Lieutenant General Stapleton Cotton
2019-06-06 00:00 (America/Chicago)
Stapleton Cotton, later Field Marshal Stapleton Cotton, first Viscount Combermere, was cavalry commander under the Duke of Wellington for nearly six years in the Peninsula War. Yet, at Waterloo, he was not invited to command Wellington’s cavalry. Mark T. Gerges examines Cotton’s early career in the Peninsula and his role in the command of Wellington’s cavalry.

HISTORICAL INTERPRETER | Miriam Reed on Susan B. Anthony
2019-07-10 00:00

Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia
2019-08-01 00:00
The unification of Germany was forged by the Hohenzollern dynasty, one of the more remarkable ruling houses Europe ever saw. Given this history, there were high expectations for Frederick William, the eldest son of Wilhelm I, when Prussia began its campaign to unify Germany. Ethan S. Rafuse discusses one of the most fascinating figures in the history of Imperial Germany. Frederick William was not only an able soldier, but, with his wife Victoria, hoped to be a force for liberalism and European peace.

In Conversation with Kevin Willmott
2019-09-11 00:00
With work on titles like “BlacKkKlansman,” “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America,” “Jayhawkers” and beyond, Kevin Willmott is both a renowned filmmaker and a local legend. Willmott will join the Dole Institute for a conversation on his diverse career as a director, screenwriter, producer, civil rights activist and KU professor. A native of Junction City, Willmott shared the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay with Spike Lee in 2019 for the duo’s collaboration on “BlacKkKlansman.”

Frank Jack Fletcher: Unsung Hero
2019-09-12 00:00
Frank Jack Fletcher commanded carrier task forces in the critical first year of World War II in the Pacific. He served as senior commander in three famous naval battles (the Coral Sea, Midway and the Eastern Solomons), winning all three and damaging the Japanese Navy, which prevented it from accomplishing its operational objectives. John Kuehn leads an exploration of Fletcher’s accomplishments and examines why the commander has been largely forgotten by history.

Prospects for Peace in Afghanistan
2019-09-17 00:00
A former minister of the interior for Afghanistan and Afghan ambassador to Germany, Ali Ahmad Jalali has written extensively on the military history of the country. He visits the institute to look at the current state of affairs in the nation and prospects for peace in the future. His latest work, “A Military History of Afghanistan: From the Great Game to the Global War on Terror,” offers extensive insight into the modern military history of Afghanistan, which has been waged by state and non-state actors, against domestic and foreign entities, and under rapidly changing conditions. This program includes a book sale and signing with the author.

2019 CONSTITUTION DAY | Kansas in the U.S. Supreme Court
2019-09-19 00:00
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted review to three separate cases involving the state of Kansas in 2019, which it will hear in October and November. Join Stephen McAllister, U.S. attorney for the District of Kansas, and special guests as they explore the constitutional issues raised in each of three cases:
Kansas v. Garcia: whether federal immigration laws preempt Kansas identity theft criminal laws.
Kahler v. Kansas: whether a state is compelled by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to recognize an “insanity defense.” Kansas — like some states, but not others —has abolished an affirmative insanity defense, and the defendant in question has argued he was legally insane at the time of the killings.
Kansas v. Glover: in a case originating in Lawrence, whether it is reasonable for a law enforcement officer to assume the driver of the vehicle is its registered owner, as a general matter.
Guests panelists will include:
Toby Crouse, Kansas Solicitor General
Sarah E. Harrington, Goldstein & Russell, P.C. and counsel for the defense, Kansas v. Glover
Tobias S. Loss-Eaton, Sidley Austin LLP and principal drafter of petition for certiorari, Kahler v. Kansas
Derek Schmidt, Kansas Attorney General

Votes for Women: Suffrage and the 19th Amendment Centennial
2019-09-24 00:00
One hundred years have not yet passed since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted many — but not all — U.S. women the right to vote. Passed by the House and Senate in 1919 and reaching the threshold to become law of the land in 1920, it enfranchised 26 million women voters. In this 100th-anniversary kickoff event, a panel featuring professors Jinx Broussard (Louisiana State University), Teri Finneman (KU) and Candi Carter Olson (Utah State University) will examine the women’s suffrage movement and the legacy and limitations of this transformative amendment. This program is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Kansas and its Centennial Celebration Committee.

2019 FALL | Create Change: Women, Democracy and Global Politics
2019-09-25 08:00 - 2019-11-20 17:00
Dole Fellow Nancy Bocskor
Read more about Dole Fellows >>
Do you dream of creating change in your community, state or country? Are you ready to become a more effective advocate, activist or even an elected official? This fall, Dole fellow Nancy Bocskor will give you a roadmap to turn your knowledge and passion into a plan. By utilizing the tools that women activists use worldwide, you will be both inspired and ready to take action.
Bocskor, tagged a “democracy coach” by a German newspaper, teaches citizens around the world how to communicate with passion to effect change in their communities. She is the director of the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas.

Week 1 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Farhat Popal
9/25/2019

Week 2 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Susan Markham
10/9/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Susan Markham, cofounder of Smash Strategies — whose mission is to help companies & non-profits understand that gender equity is “good for business”. During the Obama Administration, Markham was the “go-to” top staffer for the President at USAID ensuring women worldwide had economic, educational, health and political equity. She’s worked in more than 50 countries.

