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This is a partial archive of past JWAC events. In over a decade of service to the community, we've put on hundreds of events that have brought scores of speakers before the community.

'The Gathering Crisis of Food Security in Africa: Its Nature, Geography and Possible Solutions' with Roland Bunch

Wednesday | August 26th | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Roland Bunch has worked as a consultant in agricultural development for over 40 NGOs and governments in 50 nations, including Cornell University, the Ford Foundation, several of the Oxfams, Save the Children, CARE, and the governments of Guatemala, Honduras, Swaziland, Laos and Vietnam. In 1982, he authored the second of his four books, Two Ears of Corn, A Guide to People-Centered Agricultural Improvement, which was eventually published in ten languages and became one of the all-time best-sellers in agricultural development.

He has also, over the last 30 years, been one of several worldwide leaders (along with a half-dozen Brazilians) in developing green manure/cover crop technologies and spreading them around the world. Roland has been nominated for the Global 500 Award, the US President’s End the Hunger Prize, and the World Food Prize.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTn5AUPcONk

'Arresting Climate Change: Transforming the World's Largest Industry' with Bill Leighty

Tuesday | May 12 | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

"Climate Change" is our vernacular for five imminent dangers caused by humanity's unrestrained combustion of fossil fuels: Rapid climate change (warming), ocean acidification, sea level rise, species extinctions, and violent human conflict. Arresting climate change will require nothing less than transforming the world's largest industry: Energy - from 85% fossil to 100% renewable energy resources, as quickly as we prudently and profitably can. We can do this, but we need to hurry.

Bill was (and still is) a high school science fair nerd, holds two degrees from Stanford including a BS in Electrical engineering, serves on multiple boards, and is a principal with Juneau's Alaska Applied Sciences, Inc. which is a renewable energy R&D and science education company.

360 north video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTn5AUPcONk

'Finding a Future in the Middle East' with Paul Barker

Monday | May 4 | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Paul Barker was most recently Country Director for Save the Children International in Afghanistan. He will share insights about opportunities for improving relations between Iran and the U.S. in the context of popular feelings towards America by most Iranians, negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program, the threats and opportunities posed by ISIS, and U.S. desire to end its military engagement in Afghanistan.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aodbqDQR54

'Cyberwar and Warfare' with Lawrence Husick

Wednesday | April 29 | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Lawrence Husick is Co-Chairman of the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Center for the Study of Terrorism where he concentrates on the study of terrorist tactics and counterterrorism strategies, with a particular focus on technology leverage as a defining characteristic of the modern terrorist. He is also co-director of the FPRI Wachman Center's Program on Teaching Innovation and a faculty member at the Whiting Graduate School of Engineering, and the Zanvyl-Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Graduate Biotechnology Program of the Johns Hopkins University.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh3KZNDO3so

'Greenland and the Changing Arctic: Climate, Culture, and Self-Determination' with Richard Caulfield

Wednesday | April 15 | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Dr. Rick Caulfield, UAS Provost, will share insights about Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat), which is experiencing dramatic change as a 21st century Inuit homeland. Part of the Danish realm, Greenland is engaged with the global economy through fishing, mining, and tourism while struggling to hold on to indigenous traditions. Climate change has long had a profound effect on those traditions, requiring successful Greenlandic societies to be highly flexible. Greenlanders today are reassessing their traditional ways of life, their identity, and their role in the global economy. This talk explores these changes, which have many parallels with Arctic Alaska--focusing on issues of climate, economy, culture and language, and indigenous self-determination.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnVgvk3IYyo

'Comedy, Economics & Carbon Tax!' with Yoram Bauman

Wednesday, April 1st | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Yoram Bauman Ph.D, "the world’s first and only stand-up economist," performs regularly at colleges and corporate events, sharing the stage with everyone from Robin Williams to Paul Krugman. He has appeared in TIME Magazine and on PBS and NPR, and is the co-author of the Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change and the two-volume Cartoon Introduction to Economics. Dr. bauman is the founder of Non-Profit Comedy, a series of benefit shows that has raised nearly $100,000 for local non-profits in his Seattle home. His goals in life are to spread joy to the world through economics comedy; to reform economics education; and to implement carbon pricing. Learn more about his comedy and follow his carbon control exploits here.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ce5FqmQgbk

'Revisiting Human Rights in Guatemala in the aftermath of the civil war' with Maria Offer

