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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.

'Peace Corps in Ecuador' with Josh Zwingleberg

Wednesday, May.26th @ 5:30 | Gold Town Theater | [map]

Mr. Zwingleberg has spent an impressive three years in Ecuador. We thank him for sharing stories and photos of his South American adventures with us.

'Linking Environment, Human Rights, and Good Governance: Overcoming the Development Divide' with Kirk Talbot

Wednesday, May.12th @ 5:30 | JACC Gallery Room | [map]

Mr. Talbot is the president and CEO of the World Affairs Councils of America –the national organization of which JWAC is a member. He has a J.D., and an M.S. in Foreign Service, which for decades he has used as a conservationist and advocate, designing and executing strategies to protect biodiversity and community rights to resources, as well as fundraising for these and other efforts. He has also served as an advisor to several foreign governments, and has shepherded knowledge-sharing platforms like radio and ruggedized computers into the lives of millions in Asia and Africa.

Travelogue: A Year With the Peace Corps in Ghana, with Sophia Polasky

Sunday, Apr. 25th @ Noon | Gold Town Theater

Sophia Polasky is a research assistant with the USDA Forest service, and in 2007-2008 was a Peace Corps volunteer in the West African nation of Ghana. During her time in Africa, Ms. Polasky worked as a community organizer and sustainability advocate, learning along the way what those buzz-phrases really mean to people, and to herself. Her thoughtful analysis of her time in the Peace Corps is profoundly eye-opening, and encourages one to analyze one’s own direction in life, for the betterment of all concerned.

'Terrorist Financing: The War Behind the War on Terror' with John Cassara

Wednesday, Apr.21st @ 7PM | UAS Egan Lecture Hall

Mr. Cassara had a 26-year career in the federal government intelligence and law enforcement communities. He is considered an expert in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, with particular expertise in the areas of money laundering in the Middle East and the growing threat of alternative remittance systems and forms of trade-based money laundering and value transfer. He invented the concept of international "Trade Transparency Units," an innovative countermeasure to entrenched forms of trade-based money laundering and terrorist financing. A large part of his career was spent overseas. He is one of the very few to have been both a clandestine operations officer in the U.S. intelligence community and a Special Agent for the Department of Treasury.

'Face to Face: Children of the AIDS Crisis in Africa' with Karen Ande

Tuesday, Apr. 6th @ 7:PM | UAS Egan Lecture Hall

Ms. Ande has been chronicling the AIDS epidemic and its effects on children in sub-Saharan Africa since 2002. Her work has taken her from rural villages to city slums in Kenya and Rwanda, where she photographs people who daily face the challenges of AIDS and its impact on those they know and love. She has raised over $60,000 in donations for AIDS-related projects. In addition, she and her work have been featured in newspapers and magazines, as well as in a 2005 ABC television special about AIDS in Africa on the program "Beyond the Headlines."

'The Crisis in the U.S. Media and the Disappearing Foreign Correspondent' with Barbara Slavin

Wednesday, Mar.24th @ 7:PM | UAS Egan Lecture Hall

Ms. Slavin is Assistant Managing Editor for World and National Security for The Washington Times and the author of a 2007 book on Iran entitled "Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S. and the Twisted Path to Confrontation.” Prior to joining The Times in July 2008, she was senior diplomatic reporter for USA TODAY, responsible for analyzing foreign news and U.S. foreign policy. Beginning in 1996, she covered such key issues as the U.S.-led wars on terrorism and in Iraq, policy toward "rogue" states, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. She accompanied three US Secretaries of State on their official travels, and has lived in Russia, China, Japan, and Eqypt and reported from Iran, Libya, Israel, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Ms. Slavin is a regular commentator on U.S. foreign policy on National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting System, and C-Span. We thank her for taking the time to come to Juneau and speak with us!

'One Year in Afghanistan' with Lia Gladstone

Monday, Feb. 22nd @ 5:30 |The gallery at the JACC

In 2010, Lia Gladstone had just spent the past year as Assistant Professor of English and Drama at American University in Afghanistan. Prof. Gladstone, who received her MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 2005, was formerly Executive Director of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Juneau. She has also worked for the Alaska Legislature, Alaska Public Radio, traveled to Micronesia for an adoption agency (source of her play, "Children of the Far Far Away" -called by one reviewer "Frontline on stage") and worked many jobs in between that qualify as adventure and that fuel her love of playwrighting. Her current foray into playwrighting is an adaptation of an Afghan novel slated for performance in the San Remo Festival in Italy to support an orphanage in Herat, Afghanistan.

WorldQuest 2010!

Friday, Feb. 19th @ 6:30 | Centennial Hall

This is JWAC's single largest fundraiser and is an absolute blast. This year the event's masters of ceremonies were the incomparable Ms. Sharon Gaiptman and the senatorial Mr. Dennis Egan, and the winner was the illustrious Team Légume.