Week 3 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Sally Canfield
10/16/2019

Week 4 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Lee Peterson
10/23/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Lee Peterson. Fall fellow Nancy Bocskor welcomes Lee Peterson. Peterson is a top political adviser to those brave candidates who battle dictators such as Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He was country director in Russia for the International Republican Institute, chaired by the late Sen. John McCain. Peterson is an expert on British politics and has a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Week 5 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Deb Sofield
10/30/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Deb Sofield. This week’s guest, Deb Sofield, is an executive speech coach and author who trains political candidates, beauty queens and Fortune 500 executives how to connect with their audiences. She accompanied me to Russia for two summers where she trained young political leaders from more than 80 countries, mentored women from Egypt and Jordan, was an election observer in Bangladesh, to mention just a few. Sofield is a past president of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale, a member of the Greenville, SC water commission and will travel anywhere as long as you feed her three times a day.

Week 6 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Natalia Budaeva Arno
11/6/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Natalia Budaeva Arno. This week’s guest, Natalia Budaeva Arno is the president and founder of the Free Russia Foundation where she exposes the atrocities of the Putin regime. Arno was the Country Director for Russia for the International Republican Institute for nearly a decade before she was banished from her home during the 2014 crackdown on pro-human rights & democracy organizations in Russia. She testifies before the US Congress, the European Union and worldwide groups that promote civil society.

Week 7 | Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Mariam Memarsadeghi
11/20/2019

Fellow Nancy Bocskor with guest speaker Mariam Memarsadeghi. This week’s guest, Mariam Memarsadeghi is the founder of Tavaana.org, an online activism and civil engagement site that breaks through the Iranian firewall to reach hundreds of thousands of Iranian activists. Memarsadeghi was seven years old when she and her family escaped the Iranian regime. She was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar in 2017. She and Bocskor were part of the team that created the first online activism institute in Arabic for the Middle East/North Africa in 2007.

Philip II "Augustus" of France
2019-10-03 00:00
The early reign of Philip II of France was an exhibition of poor generalship, but by the early 1200s, Philip had seized most of the counties and duchies under the control of England’s King John. These victories would construct the territorial basis for modern France. Philip’s crowning victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214 was dubbed “the most important battle you’ve never heard of” by the BBC, and the result would forever change the face of Europe. An expert in medieval warfare, John Hosler will lead an examination of Philip and some of his most consequential victories.

Marine, Public Servant, Kansan
2019-10-17 00:00
The groundwork for Ernest “Ernie” Garcia’s life was laid by his ancestors through a decade of field labor, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and two world wars. Through hard work, education and some basketball, Ernie would rise to become a public servant, Marine Corps officer and the sergeant-at-arms for the U.S. Senate. Author Dennis Raphael Garcia and Ernie Garcia visit the institute to discuss his remarkable life story, his family’s American dream and the immigrant experience. This program includes a book sale and signing with the author.

The League of Wives: Heath Hardage Lee
2019-10-22 00:00
Historian and author Heath Hardage Lee specializes in telling little-known stories of dynamic women throughout history. Her latest work, “The League of Wives,” explores a group of fearless military wives that bucked convention during the Vietnam War to advocate on behalf of their POW/MIA husbands and bring them home. The book has since been optioned for film by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, while its eponymous exhibit debuted at the Dole Institute in spring 2017 and has since traveled nearly 5,000 miles to institutions across the U.S. Lee visits the institute to discuss her book, the research process and what’s next for “The League of Wives.” This program includes a book sale and signing with the author.

Taliban Safari: One Day in the Surkhagan Valley
2019-10-24 00:00
In his book “Taliban Safari,” retired Lt. Col. Paul Darling offers an engrossing and true day-in-the-life narrative of a combat soldier in Afghanistan in 2009. From the mundane to the high-octane, Darling’s reflections will place the realities of combat into a broader perspective. Darling is both the father and son of combat soldiers, and his writing has appeared in outlets like Defense News and the Armed Forces Journal. This program includes a book sale and signing with the author.

2019 | Rep. Sharice Davids
2019-10-27 00:00
The institute is pleased to welcome U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids for the 2019 Elizabeth Dole Women in Leadership Lecture. Rep. Davids serves Kansas’ third legislative district and was sworn into the 116th Congress in January 2019. A graduate of Johnson County Community College, the University of Missouri at Kansas City and Cornell Law School, she serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure and Small Business Committees. She is one of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress, joining Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico. Rep. Davids’ career has focused on economic and community development and included time as a White House Fellow.

The Evolution of TV News
2019-11-13 00:00
A 2018 Pew Research Center survey reminds us that television continues to outpace online, radio and print outlets as the preferred news source for American adults. Once dominated by three networks, the rise of cable news has dramatically altered the landscape of TV journalism and political coverage. Join consultants and lecturers Michael Cascio and Ed Hersh for a discussion of how television news has evolved, challenges facing today’s outlets and what role TV journalists play in our political arena.

General Sir John Monash
2019-11-14 00:00
John Monash was a reserve colonel in the Australian army before World War I, but once the conflict began, he would become a full-time army officer. Promoted to brigadier general, major general and eventually lieutenant general, he commanded the Australian Corps on the Western Front. Monash was one of the first true advocates of combined arms warfare and had a deserved reputation for taking care of his men, going as far as to have hot meals delivered to the front lines in the midst of battle. David Mills examines Monash here, described by British historian A.J.P. Taylor as “the only general of creative originality produced by the First World War.”

Battle for the Marble Palace: The Forging of the Modern Supreme Court
2019-11-19 00:00
Author Michael Bobelian returns to the Dole Institute to explore a forgotten battle of 1968. Against a backdrop of the Vietnam War, riots during the Democratic National Convention and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, Abe Fortas was nominated to be chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The ultimately failed nomination would launch an all-out cultural war between the two major political parties — one that would determine the course of major cases for years to come. This program includes a book sale and signing with the author.