Monday, March 9th |5:00 | KTOO Studios

Maria Offer is a reading and curriculum specialist and education consultant who does volunteer literacy work with Indigenous communities in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru (as well as developing culturally responsive programs for Alaskan Native students). Ms. Offer did volunteer work in Guatemala during the 1980s when that country's civil war was taking place, and is currently working to set up a program to support primary and secondary education for Indigenous children in a rural area of Guatemala, which she will tell us about. She discussed the genocide trial of Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt, as well as human trafficking, which is a serious problem in Guatemala.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RCpxk49-PM

'The Curse of the Blue Nun and the Miracle of Two Buck Chuck' with Mike Veseth

Wednesday | Feb 11th | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Wine Economist Mike Veseth will talk about the wine wars that have redrawn the world wine map and changed what’s in your wine glass, too. Wall Street Journal wine columnist Lettie Teague writes that “Of all the wine blogs in the wide, wide blogosphere, one that I look forward to reading the most is Mike Veseth’s Wine Economist. There’s nothing else quite like it—a blend of economic insight … and often irreverent winespeak.” Mike Veseth is editor of The Wine Economist blog and author of more than a dozen books including best-selling Wine Wars (2011) and Extreme Wine (2013). His next book is due in August 2015. It’s called Money, Taste & Wine: It’s Complicated!

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbOohob-s10

WorldQuest 2015!

Friday, Feb 6th | 6:00 | Centennial Hall

WorldQuest is JWAC's largest fundraiser, featuring an international buffet, no-host bar, silent auctions, and our delightfully amusing trivia contest. Thank you all for coming and braving the snow and fire alarms! (And the shapes of Russian ''states.'')

Winners of the 11th annual WorldQuest were 4-time champions Team Legume.

Travelogue: 'Historic Reflections' with Elfrida Nord

Tuesday | Feb 3rd | 5:00 | The Gold Town Nickelodeon Gold Town Nickelodeon

JWAC superstar Elfrida Nord showed pictures taken on a 12 day Mediterranean cruise featuring the history of Ephesus, Turkey, the Island of Santorini and six other ancient cities. Pictures focused on sites from 3000 BCE to 1000 ACE.She cruised from Athens, Greece to Barcelona, Spain on Oceanic Cruise Lines.

'Faith-based Diplomacy: Bridging the Religious Divide' with Douglas Johnston

Wednesday | Jan 21st | ! 4:45 !| KTOO Studios

Douglas M. Johnston is president and founder of the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy. A distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Dr. Johnston holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University and has served in senior positions in both the public and private sectors. Among his government assignments, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy; Director of Policy Planning and Management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and planning officer with the President’s Office of Emergency Preparedness. He was the founding director of Harvard's Executive Program in National and International Security. Dr. Johnston is a Captain in the Naval Reserve and, at the age of 27, was the youngest officer in the navy to qualify for command of a nuclear submarine.

Dr. Johnston's hands-on experience in the political/military arena coupled with his work in preventive diplomacy, has guided the work of ICRD since its inception. In 2007, he received the Founding Spirit Award from The Washington Times at its 25th anniversary celebration and in 2008 was identified in a leading Christian journal as "The Father of Faith-based Diplomacy."

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6DAbqIPZlE

'Hong Kong - Where China and Global Advantages Converge' with Ms. Subrina Chow

Thursday | Dec 11th | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Ms. Subrina Chow, Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, shared her insights into the fast changing economic landscape of the greater China region. "Hong Kong is a unique part of China where global business goes to grow. Being a separate member of the World Trade Organization and a separate customs territory, Hong Kong was in its own right the world's 8th largest trading entity in 2013, and enjoys incomparable advantages under a free trade agreement with Mainland China. As Chinese enterprises and investors venture abroad, Hong Kong has also served as a primary gateway for investments going out of China." As the center of the global economy pivots towards Asia, Ms. Chow explained how Hong Kong consolidates and strengthens its position as the region's international financial, trade and logistics hub.

360 north video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku9-Cd8Oc-g

Travelogue: 'Spain - Urbano' with John Roxburgh

Tuesday | Dec 9th | 5:00 | Gold Town Nickelodeon

Travel enthusiast John Roxburgh visited Spain for the first time this past February. John showed photos from his eight-day trip, focussing on the art, architecture and ambiance of Spain's three largest cities.

