Message from the Executive Director
One thing that has come into stark relief this fall is that there are disparate perspectives on the issues confronting our nation and our world, including perceptions of threats to democracy, the environment, immigration, and shifting international alliances. At the Weatherhead Center, we pride ourselves on presenting pluralistic and innovative approaches to these issues. We do so by supporting cross-disciplinary collaborations through our six research clusters; welcoming visiting affiliates from all over the world and from different ideological backgrounds; and striving to organize events and activities that are balanced in their collective viewpoints.
On October 24, we hosted Tjada D’Oyen McKenna ’96 MBA ’02, CEO of Mercy Corps, who delivered the Jodidi Lecture on the topic of “Cope, Adapt, Thrive: Ensuring Our Shared Future on a Hot and Hostile Planet.” She spoke about how climate change and conflict are inextricably linked, and how pervasive both are in our increasingly fractured world. She also shared some stories of life in the field at Mercy Corps, engaged in a conversation with moderator Melani Cammett, and answered questions from the audience. Read an excerpt from her Jodidi Lecture, one of our two features this issue.
Our other feature, Dispatches, recounts the summer travel experiences of four of our undergraduates who traveled to Jamaica, Georgia, India, and Rwanda to research their thesis projects. We enjoy hearing their tales of meeting new people, conducting interviews, and asking big questions, and we hope you do, too. Our two dozen Undergraduate Associates will participate in our annual thesis conference in early February, where they share their projects with our Weatherhead community.
Our two-part Weatherhead Forum series focused this fall on the US presidential elections. On October 9, we heard from Timothy Colton, Ziad Daoud, Diana Durán Nuñez, and Rana Mitter about the potential geopolitical impact of a Trump or Harris administration, particularly in regards to Russia, the Middle East, Latin America, and China. On November 6, panelists Daniel Ziblatt, Pippa Norris, and Joshua Kertzer all shared their early thoughts on what comes next in a Trump administration, touching on major themes of democracy resilience and foreign policy concerns. Several of us gathered to watch the November Forum in our conference room in the Knafel building and it was a wonderful way to ground ourselves in our educational mission and engage intellectually rather than emotionally on the momentous results. These two events, along with all our past Forum events, are available on our YouTube channel.
In an effort to engage with our local diplomatic corps, on November 20—together with the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies—we cohosted a panel featuring four European consuls general on the topic of the future of transatlantic relations and NATO at 75. The overarching takeaway of the discussions was that despite the uncertainty involved in transatlantic relations at this time, there has also been a high degree of resilience between the US and the European Union in the past.
Here at the Weatherhead Center we'll continue to educate and amplify knowledge gained through the good work that we support. We have issued a call for proposals for new three-year interdisciplinary research clusters to run from fall 2025 through spring 2028, and we look forward to engaging our community and facilitating research that aims to advance our society.
I hope you all have had a productive fall semester, and can enjoy a restorative break over the winter before we resume operations in the next calendar year.
Erin Goodman
Executive Director