Brigadier General Frank "Pinkie" Dorn
2019-12-05 00:00
From 1942 to 1945, Frank “Pinkie” Dorn, a Chinese linguist and country expert, served in the China-Burma-India theater. Geoff Babb shares the story of Dorn, a colorful and talented officer, writer, mapmaker and artist who had previously served in China as a language student and army attaché. These duties would prepare him for his long service in this critical theater of World War II in the Indo-Pacific, including his time leading the team that trained, advised and equipped 39 Chinese divisions to go on the offensive against Japan in China and Burma.

Dr. Temple Grandin
2019-12-11 00:00
The Dole Institute of Politics will honor advocate for autistic persons and Professor of Animal Science Temple Grandin with the 2019 Dole Leadership Prize.
“Temple Grandin is a trailblazer,” Dole Institute Director Bill Lacy said. “She not only overcame widespread ignorance about autism and helped lessen the stigma around it, she used the challenges she faced to bring an entirely new perspective to how domestic animals are cared for and treated.”
Grandin will receive the 2019 Dole Leadership Prize at the Dole institute of Politics on Wednesday, December 11 at 7:00 pm following a question and answer session.
Diagnosed with autism at the age of two, Grandin did not speak until she was four. Despite her childhood doctor’s belief that she was brain-damaged, a common misunderstanding in the 1940s, she went on to earn a degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce College in 1970, a master’s degree in animal science from Arizona State University, and her doctorate in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. Today she teaches courses on livestock behavior at Colorado State University and consults with the livestock industry on facility design, livestock handling, and animal welfare. She is also a tireless advocate for autistic persons. Grandin fights for “neurodiversity,” opposing the idea of a “cure” for autism.

The War of the Fifth Coalition, 1809
2020-01-09 00:00
Convention says that Napoleon’s downfall came as a result of his misadventures in Spain, starting in 1808, and his disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. While both undoubtedly contributed to his ultimate defeat, the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809 was Napoleon’s turning point. It saw his first undisputed battlefield defeat at Aspern-Essling and marked the demonstrable degeneration of both his armies and his own abilities. It ended with the humiliation of his most inveterate enemy, Austria, and the extension of French power into Eastern Europe, which angered Russia. It also witnessed a personal turning point for Napoleon, as he set aside his first wife in favor of a dynastic marriage to a Habsburg princess, Marie-Louise. However, because of his victory in the war and the drama of events in Spain and Russia, these changes are often elided or outright forgotten in the thread of Napoleon’s story. This talk will argue that 1809, more than any other Napoleonic campaign or conflict, was the turning point in his reign.
Dr. Jonathan Abel is an Assistant Professor of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College Department of Military History. He received his PhD from the Military History Center at the University of North Texas in 2014, studying late eighteenth-century and Napoleonic France. He is the author of Guibert: Father of Napoleon’s Grande Armée, along with other publications.

The Tet Offensive, 1968: The Turning Point of the Vietnam War
2020-02-05 00:00
With guest speaker Gates Brown.
The Tet Offensive of 1968 was a dramatic turning point for both the U.S. and the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. Each had their assumptions shattered in the offensive. The North Vietnamese hoped to prove the validity of their revolutionary ideology. The success of the counterattack of the U.S.-led coalition destroyed the Communists forces but also laid bare the divisive politics of the war in the United States. Although it was a tactical and operational victory for the U.S.-led coalition, it did not translate into an improved strategic position. For the North Vietnamese, it exposed the ineffectiveness of their strategy of a people’s revolution. After the Tet Offensive, the U.S. fought for another five years in South Vietnam while the North Vietnamese continued fighting for another seven years. The offensive was decisive because it forced both sides to confront their false assumptions and each had to attempt to reconcile themselves to a new post-Tet strategic reality.
This program is free and open to the public. No ticket is required.

2020 | Presidential Speeches and Rhetoric
2020-02-06 00:00 - 2020-02-25 00:00
This year’s Presidential Lecture Series, created and developed by award-winning presidential rhetoric scholar Dr. Robert Rowland, focuses on presidential speeches and rhetoric, from the greatest speeches, to the process of speechwriting, to changes in presidential rhetoric in the age of social media. Join us for this compelling journey through the words that defined presidencies.
Robert Rowland’s major teaching and research interests are in rhetorical criticism, argumentation, and the public sphere. Dr. Rowland and his debate colleague were the 1976 National Debate Champions for KU. He is a former director of forensics at KU and at Baylor University. Dr. Rowland received the Louise Byrd Award for Graduate Teaching in May 2000. He also is a recipient of the William T. Kemper Teaching Fellowship and the Bernard Fink Award for outstanding teaching, and is a two-time HOPE Award finalist. He also has received an Outstanding Service Award from the Kansas Bar Association based on his work in Continuing Legal Education on legal advocacy. In November 2006, he was honored by the National Communication Association with the Donald H. Ecroyd Award for Outstanding Teaching in Higher Education. The same organization honored him in 2011 with the Douglas W. Ehninger Rhetorical Scholar Award. He is one of two people in the discipline to be honored with lifetime awards for scholarship and teaching. His co-authored book with David Frank, Shared Land/Conflicting Identity in 2002 was honored in 2003 with the Kohrs-Campbell prize in rhetorical criticism. A recent survey of journals ranked him among the fifty most published scholars in the discipline.
This series is co-sponsored by the University of Kansas Department of Communication Studies, the Department of History, and the Department of Political Science.

