Best of GW Faculty Lectures

Saturday, October 19, 11am - 1pm | Various Locations

Immerse yourself in the GW classroom experience at our Best of GW lectures. Join our world-renowned faculty for our most engaging, student-favorite lectures. We've got a fantastic lineup of lectures planned - everyone is welcome to attend any lecture, regardless of school.

11am Lectures

• The Real Risks of Generative AI (GW Business)

  • Featuring Professor Patrick Hall, Decision Sciences, GW School of Business
  • Saturday, October 19, 11am | Kendall Auditorium, Room 151, Duquès Hall, 2201 G Street, NW
  • Like all technologies before it, generative AI gives rise to risks and opportunities. Though AI boosters put forward a narrative of superintelligence as an existential risk for humankind, scientific literature, empirical data, and commonsense have highlighted other more realistic risks—from workforce displacement to intellectual property loss to threats to our democratic institutions. Join this talk for a tour of the empirical data around generative AI failures and learn how to critically examine outlandish claims about generative AI's risks and rewards.

• The Russo-Ukrainian War: What Social Sciences Can Tell Us (Elliott School)

  • Featuring Professor Marlene Laruelle, Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science
  • Saturday, October 19, 11am | Harry Harding Auditorium, Room 213, 1957 E Street, NW
  • Professor Marlene Laruelle will discuss the current evolution of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the challenges for a prospective ceasefire, and how social sciences help us understand societal and political transformations both in Ukraine and in Russia. Prof. Laruelle will release her new book Ideology and Meaning-Making under the Putin Regime (Stanford), in January 2025.

• Shifting Landscapes and Peoples: Climate, Displacement, Migration, and Health (GWSPH)

  • Featuring Professor Timothy Holtz, M.D., M.P.H., Redstone Chair and Director, Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness
  • Saturday, October 19, 11am | Room 100, 950 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
  • This lecture will explore the critical intersections of climate change, forced displacement, and the health of migrant populations. Dr. Tim Holtz, a global health expert and the new director of the Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness at GWSPH, brings decades of experience in international public health, including extensive work with displaced populations, infectious disease control, and humanitarian response. He will highlight prevention strategies to mitigate the worldwide health risks displaced communities face.

• The History of Corcoran Hall (Columbian College)

  • Featuring Professor Alexander van der Horst, Associate Professor of Physics and Department Chair
  • Saturday, October 19, 11am | Corcoran Hall, 725 21st Street, NW
  • Corcoran Hall was the first building that was built for GW on the Foggy Bottom campus and celebrates its 100 year anniversary this October. George Gamow and Edward Teller, of Big Bang and Manhattan Project fame, were physics professors here, and their legacy is continued to this day. This lecture will provide a historical perspective on this building and its inhabitants, and discuss some of the current research done in nuclear physics, astrophysics, and physics of living systems. Besides showing the integral part that students can play in state-of-the-art research, the lecture will also highlight the modern pedagogy and curricular innovations that prepare students for being successful in many different 21st century careers.

• Authoritarian Elections (Columbian College)

  • Featuring Professor David Szakonyi, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
  • Saturday, October 19, 11am | Corcoran Hall, 725 21st Street, NW
  • Why do dictators bother to hold elections? This lecture will unpack the curious puzzle of elections in authoritarian regimes, delving into the reasons why autocratic leaders allow, and sometimes encourage, elections where the results are (most of the time) preordained. We'll explore the ways elections both help and hurt these regimes, while also examining some of the most fraudulent methods used, such as voter suppression, ballot stuffing, and manipulating electoral laws and institutions. Finally, we'll walk through the broader consequences of rampant electoral fraud, including its impact on political stability, public trust, and relations with Western democracies. 
     

11:30am Lectures

• 10 Steps to be a Better Writer (College of Professional Studies)

  • Featuring Lesley Lopez, Program Director, Public Relations and Communications
  • Saturday, October 19, 11:30am | Room 311, University Student Center, 800 21st Street, NW
  • Whether you have already written a book or are thinking of exploring better ways to communicate, each of us has the ability to improve and expand our writing skills. In this master lecture, Professor Lesley Lopez, director for the Public Relations and Communications graduate program in the College of Professional Studies, will give ten tips that help attendees level-up their persuasive writing skills and take the stress out of looking at a blank screen.

• Waiting for Growth: The Political Economy of China’s Financial Statecraft in the Americas (Elliott School)

  • Featuring Professor Stephen Kaplan, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
  • Saturday, October 19, 11:30am | Harry Harding Auditorium, Room 213, 1957 E Street, NW
  • Over the last half-decade, China has become the world’s largest official creditor amid mounting international debt difficulties. What is the relationship between China’s state-led finance and growing debt distress? Professor Kaplan will discuss the question of how Chinese lenders react to developing nation's ongoing struggles with debt and dependency, while offering new insights about globalization, including the costs and benefits of state versus market approaches to development.

12pm Lectures

• International Security: What has gender got to do with it? (Elliott School)

  • Featuring Professor Michael E. Brown, Professor of International Affairs and Political Science; Interim Director of the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies
  • Saturday, October 19, 12pm | Harry Harding Auditorium, Room 213, 1957 E Street, NW
  • Security and gender have been two of the most central human preoccupations since the dawn of time. Yet, remarkably, the connections between these two concerns received relatively little attention—from scholars or policymakers—until the latter years of the 20th  century. What are the connections between gender issues and security problems? Professor Brown argues that these connections are powerful and complex, and they run both ways: Gender dynamics affect security, and security problems affect gender issues. He also claims that these connections must be recognized and taken seriously by all those who seek to create a more stable and peaceful world.

   

12:30pm Lectures

Please check back for more information, as additional lectures will be posted throughout the summer.