# Spring 2018, Volume 32 Number 2 ## expand\_more ![Image of Centerpiece Spring 2018 cover](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/wcfia/files/ctrpiece_s18-fullcover-300px.gif?itok=bQXSmfpF) The spring 2018 issue of *Centerpiece* highlights the Center's recent activities, including updates on [student programs](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/prog_student "Student Programs") and the [SCANCOR-Weatherhead Partnership](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/prog_scancor "SCANCOR-Weatherhead Partnership"). In the [Message from the Director](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/director "Message from the Director "), Michèle Lamont outlines some of the semester's highlights, from several new research clusters to welcoming a new cohort of Weatherhead Scholars. For our first feature, we provide an edited transcript from the March 2018 Jodidi Lecture titled "[Insidious Threats to Academic Freedom in the US and Abroad](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/transcript_jodidi2018 "Insidious Threats to Academic Freedom in the US and Abroad")," delivered by advisory committee members Michael Ignatieff and Craig Calhoun. In the second feature, “[In Conversation with Joshua D. Kertzer](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/feature_kertzer "In Conversation with Joshua D. Kertzer"),” we talk to Kertzer about his passion for political psychology and the need for his new research cluster on international security issues—not to mention how 'resolve' has helped him personally and professionally. And finally, we pay tribute to the loss of three affiliates of the Center—Gene Sharp, Mary Steedly, and Calestous Juma—in our [In Memoriam](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/in_memoriam "In Memoriam") piece. **Download**: [Spring 2018, Volume 32 Number 2](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/wcfia/files/ctrpiece_s18-lowres.pdf "Centerpiece Spring 2018, Volume 32 Number 2") \[ PDF: 757 KB \] ### [Message from the Director](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/director "Message from the Director ") *by Michèle Lamont* As we close out another semester, I would like to share a few of our accomplishments from the past few months. Our executive committee just approved the creation of two new Weatherhead Research Clusters: Religion in Public Life in Africa will be co-chaired by... ### [In Conversation with Joshua D. Kertzer](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/feature_kertzer "In Conversation with Joshua D. Kertzer") *by Michelle Nicholasen* Assistant Professor of Government Joshua D. Kertzer studies what might be called the gray matter of international security—what lies behind the decisions of leaders, and the foreign policy attitudes of the public. His work takes place at the intersection of psychology and international relations, and it endeavors to go beyond obvious motivations to reveal the human dispositions that direct political behavior... ### ["Insidious Threats to Academic Freedom in the US and Abroad"](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/transcript_jodidi2018 "Insidious Threats to Academic Freedom in the US and Abroad") *The Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Lecture delivered by Michael Ignatieff and Craig Calhoun* In the division of labor that Craig Calhoun and I agreed upon, he's going to deal with the insidious threats, the subtler ones, the ones that are perhaps characteristic of American or North Atlantic academic life, and I'm going to deal with the straight on, in your face, “boom boom” threats that have arisen where I am in Hungary... ### At the Center - [Of Note](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/of_note "Of Note") - [New Books](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/newbooks "New Books ") - [New Faculty Associates](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/new_faculty "New Faculty Associates") - [Student Programs](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/prog_student "Student Programs") - [SCANCOR-Weatherhead Partnership](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/prog_scancor "SCANCOR-Weatherhead Partnership") - [Photo Gallery | Spring 2018 Events](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/wcfia/files/ctrpiece_s18-lowres.pdf "Centerpiece Spring 2018, Volume 32 Number 2") - [In Memoriam](/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/in_memoriam "In Memoriam") --- Attachments- [ picture\_as\_pdf Centerpiece Spring 2018, Volume 32 Number 2 ](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/wcfia/files/ctrpiece_s18-lowres.pdf) --- See also:- [ Centerpiece ](/content-types/centerpiece) - [ Centerpiece: Spring 2018 ](/newsletter-issues/centerpiece-spring-2018)