Five Great Presidential Speeches
2/6/2020

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
“Ich bin ein Berliner.”
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
What makes a presidential speech great?
Three renowned experts, with decades of scholarship on presidential rhetoric and countless award-winning articles and books published between them, will answer that question in this the first of Presidential Lecture Series at the Dole Institute of Politics. This program will feature a conversation about five great presidential speeches with leading experts on presidential rhetoric: Dr. Mary Stuckey from Penn State, Dr. David Zarefsky from Northwestern, and Dr. Robert C. Rowland from KU. The discussion will focus on what makes a presidential speech “great,” why they chose the works they did, and what great presidential rhetoric tells us about American democracy.
This program is free and open to the public. No ticket is required.
Mary E. Stuckey specializes in political and presidential rhetoric, political communication, and American Indian politics. She is the author, editor, or co-editor of fourteen books and author or coauthor of roughly 80 essays and book chapters. She has received the Michael M. Osborn Teacher/Scholar Award, the Rose B. Johnson Award (with Zoe Hess-Carney), the Roderick P. Hart Outstanding Book Award, the Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award, the inaugural Carl Couch Center, Bruce E. Gronbeck Political Communication Award, and NCA’s Distinguished Scholar Award. She has served as editor of the Southern Communication Journal and the Quarterly Journal of Speech and as book review editor for Rhetoric and Public Affairs. She is Interim Editor of the Rhetoric & Public Affairs. She co-edits Peter Lang’s series with Mitchell McKinney, The Frontiers of Political Communication. Her current book project is on the history of controversial elections.
David H. Zarefsky is an American communication scholar with research specialties in rhetorical history and criticism. He is professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He is a past president of the National Communication Association (U.S.A) and the Rhetoric Society of America. Among his publications are six books and over 70 scholarly articles concerned with American public discourse (both historical and contemporary), argumentation, rhetorical criticism, public speaking, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and the rhetoric of the war on poverty during the Johnson administration. His lectures on argumentation and rhetoric can be heard in a course for The Teaching Company.

The Craft of the Presidential Speechwriter
2/11/2020

Dr. Craig Smith served as a full-time speechwriter for President Gerald Ford, as a consulting writer to George H. W. Bush and as a consultant to CBS News for convention, election, and inaugural coverage. He has also explored presidential speeches as a Professor at Cal State Long Beach. Dr. Smith will engage in a dialogue about speechwriting, presidential and otherwise, sharing his unique knowledge as an award-winning scholar and also a renowned practitioner, who can provide an inside perspective on the role played by the speechwriter, how that role varies with different presidents, and how speechwriting has evolved.
Dr. Craig R. Smith has won the Ehninger Award for contributions to rhetorical theory and the Gronbeck Award for political communication, both from the National Communication Association. He has won that organization’s Robert O’Neil Award three times for scholarly papers on the First Amendment. He has won the Outstanding Professor Award from the National Speakers Association. After completing a Ph.D., Dr. Smith taught at San Diego State University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Alabama Birmingham, where he founded the Communication Studies Department. He also served as a full-time speechwriter for President Gerald Ford, as a consulting writer to George H. W. Bush and as a consultant to CBS News for convention, election, and inaugural coverage. He served as founding president of the Freedom of Expression Foundation in Washington, D.C. from 1983 to 1988. He then became a full professor at California State University, Long Beach until he retired in 2015. He has published 18 books and over 65 scholarly articles.

Comparing and Contrasting Two Powerfully Eloquent Presidents—Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama
2/18/2020

Reagan and Obama. Conventional wisdom would contend that these two presidents had little in common. The actor versus the scholar. The grandfather versus the father. The Republican versus the Democrat.
Presidential rhetoric scholar Dr. Robert C. (Robin) Rowland, of the department of Communication Studies at KU, has written extensively about the rhetoric of both President Ronald Reagan and President Barack Obama. Rowland, who presented the keynote on rhetoric at the Reagan Centennial celebration at USC and the Reagan Library and has won national awards for his research in both rhetoric and argumentation, argues that the rhetoric of Reagan and Obama is more similar than has been recognized. In a dialogue, Rowland will explore the similarities and differences between the rhetoric of Reagan and Obama.

Social Media & Contemporary Presidential Rhetoric
2/25/2020

Few events have more radically reshaped the public sphere than the rise of mass media. From radio to television to social media, the past century fundamentally altered how presidents in the United States communicate with the electorate, and how those leaders were perceived by the people. Dr. Denise Bostdorff of Wooster College has studied presidential rhetoric for more than thirty years and produced some of the most influential books and articles on that topic in that period. In a dialogue, Dr. Bostdorff will discuss key moments in the development of presidential rhetoric over the last several decades, the role of presidential rhetoric in shaping American politics, and the drastic changes in presidential rhetoric associated with the rise of social media and the presidency of Donald Trump. This series is co-sponsored by the University of Kansas Department of Communication Studies, the Department of History, and the Department of Political Science.
Denise M. Bostdorff is professor and chair of Communication Studies at The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. She has published two books—The Presidency and the Rhetoric of Foreign Crisis and Proclaiming the Truman Doctrine: The Cold War Call to Arms, which won the Bruce E. Gronbeck Political Communication Research Award. In addition, she has published essays on presidential rhetoric about race, foreign policy, political campaigns, and war in outlets such as Quarterly Journal of Speech, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Rhetoric & Public Affairs.

