Distinguished Speaker Series

Launched in 2006, the Distinguished Speaker Series welcomes several speakers a year who have a position of prominence in international affairs and can address topical issues from a variety of perspectives.  

Spring 2017

Mohamed Abdel-Kader

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for International & Foreign Language Education, U.S. Department of Education

"Passport to the future: Why international education and languages matter​," May 10, 2017 

Einaudi speaker touts value of international education, languages (Cornell Chronicle)

Naoto Kan

Prime Minister of Japan, 2010-2011

"The Truth about the Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima and the Future of Renewable Energy,​" March 28, 2017 

Former Japan prime minister discusses nuclear plant disaster (Cornell Chronicle)

Jens Beckert 

Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, Germany

"Imagined Futures and Capitalist Dynamics," February 27, 2017 

Professor Discusses Fiction in Capitalism, Imagined Future in Market Economy (Cornell Sun)

Fall 2016

Derek Mitchell

"Myanmar's Political Transition: Looking Ahead," November 17, 2016 

Fred Cate 

 Distinguished Professor and C. Ben Dutton Professor of Law, Vice President for Research, Indiana University

"Cybersecurity and the Role of Law," November 16, 2016 

Jon Lindsay 

Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Global Affairs, University of Toronto 

"Shifting the Fog of War: Information Technology and Politics of Control,"October 26, 2016 

Milton Mueller 

Professor, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology 

"Cybersecurity and the Territorial State: Alignment and 'Fragmentation' in Global Internet Governance," September 14, 2016 

For previous years, please visit our Distinguished Speaker Series archive in Cornell's eCommons.