Michael Tierney is a Professor of Government at William & Mary, where he serves as director of W&M’s Global Research Institute and a Co-PI on the Teaching, Research and International Policy (TRIP) project. His teaching and research interests span subjects including foreign policy, development policy, international organizations, and the relationship between theory and practice in international relations, and he is the author or editor of four books, including most recently Banking on Beijing: The Aims and Impacts of China’s Overseas Development Program (Cambridge University Press, 2022). He has also published numerous articles in top academic journals, and his research has been supported by major grants from the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the World Bank, the United Nations University, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, among others.

Thomas Pepinsky is the Walter F. LaFeber Professor in the Department of Government and Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University, and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. His research lies at the intersection of comparative politics and international political economy, with a focus on emerging markets in Southeast Asia. He is the author of Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes: Indonesia and Malaysia in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2009), the coauthor of Piety and Public Opinion: Understanding Indonesian Islam (Oxford University Press, 2018) and Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID (Princeton University Press, 2022). Currently, he is working on issues relating to identity, politics, and political economy in Southeast Asia and beyond.

January 27, 2024

Dr. Regina Karp

Old Dominion University

Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Program In International Studies

Dr. Richard Maass

Old Dominion University

Dr. John Manza

Joint Forces College

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has come under increased scrutiny, not because NATO troops are involved in the conflict, but because of its role in relations between Russia and its neighbors. Will expanding membership in NATO protect countries, or will it further provoke Russia?

Dr. Maass earned his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, and before coming to ODU taught at Notre Dame, Cornell University, and the University of Evansville. His first book, The Picky Eagle, was published by Cornell University Press in 2020. It explains why the United States expanded westward but chose to leave Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and other nearby areas independent, exploring how democracy and xenophobia limited U.S. territorial expansion. His second book, The United States and International Law, is an edited volume explaining why the United States supports international law in some ways while undermining it in others. He has also published research in journals such as the Texas National Security Review, Diplomatic History, International Studies Perspectives, International Security, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Historical Methods.

John Manza is a professor of practice at the Joint Advanced Warfighting School, where he teaches strategy. He is also a nonresident senior fellow with the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. He has wide ranging experience in international security affairs. Early in his career, he served as a marine infantry officer, with multiple deployments in the Pacific Rim, the Middle East and Central America. Later, as a civilian, he gained extensive experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, working on development and governance issues for the US Departments of State and Defense. Most recently, Manza served as the NATO assistant secretary general for operations, where he was responsible for the coordination and drafting of NATO’s lessons of Afghanistan report. Manza has a PhD in international relations from Wayne State University in Detroit.

February 3, 2024

Mr. Greg Priddy

Center for the National Interest

Looking back at the covid-19 pandemic, there are many lessons to take away in terms of domestic and international policies. Although this pandemic seems to have waned, how can we apply these lessons to future pandemics? Will countries cooperate, and will a consensus emerge on how to manage global health challenges?

Greg Priddy is Senior Fellow for the Middle East at the Center for the National Interest. He also consults for corporate and financial clients on political risk in the region and global energy markets. From 2006 to 2018, Mr. Priddy was Director, Global Oil, at Eurasia Group. His work there focused on forward-looking analysis of how political risk, sanctions, and public policy variables impact energy markets and the global industry, with a heavy emphasis on the Persian Gulf region. He traveled frequently to the Middle East and was deeply involved in the firm’s coverage of security issues in the region, including the Iranian nuclear program and associated sanctions. He also led Eurasia Group teams on some large research projects for government clients including the National Intelligence Council (NIC). Prior to that, from 1999 to 2006, Mr. Priddy worked as a contractor for the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the US Department of Energy. His work centered on analysis of oil market disruption scenarios, including some of the US government’s scenario planning after 9/11 and in the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003. Earlier, he also worked for the Department of the Navy. Mr. Priddy’s writing has been published in The New York Times, The National Interest,Barron’s, and the Nikkei Asian Review, among others. He has appeared on the NewsHour on PBS, CNBC, CNN, NPR, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera.

You can follow him on Twitter at @GregPriddy1.

February 10, 2024

Dr. Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo

Christopher Newport University

The United States and Middle East are at a crossroads. In spite of a reduced presence in the Middle East, the U.S. still has significant national interests there and the area is a key arena for global power politics. Can the U.S. continue to defend its interests in the Middle East and globally with a lower level of military and political involvement, or should it recommit to a leading role in the region?

Dr. Bromley-Trujillo received her B.A. in political science from the University of Texas, San Antonio and M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Michigan State University. Her research explores state and local climate change policy efforts, the relationship between public opinion and public policy and how science is used in the policy process. Her work appears in a number of journals including the Review of Policy Research, Climatic Change and the Journal of Public Policy, among others. Prior to her appointment at CNU, Dr. Bromley-Trujillo taught as an Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky.

February 17, 2024

Speaker TBD

Will the United States and China, with other powerful countries following suit, approach current and future climate initiatives with an increased commitment to trade protectionism and nationalism, by various measures including trade restrictions? Or could a growing spirit of international accord develop to confront the “common enemy” of climate change?

Scott Rosenstein works at the intersection of global health and political science. At the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm, he held the position of director and senior public health advisor, working with government and private sector clients interested in pandemic preparedness, healthcare infrastructure, and biosecurity. Scott currently holds adjunct professor positions at New York University, Fairfield University, Adelp University, and Bard College where he teaches classes on the geopolitics of public health and global health governance.additionally, he was Adelphi's Levermore Global Scholar Program Research Fellow. Scott has also worked at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Global Health program and the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities initiative, where he provided analytical rigor to the growing field of urban resilience and disaster preparedness. He is the co-founder of Restore Rockaway, an organization that provided grants to small businesses on the Rockaway Peninsula that were damaged during Hurricane Sandy. Scott is a former term member at the Council on Foreign Relations and was on the Arthur Ross Book Award Nominating Committee. His writing has been featured in the New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Hill, Newsweek, and Al-Jazeera. Television appearances include Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC, and numerous international media outlets. Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College and holds Master of Public Health and Master of International Relations degrees, both from Yale University.

February 24, 2024 Online

“Pandemic Preparation”

Mr. Scott Rosenstein

New York University

Mr. David Sump

Wilcox and Savage

Scientific advances benefit from collaboration between researchers, but what happens when material, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) is controversial and important to a nation’s national security? Is there a middle ground between sharing information and denying access? How can we regulate cooperation?

March 2, 2024

Areas of the seas beyond national jurisdiction comprise the high seas, which are facing a degradation of ecosystems due to climate change and the increase in human activities, such as shipping, overfishing, pollution, and deep-sea mining. The recently negotiated High Seas Treaty, also known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction treaty, will attempt to address these issues. How difficult will it be to convince nations to participate?

David Sump is currently a partner in the maritime practice group at Willcox Savage in Norfolk. He was born and raised in Euclid, Ohio. In 1979, David graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy with a B.S. in Government. He served 14 years as a commissioned officer in the Coast Guard serving as Operations Officer on a Coast Guard cutter as well as working in the environmental response office in Cleveland. During his time in the Coast Guard, he earned an MBA in night school and a law degree from William & Mary. He has been a private practice maritime attorney in Norfolk since 1993. David actively practices maritime and environmental law and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Maritime Law Association of the United States.