Barbara Allen, Associate Professor and Director Graduate Program in Science & Technology Studies Virginia Tech's National Capitol region Campus With commentary by Margaret Dewar, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and Faculty Director of the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning Co-Sponsored by the University of Michigan Center for Local State and Urban Policy

In 2007, the U.S. Army introduced its newest counterinsurgency weapon into Iraq and Afghanistan: civilian social scientists. As members of the Human Terrain System (HTS), the social scientists are embedded in combat brigades, where they provide commanders with research and advice. HTS has been controversial from the start; many social scientists attack it for melding academia and national security and for violating research ethics codes. In this talk, I historicize HTS within the broader context of the relationship between social science and national security policy since the 1950s.

Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Al-Twaijri, the Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), a part of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, will present a public lecture on the topic of Islamic International Institutions. ISESCO is an organ of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, an intergovernmental organization of 57 states designed as the collective voice of the Muslim world.

Ambassador Richard Solomon is President of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and has held this position since 1993. USIP provides the analysis, training, and tools to prevent and end conflicts; promotes stability; and professionalizes the field of peacebuilding. It is an independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress. As Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 1989 to 1992, Ambassador Solomon negotiated the first U.N.

Lord John Alderdice is an appointed life Member of the British House of Lords of the British Parliament at Westminster. Recently the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party in the House of Lords elected him as its new Convener (Chair) and in this position Lord Alderdice will provide an essential link between backbench Liberal Democrat peers and Liberal Democrats in Government. He is also a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist at the Centre for Psychotherapy which he established in Belfast, United Kingdom.

Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP). EPI is a program of coordinated activities designed to bring the latest academic knowledge to issues of education policy. Generous support provided by Charles H. and Susan Gessner. Abstract School accountability systems are intended to lead schools to educate children more efficiently and raise student performance.

John R. Chamberlin is Director of the Center for Ethics in Public Life at the University of Michigan; Professor of Public Policy, U-M Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and Professor of Political Science, U-M College of LSA. His research interests include ethics and public policy, nonprofit management, and methods of election and representation. He is also Director of the Ford School's BA in Public Policy program and U-M's Center for Ethics in Public Life.

America's unmet challenges are huge: from energy policy to nuclear weapons, climate, health care (yes, still), a sagging infrastructure and a soaring deficit. Yet every one of them is eminently solvable. The answers are well known. So what explains, for example, thirty-five years of inaction on energy policy and even longer on health care? Why do we still approach nuclear weapons as though the Cold War continues when it ended 20 years ago? Is the policy gridlock that afflicts us the symptom of a vibrant and engaged - if polarized - society? Dr. Jessica Tuchman Mathews, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace addresses these critical issues in the 2010 Citi Foundation lecture.

Join host Bill Stafford (MPP '75) and your fellow Chicago area alumni at Bill's home in Evanston for a casual evening of conversation and networking. Please RSVP to Amanda Grazioli (734/615-9645) by July 14th if you are able to attend.