CCNY Hosts Inaugural Anne and Bernard Spitzer Lecture April 15

Walter Russell Mead’s address, ‘America’s ‘Asia Pivot’ in a Time of Upheaval,’ will examine North Korea’s belligerence and regional reactions

Preeminent public intellectual Walter Russell Mead will deliver the inaugural Anne and Bernard Spitzer Lecture at The City College of New York 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 15. Mr. Mead, who is author of the blog Via Meadia on The American Interest website, will address the state of America’s relationship with Asia, given recent growing turmoil in the region.

The talk, titled “America’s ‘Asia Pivot’ at a Time of Upheaval: The Pacific Isn’t Looking Pacifistic” will be delivered in the Spitzer Atrium Gallery of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at 141 Convent Ave. It will cover, among other topics, North Korea’s brazen belligerence toward South Korea and the United States and the regional reactions, including China’s support for strict new sanctions and Japan’s toughening foreign policies.

The event is presented by: Professor Rajan Menon, the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair in International Relations; the CCNY Department of Political Science, and the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service. The Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair is supported by an endowment established in 2005 by Bernard Spitzer, a philanthropist, real estate developer and CCNY alumnus, and his wife, Anne.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

About Walter Russell Mead 

Walter Russell Mead is the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities at Bard College. Prior to joining Bard's faculty, Mead was the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a founding board member of the New America Foundation, one of the country's preeminent think tanks.  

Mr. Mead's 2001 book, “Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World,” was widely hailed as an important study that would change the way Americans and others think about U.S. foreign policy. Among several honors and prizes “Special Providence” received was the Lionel Gelber Prize in 2002 for the best book in English on international relations.

His most recent book, “God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World,” is a major study of 400 years of conflict between Anglophone powers and rivals ranging from absolute monarchies through communist and fascist enemies in the 20th century to al-Qaeda.

Mr. Mead writes regularly on global and international affairs for several prominent newspapers and magazines, including “Harper's,” “The New York Times,” “The Wall Street Journal,” “The New Yorker” and “The Atlantic.” He is also a contributing editor and writer on international affairs for the “Los Angeles Times,” and he appears frequently on national and international radio and television programs.