'Shared Waters: Conflict, Cooperation andTransformation' with Dr. Aaron Wolf

Wednesday | Dec 3rd | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Dr. Wolf is a professor of geography in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at OSU. He has acted as consultant to the US Department of State, the US Agency for International Development, and the World Bank, and several governments on various aspects of international water resources and dispute resolution. He has been involved in developing the strategies for resolving water aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He is a trained mediator/facilitator, and directs the Program in Water Conflict Management and Transformation. He developed and coordinates the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database, which includes a computer compilation of 400 water-related treaties, negotiating notes and background material on fourteen case-studies of conflict resolution, news files on cases of acute water-related conflict, and assessments of indigenous/traditional methods of water conflict resolution.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV0D0Znw63M

'Are Dictators Getting Smarter? The Battle between Dictatorship & Democracy' with Will Dobson

Wednesday | November 12th | 5:00| KTOO Studios

Will Dobson is Slate's politics and foreign affairs editor and the author of The Dictator's Learning Curve: Inside the Global Battle for Democracy.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ePlTGNofFI

'Will People in Alaska and the South Pacific be Forced to Relocate? -The Human Rights Implications of Climate Change and Population Displacement' with Robin Bronen

Wednesday | Nov 5 | 5:00| KTOO Studios

Robin Bronen is a senior research scientist at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She explored with us ways in which climate change is affecting the places where people live, and the emergence of climate refugees.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4p_a6ZDwJo

Fall Forum: 'Mexico and the United States: Do Fences Make Good Neighbors?'

Thurs, Fri, Sat | October 23-26th | UAS Egan Lecture Hall

Forum began October 23rd, 2014. Click here for full details on the program, times, and speakers.

'Will China Rule The World?' with Dr. Ronald Tammen

Wednesday | October 1st | 5:00| KTOO Studios

Ron Tammen is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government. He specializes in world politics, with particular reference to power relationships among the great powers, present and future. His research currently centers on the emergence of China and then India as potentially dominant nations and the challenge this presents to US foreign and national security policy. Dr. Tammen is the lead author of Power Transitions: Strategies for the 21st Century (Chatham House, 2000) and has published or edited two other books dealing with national security issues. In previous positions he served as Associate Dean and Chair of the Department of National Strategy at the National War College; Chief of Staff to Senator William Proxmire; staff consultant to Senator Mark O. Hatfield; and managing partner of a public relations firm.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdTGQaXKlqQ

'Syria: From Struggle For Freedom To Human Crisis' with Dr. Radwan Ziadeh

Wednesday | September 24th | 5:00| KTOO Studios

Dr. Ziadeh is the founder and director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies in Syria and co-founder and executive director of the Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C.. He is the managing editor of the Transitional Justice in the Arab World Project. He is also a member of the Syrian National Preparatory committee for Transitional Justice. Since the Syrian uprising started in 2011, he has been involved in documenting the ongoing human rights violations there, including twice testifying at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. He was also involved in the Syrian political opposition. He talked about how the present situation came to be, and where things are headed.

360 North video: http://youtu.be/owSmEJvOA4c

'Unrest in Southeast Asia: A Thai Activist's Perspective' with Sulak Sivaraksa

Wednesday | September 3rd | 5:00 | KTOO Studios

Sulak Sivaraksa is the founder of a number of social, humanitarian, ecological and spiritual movements and organizations in Thailand. He is an advocate for social and political change in his native country as well as on a global scale. Sivaraksa has written several influential books that have inspired thousands of people to work towards social justice and environmental sustainability. During Thailand's military coup of 1976, he was forced into exile for two years. At this time he toured Canada, the US and Europe to lecture to academic audiences. Because of the tragedy of the coup, Sivaraksa's commitment to peace was strengthened. Since then he has been championing nonviolence in war torn and repressed countries like Sri Lanka. His devotion to peace and nonviolence is demonstrated by his leadership and membership in international peace organizations like the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Peace Brigade International, and Gandhi Peace Foundation. In 2007, he spoke out against proposals to declare Buddhism Thailand's 'national religion' in the new constitution, arguing that to do so would exacerbate the existing conflict in southern Thailand. He talked to us about social and political turmoil in SE Asia, particularly recent events in Thailand.

360 North video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkOPd1PGwxo