Free Mini-Conference - Artificial Intelligence: There’s Nothing Artificial About It! Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019, 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM Order Free Tickets

2019 Schedule

The 2019 St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs was a huge success. The 3-1/2 Day event at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg drew thousands of people to over 30 Panel Discussions. Speakers and panelists included distinguished diplomats, military, media, and academic experts discussing critical international issues of the day. Stay tuned for details about the 2020 St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs scheduled for February 18 - 21, 2020.

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Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Topic
Speakers
Time
Location
Keynote Address: "After the Trade War, a Real War with China?"
Chas Freeman
5:00 PM
The Palladium Theater
Proclamation by St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman. Keynote speaker introduced by Amb. Douglas McElhaney.
Food Trucks
6:30 PM
The Palladium Theater
A variety of food trucks will lead the festivities on Tuesday night after the keynote address.
Jazz Concert (Tickets Required!)
8:00 PM
The Palladium Theater
Arbors Records recording artists Nicki Parrott, Rossano Sportiello, and Ed Metz return to the Palladium following a sold-out show last February. Rossano on piano, Parrott on bass and vocals, and Metz on drums. Special musical guest James Suggs joins them on trumpet.
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Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Topic
Moderators
Speakers
Time
Location
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Allyson Watson; Diane Seligsohn
8:45 AM
USFSP Student Center
Trade wars: have we reached a truce?
Kevin McGuire
Scott Brown; Susan Harper; Reid Lohr; Frank Benyon
9:00 AM
USFSP Student Center
St Petersburg: international dining destination
Robin Sussingham
Laura Reiley; Noel Cruz; Emmanuel Roux
9:00 AM
USFSP Student Center
China: let's rule the world together.
Marguerite Moritz
Scott Brown; William Dowell; Ann Morrison; Allison Quatrini
10:10 AM
USFSP Student Center
AIDs in the world: waiting for a cure.
Diane Seligsohn
Katrina Kubicek; Tiffany Chenneville; Linda Whiteford; Joannie Bewa
10:10 AM
USFSP Student Center
How do countries less wealthy than ours provide a social safety net?
Kevin McGuire
Linda Lucas; Allison Quatrini; Pragati Ghimire
11:20 AM
USFSP Student Center
Violence against women
Presented with the generous support of Debbie Nye Sembler
Elizabeth Scott Osborne
Greg Kehoe; Linda Weil-Curiel; Lariana Forsythe; Louise Buhrmann
11:20 AM
USFSP Student Center
Saudi Arabia: is the Kingdom in our corner?
Prudence Bushnell
William Jordan; Bruce Mabley; William Dowell; Michael Burch
2:00 PM
USFSP Student Center
Do like the Canadians; Legalize pot.
Iqbal Paroo
Amy Ronshausen; Adriaan Buma; Andrew Hano; Louise Burhmann
2:00 PM
USFSP Student Center
Let's talk Canadian exceptionalism.
Robert Sattin
Bruce Mabley; Susan Harper; Raymond Arsenault
3:10 PM
USFSP Student Center
Civil disobedience: It worked for Gandhi and King, so how about today?
George Hamilton
Douglas Herbert; Eric Lynn; Prudence Bushnell; Manu Samnotra
3:10 PM
USFSP Student Center
Public Art: what purpose does it serve?
Jim Rogers
Michele Kidwell Gilbert; Judy Kreith; Margaret Miller; Sarah Howard
3:20 PM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Auditorium
Women in Global Business:Preceded by refreshments and networking from 5:00-6:00 pm.
Presented in collaboration with the Kate Tiedemann College of Business Women and Leadership Initiative.
Karen Dee
Ronice Barlow; Janel Brown; Kavita May; Angie McCourt
6:00 PM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Auditorium

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Topic
Moderators
Speakers
Time
Location
To the UK: rethink Brexit!  
John Maguire
Frank Benyon; Douglas Herbert; William Jordan; Ann Morrison
9:00 AM
USFSP Student Center
If Trump is a nationalist, what are we?
Chuck Campbell
Donald Morrison; Dennis Jett; Eric Lynn; George Hamilton
9:00 AM
USFSP Student Center
Sub-Saharan Africa Steps into the Limelight.
Iqbal Paroo
Michael Rannenberger; Robert Whitehead; Nabintu Mijambere; Elizabeth Scott Osborne
10:10 AM
USFSP Student Center
Slash the State Department. Diplomacy is so much palaver.
George Hamilton
Robert Blake; Ed Marks; Prudence Bushnell; Orlando Acosta
10:10 AM
USFSP Student Center
Films from the Youth Documentary Academy. Screening of short films by immigrant U.S. high school students navigating their identities in America.
Marguerite Moritz
Yolande Morrison; Tom Shepard; Kathy Stults
11:15 AM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Auditorium
Climate change is real. What do we do now?
Mark Hafen
Ellen Prager; Don Chambers; Douglas Herbert
11:20 AM
USFSP Student Center
Florida in the world's imagination: From conquistadors to Disney.
Robin Truesdale
Michael Francis; Gary Mormino; Laura Reiley; Jim Verhulst
11:20 AM
USFSP Student Center
Peace Corps student recruiting luncheon. Students only. Space is limited.
Lindsay Wulff
12:30 PM
USFSP Student Center
Russia and Europe: friend and enemy, in that order?
Golfo Alexopoulos
Paul Kubicek; Douglas Herbert; Jamison Firestone
2:00 PM
USFSP Student Center
Why is everyone a wounded minority; or, what happened to e pluribus unum?
Monique Quesada
John Zogby; Linda Lucas; Ann Morrison; Dorothy Davis
2:00 PM
USFSP Student Center
"Winning the war and losing the peace - why ISIS won't be defeated." A discussion of how war has evolved and why the response of the international community and the United States may lead to a military victory, but will not end the threat.
Dennis Jett
2:00 PM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Auditorium
Why is America relinquishing its leadership role in the world?
Robert Deutsch
Donald Morrison; Bruce Mabley; Dennis Jett; Orlando Acosta
3:10 PM
USFSP Student Center
The gig economy: the new normal.
Kevin McGuire
Linda Lucas; Ann Morrison; Reid Lohr
3:10 PM
USFSP Student Center
Dirty Wars and Polished Silver. Linda Schuster, a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, discusses her memoir about her journey from covering wars to the diplomat reception circuit.
Linda Schuster
3:10 PM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Auditorium
Film: Cuba's Forgotten Jewels: A Haven in Havana. Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe recreate a flourishing diamond-polishing trade in Cuba. Followed by Q&A with film makers Judy Kreith and Robin Truesdale.
Presented in collaboration with the Florida Holocaust Museum and generously supported by the Jack Chester Foundation.
Marguerite Moritz
Judy Kreith; Robin Truesdale
4:15 PM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Auditorium

