Lampert Institute News and Updates

In his more than four decades covering national security for the New York Times, David Sanger says he can’t recall when there was so much turmoil abroad. Meanwhile, the United States faces two cold wars — with Russia and China.

New York Times Op-ed columnist David Brooks recently joined Lampert Institute Director Illan Nam for a conversation about his book How to Know a Person, and offered his advice on the best ways to engage with others and encourage them to share their life stories. The Feb. 20 event was the second in the Lampert Institute of Civic and Global Affairs’ spring lecture series and touched on topics such as empathy and how to approach difficult conversations before Brooks took questions from the audience.

Global business columnist Rana Foroohar gave her insights on the political and economic landscape during the first event of the Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs’ spring lecture series on Feb. 6.

Economic expert David Autor believes in a hopeful future for workers in the era of artificial intelligence, despite widespread fears of how the new technology will change the labor market. Autor, Ford Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, outlined how AI is already being used to enhance expertise in many fields, and how that could change how we view work in the years to come during a lecture and discussion sponsored by the Lampert Institute on Nov. 16, 2023.

'Tyranny of the Minority' author Daniel Ziblatt believes American democracy is in trouble, but there are steps that can be taken to get the country back on track. Ziblatt, who is also the Eaton Professor of Government at Harvard University, shared his perspective on the nation’s democratic decline at a lecture sponsored by the Lampert Institute of Civic and Global Affairs on Oct. 17.

The threat of government shutdown loomed during the first of the fall 2023 lecture series sponsored by the Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs, as two experts weighed in on how ongoing federal budget issues impact national security interests. The Sept. 19 lecture, “Economic Security IS National Security: How the Deficit and Debt Affect American Power,” featured Michael O’Hanlon, director of Research and Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution and Maya MacGuineas, president of the bi-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Despite the dire warnings that artificial intelligence will create major disruptions to the economy, higher education, and society as a whole, AI expert Avi Goldfarb remains optimistic about its potential. Goldfarb, Rotman Chair in artificial intelligence and healthcare at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, acknowledges the potential changes coming due to AI are of particular importance to today’s college students, who will soon be joining the workforce.

Michael O’Hanlon, director of research and foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, a non-resident scholar at the Lampert Institute, and a member of the Defense Policy Board at the U.S. State Department, presented his lecture, “Destined for War: the US and China" on April 11 in Persson Auditorium.

Colgate University’s Lampert Institute welcomed Hal Singer, managing director for EconOne Research and senior fellow at George Washington Institute of Public Policy, on Feb. 17.