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Bartels World Affairs Lecture

The Einaudi Center’s flagship event brings distinguished international figures to campus each year to speak on global topics and meet with Cornell faculty and students, particularly undergraduates. The Henry E. and Nancy Horton Bartels World Affairs Fellowship supports the speaker’s visit.


March 22, 2023: Fighting for Democracy and the Planet

Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica (2018–22)

President Alvarado explored some of the questions that guided his administration: What roles do democracy and governance play in shaping environmental policies at the local, national, and global levels? And how can we meet the basic needs of the world’s ever-growing human population without sacrificing the health of the planet?

Watch the Lecture on YouTube


Bartels 2023 in the News


Past Bartels World Affairs Fellows

2022: Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate

      2021: Amartya Sen, 1998 Nobel Laureate in Economics

      Cornell Chronicle: Bartels Lecturer Speaks Out on Rising Threats to Democracy, Nobel Laureate Sen to Lecture on Protecting Democracy

      2019:  Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesian Minister of Finance

      Cornell Chronicle: Bartels Lecturer Outlines How Developing Countries Can Build Human Capital

      2017: Christopher Painter ’80, Cyber Expert 

      Cornell Chronicle: Former State Department Official Talks Cyber Diplomacy in Bartels Lecture

      2016: Svetlana Alexievich, 2015 Nobel Laureate in Literature 

      Cornell Chronicle: Nobel Laureate Alexievich Created Her Own Literary Genre

      See previous Bartels World Affairs Fellows in Cornell Library’s eCommons archive.