2020 SPRING | Spying in the Cyber Age
2020-02-12 08:00 - 2020-04-22 17:00 | The Dole Institute of Politics, 2350 Petefish Drive, Lawrence, KS, 66045, United States
Dole Fellow Ron Marks
Read more about Dole Fellows >>
The Dole Discussion Groups are made possible be a grant from Newman’s Own

Recruiting in the Cyber World – Q or Bond or Both?
2/12/2020

Ian Fleming’s legendary suave super-spy, James Bond, has imprinted himself on the collective imagination of society as what a true intelligence gathering agent looks and acts like. While this has never really been the case, the reality today is even farther afield from the tuxedo-clad, martini-swilling 007. In the digital age, do modern spies look more like Bond’s geeky, gadget-obsessed quartermaster “Q” than Bond himself? Dole Fellow Ron Marks welcomes former Chief of the Directorate of Digital Innovations Hiring for the CIA Roynda Hartsfield, who will discuss what the CIA and the intelligence community at large is looking for in a 21st century spy.
Another misconception that lingers in the minds of the public is that intelligence operatives are always agents of a government, or “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” In reality, the intelligence industrial complex has ballooned from $27 billion annually in 2001 to $86 billion today. Hartsfield and Marks will explore what this shift in the terrain means, the differences and similarities between what the public and private sectors look for when hiring new operatives, and what types of individuals should apply.
This discussion group is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to get world-class advice and information about pursuing a career in this rapidly growing industry. It is also a chance to dispel the fictions around what spies in our age look like, and perhaps for attendees to see themselves in a field they had previously relegated to “spies” like James Bond.
Roynda “Roy” Hartsfield is a recently retired senior Central intelligence Agency officer and formerly Chief of the Directorate of Digital Innovations Hiring. Roy has spent most of her career overseas focused on operational issues around the globe. She currently heads Talent Acquisition for Excel Technologies and is President of PTG Consulting focused on bringing more diversity and inclusion to STEM.

Speaking Truth to Power in the Cyber Age?
2/19/2020

E.C.H.E.L.O.N.
P.R.I.S.M.
M.Y.S.T.I.C.
These infamous mass surveillance programs not only dominated many a conspiracy-theorist blog, but also began shifting public understanding of intelligence gathering in the age of the internet. As the role of computers rose, the role of human beings seemed to diminish. The practical truth lies somewhere between the Rosenbergs and Facebook. Dole Fellow Ron Marks welcomes the Honorable Randall M. Fort, former assistant secretary of state for Intelligence and Research, as they delve into this new world where the purposes of computers and humans in intelligence gathering have shifted in unprecedented ways.
Fort is an expert on the emergence of artificial intelligence and other technological tools used in data mining and processing. In this discussion, he and Marks will explore how these emergent technologies change the intelligence game, but also how integral humans remain to the overall process. To that point, they will discuss how to utilize personal networks to collect information without competing with senior executives. Fort and Marks will serve as guides through a rapidly shifting landscape in which the technologically adept person may have the career advantage.
Randall M. Fort is director of Corporate Programs Security for Raytheon. He joined the Engineering, Technology and Mission Assurance leadership team in July 2009. Prior to Raytheon, Fort was employed at the U.S. State Department as the assistant secretary of state for Intelligence and Research, from 2006 to 2009. He managed the production and dissemination of all-source intelligence analysis for the secretary of state and other senior policymakers. Fort headed the department’s Cyber Policy Group and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research— a member of the U.S. intelligence community.
Before his U.S. State Department appointment, Fort was director of Global Security for Goldman Sachs, from 1996 to 2006, where he was responsible for all aspects of physical security risk management, including
investigations, travel safety, executive protection, risk analysis, access control, perimeter protection and security technology. He also served as chief of staff to the president and co-chief operating officer of the firm. From 1993 to 1996, Fort was director of Special Projects at TRW, Inc. for two of the corporation’s Space and Defense operating groups.
He served as the deputy assistant secretary for Functional Analysis and Research in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the U.S. Department of State from 1989 to 1993. He was also the special assistant to the secretary for National Security and director of the Office of Intelligence Support at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 1987 to 1989. Prior to moving to Treasury, he served as a professional staff member, first as assistant director and subsequently as deputy executive director, of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board at the White House from 1982 to 1987.

The Lawless Cyber Frontier
2/26/2020

Nineteenth century southwestern America lit up movie and television screens and imaginations from the earliest talkies to the latest blockbusters. The lawless West and the rugged cowboy protecting the innocent are archetypes embedded in the American psyche. Westerns have, with a few exceptions, grossly romanticized a terrifying time for the men, women, and children pushing the frontier ever westward with little or no protection. The frontier a century and a half later has no oceans to arrest its forward progress, and for many, the anarchy of cyberspace has wrought havoc on their lives with few white-hat wearing lawmen to rescue them.
Dole Fellow Ron Marks welcomes Stephanie Pell, Assistant Professor and Cyber Ethics Fellow at West Point’s Army Cyber Institute, to a discussion of bringing the rule of law to a lawless frontier. Pell stands out as an expert on the existing laws of the internet, and a leader in creating new ones, particularly at the international level. As countries and companies weaponize information on a global scale, Pell and Marks will provide vital insight into how we survive the new Wild Wild West.
Stephanie Pell is an Assistant Professor and Cyber Ethics Fellow at West Point’s Army Cyber Institute (ACI), with a joint appointment to the Department of English and Philosophy. Pell is also an Affiliate Scholar at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.
She writes about cybersecurity, privacy, surveillance, cyber ethics, and national security law and policy. Pell’s work has been published in several law journals, including the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, and the Connecticut Law Review, as well as in the popular magazine Wired. Prior to joining West Point’s faculty, Pell served as Majority Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, serving as lead counsel on Electronic Communications Privacy Act reform and PATRIOT Act reauthorization during the 111th Congress. Pell was also a federal prosecutor for over fourteen years, working as a Senior Counsel to the U. S. Deputy Attorney General, as a Counsel to the U.S. Assistant Attorney General of the National Security Division, and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. She was a lead prosecutor in U.S. v. Jose Padilla, in which in which American citizen was detained as an enemy combatant prior to criminal indictment, trial, and conviction on various terrorism charges, for which she received the U.S. Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award, and
in U.S. v. Conor Claxton, a court case involving IRA operatives who purchased weapons in South Florida and smuggled them into Belfast, Northern Ireland during peace process negotiations.

