The war in Ukraine has sent prices for food and energy spiraling, plunging millions into hunger and threatening energy security across Europe and Asia. But did fuel prices play a role in precipitating the conflict in the first place? In his talk, Dr. Cullen Hendrix will discuss the roles of oil and gas exports and prices in emboldening leaders of petrostates - states that derive significant export and government revenue from oil and gas exports - to behave aggressively in the international arena. The talk will conclude with thoughts about how the global transition to renewable energy systems will shift the locus of geopolitical competition from oil and gas to the critical minerals that will fuel the energy transition - and what can be done to ensure sustainable energy security moving forward. ​

Cullen Hendrix is senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, nonresident senior research fellow at the  Center for Climate & Security, and a specially appointed research professor with the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS) at Hiroshima University. He is currently on leave from the  Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He is the author of over 30+ peer-reviewed articles on the relationships between international markets, natural resources, and conflict, as well as the economic and security implications of climate change. Dr. Hendrix has authored reports published by or consulted for organizations including the Asian Development Bank, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the National Intelligence Council, Oxfam America, USAID, and the World Food Programme, among others. He was a contributing author to the 2022 IPCC report, for which he assessed the implications of climate change for threats to peace and human mobility. ​

When: Wednesday, September 20th @ 12pm
Where: Online via zoom
Speakers: Dr. Robert Asaadi 
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 Robert Asaadi has been an Instructor in the Department of Political Science at Portland Community College in Portland, OR. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, and a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Iowa. His research and teaching interests include: international relations theory; international security; modern and contemporary Iranian politics; and U.S. Foreign Policy. His first book, Postrevolutionary Iran: The Leader, the People, and the Three Powers, was published with Rowman & Littlefield in April 2021 and was just released in paperback in September.  ​

When: Wednesday, September 9th @ 12pm
Where: Online via zoom
Speakers: Dr. Oleg Timofeyev ​

Many have been surprised by Ukraine’s fierce, and effective, resistance to Russia’s invasion. What these observers missed was how strongly Ukrainians are attached to an independent national identity. That attachment is not new; a long cultural history sustains it. Dr. Oleg Timofeyev will examine this crucial background for understanding today’s Ukraine, including its Viking and Cossack roots, the role of Ukrainian epic songs as oral history, Ukrainian Jewish life, and how contemporary Ukrainian art reflects folk traditions.  ​

Oleg Timofeyev is a musicologist, guitarist, composer, and documentary film director. The world authority on the Russian 7-string guitar tradition, he has recorded and released over twenty solo and ensemble albums to critical acclaim worldwide. The recipient of two IREX Fellowships, two Fulbright Research and Teaching Fellowships, he has won the coveted Noah Greenberg Award for his CDs “Music by Princesses at the Court of Catherine the Great.” His book, which will be the definitive work on the history of the Russian guitar tradition, is forthcoming with Cambridge Scholars in 2022. Dr. Timofeyev holds an M.A. in Early Music Performance from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. from Duke University. He has taught at universities and conservatoires in the US, Russia, and Ukraine, including the University of Iowa where he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor.  ​

The ICFRC has just released its report on the series we conducted earlier this year
focusing on refugees and immigrants in Iowa. As we write in the executive summary,
the ICFRC “recognizes that our state is at an inflection point, wherein collective
prosperity requires truly open, public, and engaged conversation about the many and
layered ways that our communities reorganize when new arrivals come, particularly in
these challenging and fast-paced times. For everyone to thrive, we must be intentional
in how we talk about our rapidly diversifying cities and towns to ensure that we all know
how to welcome and support refugees and immigrants as well as (re)create our
communities to be the kinds of places we all want to live for a long time to come.” To
begin our fall 2022 lineup of programs, project director and board member Dr. Peter
Gerlach and executive director Kathryn Wittneben will discuss the inspiration for the
series, its intended impact across the state, as well what it represents for the nature of
ICFRC programming going forward.

Dr. Peter Gerlach is Visiting Assistant Professor in the International Studies Program at the University of Iowa. He received his BA and MA degrees in English from Ripon College and the University of Northern Colorado, respectively. After serving in the US Peace Corps in Mongolia, he earned a PhD in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University where he conducted dissertation research on the lived experiences of international students at Grinnell College. His teaching areas include international studies, international education, refugee and immigrant studies, and community engaged learning. Dr. Gerlach serves on the International Studies Academic Advisory Board and the Fulbright Committee at The University of Iowa and on the Board of Directors at the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council (ICFRC), Global Ties Iowa, and theRefugee and Immigrant Association.

​Kathryn Wittneben is Executive Director of the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council. She returned to the Iowa City area in the fall of 2020, after having served for four years as Vice President of Advancement at the University of the West of Scotland near Glasgow, Scotland. Previously she was Director of Development at the College of Public Health, University of Iowa Center for Advancement. She has taught International Politics and Economics at the University of Umea in Sweden, Washington State University and George Washington University in the U.S. She has worked as a Senior Economist on international economic and trade issues for two Congressional Committees (Banking, Small Business) in the U.S. House of Representatives; led an international policy institute at Middlebury College; and helped to develop two grantmaking foundations -- Eurasia Foundation which supported economic reform and democratization projects in the former Soviet
Union, and The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (U.S.) which addressed challenges facing marginalized youth. Kathryn spent most of the 1990s working on economic reform and private sector development projects in the former Soviet Union and has addressed the Parliament of Ukraine and the CSCE on these issues. She has a B.G.S. degree with majors in Political Science and Economics from The University of Iowa; and a M.A. in International Studies from The American University. She received the Scottish Women's Award for Services to
Education in 2018.