International Relations Program, Carnegie Mellon University
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International Relations News & Events

The International Relations program offers a series of exciting events each semester. We also distribute a weekly e-newsletter (PDF format) that includes internship opportunities, news and events reminders, and events in the general Pittsburgh community that are of interest to International Relations students.

Additional fall semester events will be posted as they are scheduled. We are looking forward to another great semester and hope that you will be able to join us!

Fall 2008 Program


Fall semester speakers.
Click image for program description below.

Thursday, September 11; 4:30 pm. The Giler Humanities Lecture: Sarah Igo, Associate Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
Baker Hall 136A (Adamson Wing), Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Igo is the author of The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public (Harvard University Press, 2006), which explores the relationship between survey data—opinion polls, sex surveys, consumer research—and modern understandings of self and nation.

Her research interests are in modern American cultural and intellectual history, the history of the human sciences, the sociology of knowledge, and the history of the public sphere. She is currently at work on a cultural history of privacy, examined through legal statutes, technological innovations, professional codes, and re-imaginings of domestic life.

This talk is sponsored by the Humanities Scholars Program, the Science and Humanities Scholars program, the International Relations Program and the Department of Statistics.

View Carnegie Mellon's press release about the event.

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Spring 2008 Program

Spring semester speakers.
Click image for program description below.

Monday, January 28, 2008; 6:00-7:00 pm. International Relations Program "Welcome Back" Reception. H&SS Coffee Lounge, Baker Hall Lower Level, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus.

The International Relations Program invites all majors, minors, prospective students, faculty, and friends of the program to attend a welcome back reception to kick off the new semester. Come join friends and colleagues at this informal event, and enjoy internationally-inspired hors d'oeuvres. A representative from the Friedman Internship Program will be on hand, and we will also have resources from the Fellowships and Scholarships Office regarding opportunities relevant to IR students.

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Thursday, January 31, 2008; 4:30 pm. Professor M.L. (Missy) Cummings, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The Social and Ethical Impact of Automated Decision Support Designs."
Baker Hall 136A (Adamson Wing), Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Because of the inherent complexity of socio-technical systems, automated decision support systems, often seen as legitimate authorities, are particularly vulnerable to potential ethical pitfalls that include diminishing moral agency and responsibility, as well as an erosion of accountability. This talk will focus on the development of human computer interfaces for decision support systems, which can introduce a moral buffer, a form of psychological distancing, that allows people to ethically distance themselves from their actions.

A naval officer and military pilot from 1988-1999, Cummings was one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Aeronautics & Astronautics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This talk is sponsored by the Humanities Scholars Program and the International Relations Program.

  Cummings  General John Abizaid, Former Commander, U.S. Central Command
Click images to enlarge.
M.L. Cummings poster
Download a PDF of this event poster (~12Mb)
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008; 4:00 - 5:00 pm.
Discuss International Issues with Former Congressmen: M. Robert Carr (D-MI) and Jack Buechner (R-MO)
President's Dining Room, University Center 2nd Floor (near Schatz) , Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Carnegie Mellon University is proud to welcome M. Robert "Bob" Carr (D-MI) and Jack Buechner (R-MO), former Members of the United States Congress, through the Congress to Campus program. Students from the International Relations Program and other related majors will have an unparalleled opportunity to discuss global and international issues during an open forum with these former congressmen, who were both intimately involved in international affairs during their government service.

Mr. Carr and Mr. Buechner can also answer questions about their time in office, the 2008 elections, and other relevant issues. Carnegie Mellon students interested in attending should RSVP to Traci Sebastian at traci@andrew.cmu.edu.

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Postponed: The Giler Humanities Lecture: Sarah Igo, Associate Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
Baker Hall 136A (Adamson Wing), Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Igo is the author of The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public (Harvard University Press, 2006), which explores the relationship between survey data—opinion polls, sex surveys, consumer research—and modern understandings of self and nation.

Her research interests are in modern American cultural and intellectual history, the history of the human sciences, the sociology of knowledge, and the history of the public sphere. She is currently at work on a cultural history of privacy, examined through legal statutes, technological innovations, professional codes, and re-imaginings of domestic life.

This talk is sponsored by the Humanities Scholars Program, the Science and Humanities Scholars program, the International Relations Program and the Department of Statistics.

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Monday, April 7 2008; 4:30-6:00pm. Lecture: "Iraq: Blood and Oil," Stuart J. D. Schwartzstein. Doherty Hall A310, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus (View the flyer)

The International Relations Program welcomes Stuart J. D. Schwartzstein, who will give a lecture on "Iraq: Blood and Oil." Mr. Schwartzstein has worked as a foreign-affairs professional for more than 30 years, having served in the Defense and State Departments in a wide range of capacities, including as a diplomat, an analyst, negotiator, advisor and planner. He has also held positions in several think-tanks, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C. His work has ranged broadly, both geographically and in subject matter, including defense industrial cooperation with European allies, technology transfer and export control issues, information revolution issues, encryption policy, international science and technology policy, chemical and biological weapons issues, refugee policy, Horn of Africa issues, relations with European allies and ASEAN countries.