In Home, at Home and Abroad – How Intelligence Is Made and Used in the 21st Century
4/1/2020

The word “spy” almost drips with connotations. From James Bond to Spy vs. Spy to Black Widow, pop culture has no end of colorful characters who claim spying as their profession. One thing they all have in common is they work for a government. In the post-9/11 world, this changed, as the intelligence industry more than tripled in value. Spies much more frequently work for private firms. The burgeoning industry saw public and private organizations casting much larger nets and scooping up oceans of data. The ability to sort through so much information remains a key struggle.
Dole Fellow Ron Marks welcomes Dr. Mark M. Lowenthal, former Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis & Production and former Vice Chairman for Evaluation on the National Intelligence Council, to the Dole Institute for a fascinating study of how intelligence is gathered, made, and used in an era where information flows more like Niagara Falls than a faucet. Lowenthal has run organizations both in government and the private sector, bringing a balanced perspective to a field that governments no longer monopolize. Join Marks and Lowenthal as they examine an industry that has radically transformed in the last 20 years and forever changed the definition of a “spy.”
Dr. Mark M. Lowenthal, an internationally recognized expert on intelligence, is President Emeritus of the Intelligence & Security Academy, LLC, a national security education, training and consulting company. From 2002-2005, Dr. Lowenthal served as the Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis & Production and also as the Vice Chairman for Evaluation on the National Intelligence Council. Prior to these duties, he served as Counselor to the Director of Central Intelligence. Dr. Lowenthal was the Staff Director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the 104th Congress (1995-97), where he directed the committee’s study on the future of the Intelligence Community, IC21: The Intelligence Community in the 21st Century. He also served in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), as both an office director and a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and has been the Senior Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Dr. Lowenthal has written extensively on intelligence and national security issues, including ten books and over 100 articles or studies. He published The Future of Intelligence. His textbook, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, has become the standard college and graduate school textbook on the subject. Dr. Lowenthal is a frequent public commentator on intelligence issues.
He is on the adjunct faculty of the Johns Hopkins University and Sciences Po in Paris (Institut d’études politiques de Paris), and is a Visiting Professor at the Norway Defence Intelligence School (NORDIS). He was an adjunct for 14 years at Columbia University. He is the Executive Director of the International Association for Intelligence Education and a Chairman Emeritus of the Intelligence Committee for AFCEA. He is currently a member of the Intelligence Community Studies Board and the FBI Intelligence Analysts Association.
In 2005, Dr. Lowenthal was awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Intelligence Community’s highest award. In 2006, he received AFCEA’s Distinguished Service Award for service to the Intelligence Community. In 1988, Dr. Lowenthal was the Grand Champion on “Jeopardy!,” the television quiz show.

Ghost in the Machine: Being a Reporter in the Age of Total Information
4/8/2020

On June 1, 1980, the Cable News Network launched, creating the first 24-hour news channel. It marked the first major departure from the decades-old model of television news broadcast twice a day. Then the internet swept the world, splintering not only televised news but print and radio as well. In the span of only three decades, the entire landscape of journalism changed. For most, we only see the external changes, the increasing need to curate our sources of information from an ever-increasing number of choices, but what is it like for the people who work in the field?
Dole Fellow Ron Marks welcomes his guest Jenna McLaughlin, national security and investigations reporter for Yahoo News. McLaughlin will share her experiences in working in a world-class non-traditional news agency, how she deals with the demands to constantly gather information for the 24/7 news cycle. She will also discuss how she balances the need to get the information out fast and the need to get it right.
Jenna McLaughlin is a national security and investigations reporter for Yahoo News, where she focuses on the intelligence community, foreign policy, and other issues. McLaughlin previously covered intelligence and national security for CNN, Foreign Policy Magazine, The Intercept, and Mother Jones Magazine, following her graduation from Johns Hopkins University in 2014.

The Death of 20th Century Power Structures and Adapting to the Birth of the 21st Century World
4/15/2020

Few inventions so radically re-shaped the world as the internet did in the 1990s. The pillars of society, economics, information, communication and government shook, cracked, and some even crumbled, perhaps none so dramatically as the political structures that supported and ordered the world. As of yet, no new framework has emerged to replace the old. Even the foundational idea of the nation-state as a political concept and the basis for the modern definition of a country threatens to buckle under the forces of change.
Dole Fellow Ron Marks welcomes his guest Dr. Greg Treverton, former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, to examine how future leaders can cope with these tectonic changes and how to build a new framework. Treverton, the most senior intelligence analyst for President Barack Obama, will provide deep insight into what that structure might look like, as well as an understanding of how the rising power of private players, such as Facebook, challenge the power of nations.
This discussion group is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear the foremost experts in this field reflect on what brought us to our present state, how to get to the next evolution, and what your role in all of this might be.
Gregory F. Treverton is Professor of the Practice of International Relations and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California. He served as chairman of the National Intelligence Council from September 2014 to January 2017. Earlier, he directed the RAND Corporation’s Center for Global Risk and Security, and before that, its Intelligence Policy Center and its International Security and Defense Policy Center. He also was associate dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School.
He has served in government for the first Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, handling Europe for the National Security Council and as vice chair of the National Intelligence Council, overseeing the writing of America’s National Intelligence Estimates. In addition to RAND, he has taught at Harvard and Columbia universities, has been a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and also deputy director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
His latest books are Dividing Divided States and Beyond the Great Divide: Relevance and Uncertainty in National Intelligence and Science for Policy (with Wilhelm Agrell).

