Weiser Diplomacy Center

Join us for the Alumni in Residence conversation with Lesley Miller (MPP/MBA '93) Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Viet Nam, focusing on advancing the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged children and adolescents.

John Ciorciari and Susanna Campbell will talk about findings from his new book Sovereignty Sharing in Fragile States outlining conditions under which shared sovereignty tends to fail or succeed in advancing accountability for human rights violation.

Eric Beinhart of the U.S. Department of Justice will discuss approaches to police reform in societies affected by conflict and ways to bridge the divide between formal law enforcement and traditional community governance structures in areas where state institutions have lacked capacity and/or legitimacy.

We invite Ford School students to join us for a conversation with Ambassador Joseph Yun on Biden administration's policy options with respect to North Korea. Yun is a senior advisor to the Asia Program at USIP and one of the nation’s leading experts on relations with North Korea.    

Graduate students from more than 80 universities around Americas, Middle East, Africa and Europe will address pandemic in virtual NASPAA-Batten student simulation competition developed by the Center for Leadership Simulation and Gaming. 

Join us for the Alumni in Residence conversation with Nicole Shepardson (MPP '01), policy team leader and senior protection policy officer in the Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration at the U.S. Department of State.  

Ambassador Susan D. Page will moderate a discussion with cultural heritage experts from U-M and Africa surrounding the reclamation and repatriation of African heritage from Northern cultural institutions back to Africa.

Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer will discuss the intersection of national security interests and human rights in the always volatile Middle East.  

In this talk, Amb. Susan D. Page will explore the presence and impact of race relations on U.S. foreign policy and U.S. actions at home.

This event will feature Dr. Vivian S. Walker, Executive Director of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, in conversation with Professor John Ciorciari, Director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center at the University of Michigan, with a welcome address by Rejaul Karim Laskar, representing the Global Forum for Scholars & Practitioners of Diplomacy. 

The Weiser Diplomacy Center is partnering with the American Academy of Diplomacy to bring seasoned U.S. diplomats to Ford School and discuss the future of U.S. foreign policy after presidential election 2020.

Join us for a virtual conversation co-hosted by the Gulf International Forum featuring Dr. Dania Thafer, Executive Director of the Gulf International Forum (GIF), Abbas Khadim, Director of Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council and General Anthony C. Zinni, former United States Marine Corps general in conversation with Ambassador Patrick Theros. 

Please join us for a virtual seminar with Bui Hai Thiem, a research manager at the Institute for Legislative Studies, National Assembly Standing Committee of Vietnam, Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor at Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies and Wai Wai Nu, a former political prisoner and the founder and Executive Director of the Women Peace Network in Myanmar.

Please join us for a virtual seminar with Kinga Brudzinska, Program Director of Future of Europe for GLOBSEC Policy Institute in conversation with John Ciorciari, director of Weiser Diplomacy Center. They will discuss major trends, challenges and opportunities for supporting democracy in central and eastern Europe—particularly the “V4” countries of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. This event is open to all University of Michigan students.    

The Ford School and the Weiser Diplomacy Center invite all University of Michigan students to join us for a presidential debate debrief with Ambassador Susan Page and Associate Professor John Ciorciari.

Please join us for a virtual seminar with Dr. Babajide Ololajulo, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria and Dr. Patrick Cobbinah, Urban Planning Academic in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, in conversation with Justine M. Davis, LSA Collegiate Fellow in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS) at the University of Michigan.

Join us for a conversation on current relations between the United States and China and possible paths forward given COVID and the upcoming U.S. elections. Panelists will include Kenneth Lieberthal, senior fellow emeritus at Brookings, Mary Gallagher, professor of political science, and Ann Lin, associate professor of public policy. Ford School Dean Michael Barr will moderate the discussion. 

Please join us for a virtual seminar with Jason Carter, Chairman of the Carter Center Board of Trustees, Ms. Narcis Scope, Chief Elections Officer, Elections and Boundaries Commission of Trinidad and Tobago representing CARICOM, and Ms. Pauline Chase from Guyana Bar Association in conversation with Ambassador Susan Page, Professor of Practice in International Diplomacy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy discussing about the Guyana Electoral Observation Mission (EOM).

Please join us for a virtual seminar with Amy Studdart, senior advisor at the International Republican Institute, where she leads the organization's digital democracy programming, in conversation with Associate Professor John Ciorciari, director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center and International Policy Center about two case examples of combating misinformation while promoting open online spaces, in Taiwan and Venezuela.   

Please join us for a virtual seminar with Fabiola Cordova,  Associate Director, Latin America and Caribbean, National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in conversation with Associate Professor John Ciorciari, director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center and International Policy Center. 

Please join us for a virtual seminar with Kara McDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary at Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in conversation with Associate Professor John Ciorciari, director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center and International Policy Center.

The inaugural Ford/CREES U.S.-Russia Future Leaders Professional Development Workshop will be led by Jill Dougherty, (BA Russian ’70), Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

Please join us for a virtual seminar with Matt Dippell, Deputy Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Programs at the National Democratic Institute in conversation with Associate Professor John Ciorciari, director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center and International Policy Center.

WDC Director professor John Ciorciari will lead this virtual session with our Ford School colleagues Mohammad Akbar Zadran and Matt Rigdon in a discussion about the U.S. and Taliban Peace Deal signed after nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan.

Due to COVID-19, this event has been canceled.   

Join us for a lunchtime webinar to learn more about the Ford School's research centers.

Due to COVID-19, this event has been canceled.  We are working to reschedule this event.