Travelogue: 'Travels in South Africa & Namibia' with Mark Kelley

Tuesday, Feb. 9th @ 5:30 | Gold Town Theater

Mark and his wife, Jan, spent three weeks in southern Africa, starting in Capetown and then traveling across the cape by rail to Johannesburg (Joburg). The journey included a stop in Kruger National Park (which is the size of Massachusetts) to view elephants, hippos, giraffes, rhinos, impalas, etc., and then Namibia's Etosha National Park, and Swakopmund (on Namibia's sand duned Atlantic coast). The narrative focused on how a couple moved across Africa on their own without the aid of a tour package. There were a few photos of the wildlife.

Travelogue: 'Egypt: Sand of the Pharaohs' with Paul Voelckers and Mary Pat Wyatt

Tuesday, Jan. 19th @ 5:30 | Gold Town Theater

Join us for some exciting images and tales from Paul and Mary Pat's recent expedition to Egypt. The telling will focus on touring the Nile, visiting temples in Luxor, Karnak, Aswan, and of course, visiting the Pyramids.

Travelogue: 'Exploring Western Bhutan' with Loren and LaRae Jones.

Tuesday, Jan. 12th @ 5:30 | Gold Town Theater

We explored the Kingdom in the clouds!

'From Hanoi to Havana: The Rocky Road to Reconciliation' with John McAuliff

Wednesday, Jan. 6th @ 5:30 | JACC

John McAuliff is the founder and executive director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, a New York-based NGO. He worked for twenty years to end unilateral embargoes and to foster post-war US understanding with Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. His primary focus now is to achieve the same outcome with Cuba, which he has visited annually for more than a decade. He offers a unique comparative perspective between Cuba and Indochina on the relationship between bilateral political, cultural and economic normalization and internal reform.

Travelogue: '80 Degrees North, Cruising Spitsbergen, Norway' with Elfrida Nord

Tuesday, Dec. 15th @ 5:30 | Gold Town Theater

JWAC Board member Elfrida Nord regaled us with tales and slides of her summer in the Svalbard Archipelago. Ms. Nord is a frequent traveler to Norway, and has a wealth of experience and knowledge that she shared with us.

'Innovating Bureaucracy: Getting Government to Share' with Andrea Baker

Wednesday, Dec. 9th @ 5:30 PM | JACC

Ms. Baker served in the U.S. Army as a Signals Intelligence Analyst and an Arabic Linguist. She is a disabled American Veteran, former Jazz Singer, and music industry promoter. She is the Director of Enterprise 2.0 for Navstar, Inc., where she is a consultant for the Federal Government and private industry. She has supported various agencies throughout her career such as the CIA, DIA, NSA, NOAA and the Pentagon. She helps her customers utilize social media tools as Enterprise 2.0 solutions, and she specializes in user community advocacy.

Sitting Down -JWAC Middle East Forum

November 2nd & 3rd | UAS Egan Library - More Details

JWAC was delighted to bring Juneau this opportunity to explore the seemingly never-ending quest for peace in the Middle East. The speakers list included senior diplomats, directors of international foundations, authors, journalists, researchers and other officials from Syria, Israel, Kuwait, and the United States. For more on this exciting event please click here.

Travelogue with Clayton Hawkes

Tuesday, Oct. 27th @ 5:30 | Gold Town Theater

JWAC Board member Clayton hawkes, having rust returned from travels in Honduras, regailed us with tales and photos from his Central American adventures. Thank you!

'The Future of U.S. - Iranian Relations in the Obama Era' with Dr. William Beeman

Saturday, Oct. 24th @ 7:PM | UAS Egan Lecture Hall

Dr. Beeman provided us with a thorough primer on the religious/political history of Iran, using it as a jumping off point to explain the nation and its people, how they see the world, and how that affects the decision making of its citizens, its powerful, and its government, as well as those in foreign governments -often through a lack of understanding. We thank him for speaking with us!

'Mongolia and its 'Neighbors' Near and Far' with U.S. Ambassador Mark Minton

Thursday, Oct. 15th @ 8:00 | Juneau Arts and Culture Center

Ambassador Minton enlightened us about the foreign policy of a nation that once ruled one of the largest land empires ever created, but which today rests in the shadows of its two neighbors, Russia and China. We thank his for his presentation!

'Israel - Palestine: Beyond the Headlines' with Alison Weir

Tuesday, October 6th @ 5:30 | Juneau Arts and Culture Center

Ms. Weir gave us an insightful look at the current Israel-Palestine crisis that went beyond what one sees reported by major news sources -highlighting the disparity of news coverage and casualty reporting levels. We thank her for coming to Juneau!

The Fall Meeting

Tuesday, Oct. 6th @ 5:00 | Juneau Arts and Culture Center

The Fall Meeting a big event where we reassemble to attend to organizational matters, elect new board members, and set the season down in stone. Click here for minutes.