Everyone’s an Editor: Finding “Truth” in Cyber News
4/22/2020

Cronkite. Murrow. Brinkley.
In the not so distant past, these men dominated the American news landscape. With two channels (eventually three) to get your televised news, you watched at least one of them. They were the Gatekeepers. The Arbiters of Truth. The advent of cable news, and then internet, brought an end to the Gatekeepers. Many lauded a new era of “democratized” journalism. What emerged had the best and the worst of the “news,” and suddenly, no one was there to sort through it all to find the truth.
The internet has made everyone an editor. Dole Fellow Ron Marks welcomes his guest Shelby Coffey, former editor of the L.A. Times and US News and World Report, to discuss how dramatically the world of journalism has changed in only 40 years. Information is faster than ever and there is far more of it. In this discussion group, Marks and Coffey will teach how to cut through the noise and find the truth.
Shelby Coffey III began his journalistic career as a reporter at The Washington Post, later becoming deputy managing editor. He is the former editor of the Los Angeles Times and US News and World Report. He was President of CNN Financial News and executive Vice President of ABC News. He was named editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation in 1995. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International advisory council of APCO Worldwide and the board of the Newseum in Washington DC.

The Aisne-Marne Counteroffensive, 1918: The Turning Point of World War I
2020-03-04 00:00
Although the turning points of the American Civil War and World War II occurred in the middle of those conflicts, the outcome of the Great War was not decided until the last months of the war. The Ludendorff Offensives had pushed both sides into a deadly race against time that pitted German tactical successes against the ability of the Americans to arrive in sufficient numbers to give the Allies the crucial edge. The lecture will discuss how the Franco-American victory at Aisne-Marne changed the course of the war and convinced Ferdinand Foch that the strategic and operational advantage in the conflict had decisively shifted to the Allied cause.
This program is free and open to the public. No ticket is required.
Dr. Richard S. Faulkner is the William A. Stofft Professor of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He served 23 years in the U.S. Army and commanded a tank company in the 1st Armored Division during Operation Desert Storm. He is the author of The School of Hard Knocks: Combat Leadership in the American Expeditionary Forces, which was the recipient of the Society for Military History’s 2013 Distinguished Book Award. His second book, Pershing’s Crusaders: The American Soldier in World War I received the World War I Association’s 2017 Norman B. Tomlinson, Jr. Prize for the best work of history in English on World War I, the Organization of American Historians’ 2017 Richard W. Leopold Prize, and the Army Historical Foundation’s 2017 Excellence in U.S. Army History Book Award.

A Powerful, Prevailing Truth: Women in Politics a Century After Suffrage
2020-03-05 00:00
In the century since women gained the vote with the ratification of the 19th amendment, the role of women in the political sphere has increased dramatically in some ways with little advancement in others. This panel of women elected officials will share their experiences as women in politics and the importance of women in public service and the political realm.
Dr. Barbara W. Ballard is the Senior Associate Director at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas and has served as an Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Associate Dean for Student Life and the Director of the Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center. Ballard also teaches for the School of Education and Department of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. Ballard is a member of the Kansas Legislature. She was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1992. Ballard serves on the House Leadership Team as the Democratic Caucus Chair and is the first African American to do so, serving over fifteen years. She is a past President of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and is the President of the NBCSL Foundation. Ballard is a past officer of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women.
Representative Susan Concannon is serving her 4th term in the Kansas State House of Representatives, where she serves on Appropriations, Taxation and Chairman of Children and Seniors Committee. She also serves on the Bob Bethel KanCare Oversight Committee, which is charged with overseeing the state’s Medicaid managed care system. Concannon is a graduate of Bethany College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. She is also an alum of Leadership Mitchell County and Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership. Since moving with her husband to Beloit in 1987, Concannon has dedicated much of her time to community service in the Beloit area. Prior to her election to the legislature, she helped start the Mitchell County Regional Medical Foundation and served as the Executive Director.
Vicki Schmidt is the current Kansas Insurance Commissioner. Previously, she spent 40 years serving Kansans as a pharmacist, oftentimes speaking out against flaws in healthcare and Medicaid. Schmidt was then elected to public office, serving as the Chair of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee. As a state senator, she actively worked on insurance-related issues that faced families who had children with autism. Schmidt graduated from KU’s School of Pharmacy.
Representative Ponka-We Victors has served in the Kansas House of Representatives since 2010 and represents the 103rd district of Wichita, Kansas. She is the first Native American woman to serve in the Kansas Legislature and is the daughter of Juan and Sandra Victors, both alumni of Haskell Indian Nations University. Victors is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation of Arizona and Ponca tribe of Oklahoma. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Wichita State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Newman University.
This event is co-sponsored by the Political Science Department of KU.

Guadalcanal, 1942: The Turning Point of the Pacific Theater in World War II
2020-04-02 00:00
Dr. Kuehn’s talk will dispute the claim that the Battle of Midway is the turning point of the Pacific War and offer an argument that the campaign on Guadalcanal from August 1942 to early February 1943 constitutes the actual turning point in the war. This presentation examines the campaign from this vantage point and emphasizes how what began as the seizure of an undefended island airfield turned into a war of attrition on land, sea, and air between the Empire of Japan and the United States and its allies.
Dr. John T. Kuehn is Professor of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 2004 at the rank of commander after 23 years, serving as a naval flight officer flying land and carrier-based aircraft. He has taught a variety of subjects, including military history, at CGSC since 2000. He authored Agents of Innovation, A Military History of Japan: From the Age of the Samurai to the 21st Century, Napoleonic Warfare: The Operational Art of the Great Campaigns, and co-authored Eyewitness Pacific Theater with D.M. Giangreco as well as numerous articles and editorials and was awarded a Moncado Prize from the Society for Military History in 2011. His latest book from Naval Institute Press is America’s First General Staff: A Short History of the Rise and Fall of the General Board of the Navy, 1900-1950. During 2016-2017 Dr. Kuehn served on CNO Admiral John Richardson’s Fleet Design Advisory Panel assessing congressionally mandated architectures for the fleet of 2030.