Friday, February 15, 2019

Topic
Moderators
Speakers
Time
Location
A Summit with Kim Jong Un and a broken agreement with Teheran: is this progress?
John Maguire
Douglas Herbert; Robert Blake; Robert Whitehead; Prudence Bushnell
9:00 AM
USFSP Student Center
The debate over vaccinations.
Iqbal Paroo
Adriaan Buma; Katrina Kubicek; Jill Roberts
9:00 AM
USFSP Student Center
Tales from the Foreign Service. Wayne Griffith, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, recounts adventures from his 30-year career in the State Department. Teaser: You'll hear a hair-raising account of a mission to North Korea to negotiate the release of an American Pyongyang was holding as a spy.
Wayne Griffith
9:00 AM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Auditorium
When facts and beliefs collide: let's talk about it.
John Maguire
Richard Briffault; William Dowell; Donald Morrison; Ellen Prager
10:10 AM
USFSP Student Center
Give me your tired and your poor; should we take in people on the basis of their poverty?
Iqbal Paroo
Gary Mormino; Ann Morrison; Felicien Kakure
10:10 AM
USFSP Student Center
Jamison Firestone, New York lawyer and human rights and anti-corruption crusader. The Magnitsky Affair: How the killing of a lawyer in Moscow led the Kremlin to send an emissary to Trump Tower offering a deal, and what that meeting reveals about the fears and aims of the Putin Regime.
Jamison Firestone
10:10 AM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Auditorium
Dictators are good allies; they stifle extremism and keep the peace
Robert Sattin
Greg Kehoe; Allison Quatrini; Jamison Firestone; Orlando Acosta
11:20 AM
USFSP Student Center
When whites are in the minority, how will they be treated?
Raymond Arsenault
Donald Morrison; John Zogby; Felicien Kakure; Linda Whiteford
11:20 AM
USFSP Student Center
Film: America's Diplomats. From Ben Franklin to Benghazi, American diplomats have been on the front line of U.S. foreign policy. Learn about the successes and sacrifices made by members of the U.S. diplomatic corps. Presented by Ambassador Ed Marks.
Ed Marks
11:20 AM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Classroom 123
U.S. State Department student recruiting luncheon, presented by Monique Quesada. Students only, please. Space is limited.
Monique Quesada
12:30 PM
USFSP Student Center
Western democracy: when electors choose the grossly incompetent.
Felipe Mantilla
Paul Kubicek; Richard Briffault; William Jordan; Eric Lynn
2:00 PM
USFSP Student Center
The United Nations is a relic of a bygone era.
Dorothy Davis
Clint Elbow; Bruce Mabley; Allan Jury; Elizabeth Scott Osborne
2:00 PM
USFSP Student Center
Petting that cute cub hurts big cats everywhere. An audiovisual presentation
Marcia Cohen
Howard Baskin
2:00 PM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Classroom 123
The news and just the news; why the media feels moved to inject opinion.
Donald Morrison
William Dowell; Douglas Herbert; Marguerite Moritz; Jim Verhulst
3:10 PM
USFSP Student Center
Take Venezuela: Countries on the Verge of Collapse
Felipe Mantilla
Bruce Mabley; John Maguire; Fabrizio Gugliuzza
3:10 PM
USFSP Student Center
New science vs. anti-science. Veteran diplomat Judith Heimann talks about her book, Using Nature's Shuttle: the making of the first genetically modified plants and the people who did it. Hear about these personal acquaintances of the author and how their discoveries were opposed by a lobby of anti-science doubters.
Judith Heimann
3:10 PM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Classroom 123
Film: Barrow: Freedom Fighter. The inspiring story of Errol Barrow, leader of Barbados' independence from Great Britain and the country's first prime minister. Followed by Q&A with the film's director of photography, Curtis Graham. Introduced by Dorothy Davis
Dorothy Davis
Curtis Graham
4:15 PM
Kate Tiedemann College of Business Classroom 123