William Burns, Sen. Todd Young, Marie Yovanovitch to headline Hamilton Lugar School conference

Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies convenes its fifth annual conference on America’s Role in the World® on Thursday, March 5 and Friday, March 6. The nonpartisan conference takes place on the IU Bloomington campus and is open to all IU students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the public.

“This is the first conference on America’s Role in the World convened without our namesake, the late Senator Richard G. Lugar, who knew the importance of bringing globally respected scholars and experts to Indiana University not only to discuss critical foreign policy issues on a nonpartisan basis but also to better understand the part each of us can play in creating a more just and secure world,” said Ambassador Lee Feinstein, founding dean of the Hamilton Lugar School.

Ambassador William J. Burns — president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the oldest international affairs think tank in the United States — is author of The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a thirty-three-year diplomatic career. He holds the highest rank in the Foreign Service, Career Ambassador, and is only the second serving career diplomat in history to become Deputy Secretary of State.

Prior to his tenure as deputy secretary, Burns served as ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs from 2001 to 2005, and ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001. His other posts include Executive Secretary of the State Department, Principal Deputy Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, and special assistant to the president and senior director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council.

Burns will take part in a moderated conversation with Susan Glasser, writer at The New Yorker and global affairs analyst at CNN.

Day two of the conference will open with the inaugural Richard G. Lugar Lecture featuring Senator Todd Young, a 2017 America’s Role in the World panelist and champion for the Department of Education’s prestigious Title VI program, which works to develop and maintain capacity and performance in area and international studies and world languages. A record number of centers housed within the Hamilton Lugar School received funding in the 2018 round.

The conference will close with the presentation of the Richard G. Lugar Award to Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (2016–2019). She previously served as Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia (2008–2011) and the Kyrgyz Republic (2005–2008). From 2012–2013, Yovanovitch was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she was responsible for policy on European and global security issues. She also served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2004–2005. She retired from the Department of State as a Career Minister in January 2020. Yovanovitch, who is also a 1979 graduate of the Hamilton Lugar School’s Summer Language Workshop, will give remarks followed by a moderated discussion with Ambassador Feinstein. She will also take questions from students.

This year’s conference also focuses on pressing topics, including climate change, national security challenges in the next decade, U.S.-China relations, and presidential elections and U.S. foreign policy.

Other guests include IU faculty, scholars, journalists, and former senior officials:

• Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Axios
• Emily Atkin, HEATED
• Whit Ayres, North Star Opinion Research
• Andrew Bell, IU Hamilton Lugar School
• Isabella Fallahi, climate justice activist
• Geoffrey Garin, Hart Research Associates
• Admiral Lee Gunn, U.S. Navy (ret.)
• Marie Harf, Fox News
• Lara Jakes, The New York Times
• Wendy Leutert, IU Hamilton Lugar School
• Adam Liff, IU Hamilton Lugar School
• Kelly Magsamen, Center for American Progress
• Janet McCabe, IU Environmental Resilience Institute
• Jessica O’Reilly, IU Hamilton Lugar School
• Nicholas Rasmussen, McCain Institute
• Frank Rose, Brookings Institution
• Allison Stanger, Middlebury College
• Daniel Twining, International Republican Institute
• Bill Whitaker, CBS 60 Minutes
• John Yasuda, IU Hamilton Lugar School

Additional conference highlights include the announcement of the ARW Student Editorial Contest winner by 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker. Open to all IU students, editorials must answer the question, “Moral courage and the rule of law: Does justice ever require violating the law or the commands of authorities?” Ambassador Feinstein’s student advisory board, the Global Student 7, will also host a private lunch allowing students to meet and network with conference guests.

The entire conference will be streamed live and archived on broadcast.iu.edu and also available on Facebook Live via the Hamilton Lugar School’s account. To register to attend conference sessions, visit arw.indiana.edu.

Established in 2012, the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies is a leader in the study of global and international affairs and the languages, cultures and perspectives shaping our world. Named for revered Hoosier statesmen and foreign policy voices former U.S. Rep. Lee H. Hamilton and former U.S. Sen. Richard G. Lugar, the Hamilton Lugar School is committed to prepare global leaders who celebrate differences and seek shared understanding.