1941: The Turning Point in the Holocaust
2020-05-07 00:00
Few years in modern history have been as eventful as 1941. For most Americans, the December 7 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor resonates as the year’s signal event, an action that thrust the United States into World War II. For the Soviet Union and its clients, Operation Barbarossa, the sudden Nazi attack of June 22, earns the distinction as the most eventful, as the Wehrmacht turned its mechanized might onto its erstwhile ally. 1941 also marked the beginning of the Shoah, the designed destruction of the Jews of Europe. During the 1930s, Hitler’s regime had applied ever-increasing methods of persecution onto the Jews of Germany and other European countries as they were occupied. Before 1941, the Nazi actions were primarily designed to dispossess the Jews of their wealth and compel their emigration. Coincident with Barbarossa, however, persecution turned into a more generalized European slaughter; it was the great turning point in the Holocaust.
This program will stream live on our YouTube channel.
Dave Cotter is the Director of the Department of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He has been a faculty member since 2009 and was previously a member of the Department of History at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. He has an M.A. in History from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, and an M.A. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Gratz College. In addition to the history curriculum, he is active in the Genocide and Mass Atrocities Studies Seminar at the Staff College. In the past year, he has made genocide-related presentations to the Society for Military History, the Watson Institute at Brown University, the Dole Institute of Politics, and the Naval War College. Dave is a retired military officer with 32 years of experience, including multiple combat deployments and command at battery, battalion, and brigade levels.

Barbarossa’s Siege of Rome, 1167: The Turning Point for Medieval Italy
2020-06-04 00:00
In an effort to thwart the ambitions of his political rivals, the Hohenstaufen ruler Frederick Barbarossa invaded Italy in 1167 with the goal of driving all the way to Sicily. Following successful sieges in northern Italy, he took his army to Rome: he captured the city on July 24 and then stirred its citizens into revolt against Pope Alexander III, who was forced to flee to Benevento. Six days later, Barbarossa installed an antipope (Paschal III) on St. Peter’s throne, and Paschal, in return, crowned him Holy Roman Emperor. Matters abruptly changed thereafter. A destructive storm and widespread plague ultimately drove the emperor out of Rome and back north, into the waiting arms of the Lombard League, a coalition of sixteen Italian cities that had formed an alliance against him. What followed was a series of military defeats and humiliating near-captures as Barbarossa frantically tried to escape to Saxony. It was the beginning of the end of imperial control over northern Italy: in 1176, the Lombard League decisively defeated Barbarossa at the Battle of Legnano, and in 1183 he granted its members the right to self-governance. In the following century, the Italian Renaissance was born in these independent states.
This program will be live on our YouTube channel.
John D. Hosler is an Associate Professor of Military History at the Command and General Staff College. An expert in medieval warfare, he is the author of The Siege of Acre, 1189-1191: Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and the Battle that Decided the Third Crusade, which was named a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year.

A Conversation on Race Part I
2020-06-16 00:00
The justifiable outrage over the death of Mr. George Floyd has spread across the United States and beyond. As thousands of people take to the streets demanding racial justice, the need for civil and thoughtful discourse has scarcely been more acutely felt in the history of our country. The Dole Institute’s mission is to provide the forum for exactly this kind of important and uncomfortable conversation.
“A Conversation on Race” will be hosted by Senior Associate Director Dr. Barbara Ballard and will feature Dr. Roosevelt “Rose” Barfield and Cherylyn Harley LeBon as her guests. This program will be the first in an ongoing series on race-related issues with additional installments to be announced at a later date. Ballard, who serves in the Kansas State Legislature since 1993, will welcome Barfield and LeBon back to the Institute, as both were Dole Fellows in the past. Barfield served in the U.S. Army for 32 years, retiring as a Brigadier General, and LeBon worked extensively in national politics, including as assistant administrator for Intergovernmental Affairs for George W. Bush.
This special program will be live-streamed to the institute’s YouTube channel and to its website, www.doleinstitute.org. Due to continuing concerns regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic, the program will only be available online. Follow the Dole Institute on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter for updates regarding this and future programming.
Barfield served in the U.S. Army for 32 years, retiring from active duty in 2009 as a Brigadier General. He served as a Military Legislative Assistant to the U.S. Senate from 2008 to 2009. He was the guest speaker for the Dole Institute Student Advisory Board program in Fall 2010 and was the Spring 2013 Dole Fellow. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Consilium Group and a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.
LeBon was the assistant administrator for Intergovernmental Affairs for the George W. Bush administration, working with the White House, Governors, and local and state officials coordinating disaster relief, economic development, and financial assistance. She also served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. She was the Fall 2017 Dole Fellow and is currently a partner with the law firm Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig.

Let the Shameful Wall of Exclusion Come Down: The 30th Anniversary of the ADA
2020-07-21 00:00
On Tuesday July 21st, the George & Barbara Bush Foundation will convene key activists, advocates and policymakers who helped make the Americans with Disabilities Act a reality for a bipartisan celebration of that landmark civil rights legislation – and, equally important, focus on the challenges that will shape the future of the disability movement. Dole Institute of Politics Associate Director and Director of Museum and Archives Audrey Coleman will be among the guests for the discussion.
The 90-minute online program, titled “Let the Shameful Wall of Exclusion Come Down,” taken from President Bush’s remarks on July 26, 1990 as he signed the ADA, starts on July 21st at 12:30 pm Central and will be moderated by Judy Woodruff, the managing editor and anchor of PBS’ NewsHour.