While at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (1992-96), he did a good deal of work on Iraq issues, particularly focusing on human rights violations by Saddam Hussein and his regime. In 2004, he served in the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad as an advisor to the Minister for Science & Technology and to the president of the Iraqi National Academy of Sciences. He has continued to follow events in Iraq and has maintained contact with a number of Iraqi friends, including several in senior Iraqi government positions, as well as officials and experts in the US.

Schwartzstein with Kiron Skinner  Schwartzstein lecturing  Schwartzstein lecturing
Click images to enlarge

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Monday, April 14, 2008; 5:00-6:00pm. Videoconference: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "Service, Leadership and Vision: America's Contribution to International Security."
CIC room 1201, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

The International Relations Program presents a videoconference with Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Admiral Mullen was sworn in as the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, 2007. He serves as the principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

A native of Los Angeles, Admiral Mullen graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968. He commanded three ships: the gasoline tanker USS Noxubee (AOG 56), the guided missile destroyer USS Goldsborough (DDG 20), and the guided missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG 48). As a Flag Officer, Adm. Mullen commanded Cruiser-Destroyer Group 2, the George Washington Battle Group, and the U.S. 2nd Fleet/NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic.

Ashore he has served in leadership positions at the Naval Academy, in the Navy's Bureau of Personnel, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Navy Staff. He was the 32nd Vice Chief of Naval Operations from August 2003 to October 2004.

His last operational assignment was as Commander, NATO Joint Force Command Naples/Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe

Admiral Mullen is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School and earned a Master of Science degree in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Prior to becoming Chairman, Adm. Mullen served as the 28th Chief of Naval Operations.

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Monday, April 28, 2008; 4:30 pm. Author Michael Kleeberg reads from his book, “The King of Corsica.” Co-sonsored with Modern Languages. Swank Room, Baker Hall 255B, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus.

Michael Kleeberg reads from his book “The King of Corsica”: In this fictive biography of Baron Theodor von Neuhoff, Kleeberg unveils a sweeping and tragicomic tale about the pageantry and peril of political life in baroque Europe. Read the flyer (PDF).

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Fall 2007 Program

Our Fall 2007 program featured some very popular speakers. Read on for photos and descriptions.


Fall semester's speakers.
Click image for program description below.


Monday, November 26, 2007; 6:00pm reception; 6:45pm talk. Dr. Juan Antonio Alvarado Ramos, "One Journal, Many Voices: Racism and Race Relations in Contemporary Cuba and Beyond."
Baker Hall 136A (Adamson Wing), Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus
Dr. Juan Antonio Alvarado Ramos was born in 1953 in Matanzas, Cuba. He was Chair of the Council of Experts and Director of the Committee that supervised and researched the creation of the Ethnographic Atlas of Cuba, a broad, nationally systematized ethnographic study of traditional popular culture and Cuban ethnic history. He also participated in a multidisciplinary, Cuban-Angolan research project in post-independence Angola about the nation's ethnic composition. Between 1993-2000, he was Principal Investigator for Cuba's first national project dealing with the issue of contemporary racism. Since 2005, Dr. Alvarado Ramos has worked as Editor-in-Chief of ISLAS, the official publication of the Afro-Cuban Alliance, Inc, a non-profit organization founded by two African-American women (Jaqueline H. Arroyo and Dorothy Jenkins), who wanted to build a communicative bridge between African Americans and black Cubans. ISLAS (a Spanish-English bilingual journal) is dedicated particularly to Afro-Cuban issues but also deals with the situation of Africans descendants throughout the Diaspora. One of the journal's main goals is to fill an existing void in Cuba, particularly with regard to contemporary manifestations of racism.


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Thursday, November 15, 2007; 12:00pm–1:00pm
Teleconference with Rajan Menon: "Pakistan: State of Emergency"
Baker Hall 232Q (Statistics Conference Room), Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Dr. Menon is the Monroe J. Rathbone Professor of International Relations at Lehigh Universitya and a fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC. Previously, he spent two years as an academic fellow and senior adviser at the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Dr. Menon has also served as senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and as director for Eurasia policy studies at the Seattle-based National Bureau for Asian Research (NBR). He was selected as a Carnegie scholar from 2002 to 2003. He is the author of Soviet Power and the Third World and co-editor of Limits to Soviet Power.

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October 31, 2007; 10:30–11:20 am
General John Abizaid, Former Commander, U.S. Central Command
(July 2003–March 2008): "Strategic Challenges in the Middle East"
Rangos I, University Center, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Abizaid, the longest-serving commander of United States Central Command, was responsible for all military operations and activities in the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia. He commanded units at every level, serving in the combat zones of Grenada, Lebanon, Kurdistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and served as director of the Joint Staff. An expert in Middle Eastern affairs, Abizaid was the highest-ranking Arab-American in U.S. history and named the current conflict "The Long War." He was recently named the first Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. General Abizaid is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
General John Abizaid, Former Commander, U.S. Central Command  General John Abizaid, Former Commander, U.S. Central Command  General John Abizaid, Former Commander, U.S. Central Command  General John Abizaid, Former Commander, U.S. Central Command    General John Abizaid, Former Commander, U.S. Central Command
Click images to enlarge.

