On The Frontier - Frank Church 2013 Part One

Hello Blogger World,

The next series of posts that I make are going to directly correlate with the 42nd Annual Frank Church Symposium on International Affairs: Leadership and Power - The Struggles of a Contemporary World. In light of the fact that this is my last year on the council, I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to be a member of the organization for the past four years. I'm also super excited to have worked with such a great group of individuals, and though there were a few ups and downs, I wouldn't trade any part of the events.

We began on Wednesday, February 27th during breakfast at the Red Lion Hotel. Not only was I grateful for the fact that my faithful car made it there and back countless times, but also that from day one, it seemed as though the group of delegates we had was very cohesive, dynamic, and well-put together. Our panels this year consisted of the following fabulous individuals:

1. Dr. Robert Ostergard, University of Nevada - Reno
2. Dr. Chandra Silva, Boise State University
3. Dr. Kristina Lybecker, Colorado College
4. Dr. Ron Scapp, College of Mount Saint Vincent
5. Dr. Chima Korieh, Marquette University
6. Dr. Thomas E. Doyle, University of Texas
7. Dr. Ramona Linville Higley, Weber State University
8. Dr. Roger Kangas, The National Defense University
9. Dr. Luis Fernandez, Idaho State University
10. General Amos Jordan, Former Brigadier

This group of individuals was, in the four years I have served on the planning committees, the most well-put together group of delegates I have ever had the privilege to know.

We began our events on Wednesday morning with the 2013 Joseph Hearst Memorial Lecture, presented by Dr. Ron Scapp: a professor at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York. He spoke about how education is starting to follow a business-type model and that universities are starting to become structured according to principles of corporations. Following this presentation was a discussion by the delegates on women, education, and gender. Through this panel, our delegates discussed the ideas of how women are still discriminated against in the workplace, and though trends are changing, there is still much work to be done.

After we took the delegates to a wonderful lunch at The Bridge Restaurant, we headed back to ISU for the second panel of the symposium, which focused on the environment, science, and technology. Dr. Lybecker gave a fascinating presentation on the concepts of green technology and how it is a challenge to shift it towards developing nations. The panel eventually concluded that it is a real struggle to accomplish technology transfer between the developed world and developing world.

The delegates were then given a break for the afternoon, so later we headed to the Idaho State University Stephens Performing Arts Center for a wonderful dinner hosted by ISU President Arthur Vailas and the ISU Foundation. We were so very grateful to have had the assistance of these two groups of people and our delegates thought the entire experience was wonderful. After the amazing dinner, we headed over to the Bistline Theatre for the 2013 Frank Church Keynote Address.

General Amos Jordan spoke about eight challenges facing the United States, culminating in a question and answer session, during which individuals were given the chance to ask questions of the speaker. The keynote address was followed by a reception and then we headed home for the day.

Stay tuned for a summary of the second day of the Frank Church Symposium!