq, and U.S. policy in the Middle East