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Spring 2007 Program

Spring semester's speakers.
Click image for program description below.


Our Spring 2007 program featured a wide range of speakers--read on for brief program descriptions and photos.

January 23, 2007; 4:00 - 5:30 pm
A Conversation with George Shultz via Videoconference
Posner Center Boardroom, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

George Shultz has had a distinguished career in government, in academia, and in business. Under President Nixon, he served as Secretary of Labor, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Secretary of the Treasury. In 1974, he became president and director of the Bechtel Group, Inc. In President Reagan's administration, Shultz was Chairman of the President's Economic Policy Advisory Board (1981-1982), and Secretary of State (1982-1989). He has been a Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University since 1989.

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February 1, 2007; 1:00 - 2:20 pm
Lowell Schwartz, Rand Corporation: Beyond the Global War on Terrorism: American Foreign Policy after the 2006 Congressional Elections
Connan Room, University Center, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus
A buffet lunch will be served

Lowell Schwartz is an international policy analyst who has worked at the RAND Corporation since 2000. He has co-authored five RAND studies that range across a wide variety of national security issues and has worked on issues surrounding the use of public diplomacy/information operations to shape public opinion abroad. He will be discussing how the global war on terror (GWOT) has shaped U.S. foreign policy since the attacks of September 11, and the broader trends that will shape U.S. foreign policy over the next ten-twenty years.

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February 6, 2007; 3:30 pm
Search Out those Sources: Carrying out Research with Carnegie Mellon Library Resources
Hunt Library Reference Area. Refreshments in Maggie Murph Café to follow.

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February 8, 2007; 4:00 - 5:30 pm
John B. Taylor, Stanford University: Global Financial Warriors: The Untold Story of International Finance in the Post 9/11 World
Posner Center Boardroom, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

John B. Taylor is the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University and is also a Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Between 2001 and 2005, he was Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs. He is an award-winning teacher and is renowned for his research on monetary policy and accountability.

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February 28, 2007; 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Lashawn R. Jefferson, Human Rights Watch: The Challenges and Opportunities for Women's Human Rights
Singleton Room, Roberts Engineering Hall, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

LaShawn R. Jefferson is the executive director of the Women's Rights Division of the Human Rights Watch, which she joined in 1993. She has researched and written extensively on violence and discrimination against women. She received her M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and was a Thomas J. Watson Fellow between college and graduate school.
Lashawn R. Jefferson, Human Rights Watch  Lashawn R. Jefferson, Human Rights Watch  Lashawn R. Jefferson, Human Rights Watch  Lashawn R. Jefferson, Human Rights Watch
Click images to enlarge.

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March 1, 2007; 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Steven Weisman, The New York Times: Globalization, the world and the Bush administration: a perspective from the front lines of The New York Times
Singleton Room, Roberts Engineering Hall, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Steven R. Weisman became a member of the editorial board of The New York Times in February 1995 after having served as deputy foreign editor since May 1992. Previously, he served as bureau chief in Tokyo from 1989 to 1992 and as bureau chief in New Delhi from 1985 to 1989. He joined The Times as a news clerk in 1968. He won a Silurian Society award in 1975 for his reporting of New York City's fiscal crisis. Born in Los Angeles, Weisman has a bachelor's in English Literature from Yale.
Steven Weisman, The New York Times  Steven Weisman, The New York Times  Steven Weisman, The New York Times
Click images to enlarge.

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March 21, 2007; 6:00 - 7:30pm
Ambassador Jendayi Frazer
Steinberg Auditorium, A-53 Baker Hall, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Jendayi E. Frazer was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for African Affairs on August 29, 2005. Prior to her current assignment, Dr. Frazer served as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa. Immediately before her ambassadorship, Dr. Frazer served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of African Affairs at the National Security Council. Prior to joining the George W. Bush Administration, Dr. Frazer taught public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Frazer earned her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University.
Jendayi Frazer  Jendayi Frazer  Jendayi Frazer
Click images to enlarge.

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March 27, 2007; 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Julia E. Sweig, Council on Foreign Relations: Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century
Adamson Wing, 136A Baker Hall, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

Julia E. Sweig is the Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow and Director of the Latin America Studies program at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles, opinion pieces and congressional testimony on Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Latin America and American foreign policy. Dr. Sweig's Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground (Harvard University Press, 2002) received the American Historical Association's Herbert Feis Award for best book of the year by an independent scholar. She holds a B.A. from the University of California and a M.A. and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

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April 16 , 2007; 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Teleconference with Mr. Alejandro Toledo, President of Peru from 2001 to 2006: Poverty, Growth and the Future of Democracy in Latin America
Posner Boardroom, Carnegie Mellon main Oakland campus

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