International Policy Center Public Events

During the conference, students will discuss coordinating Canada-U.S. Arctic Sea policy through four lenses: natural resource extraction, international trade, environment and security.

Dr. Henry Pollack, Professor Emeritus of Geophysics at the University of Michigan, and Tom Clynes, contributing editor at Popular Science, will deliver the keynote speech for the Fourth Annual U.S.-Canada Policy Conference, hosted by the Domestic Policy Corps and the International Policy Students Association. The 2013 conference, entitled "Planning for 2050: North American Policy for the Future of the Arctic," will focus on U.S. and Canadian Arctic policy, including issues related to the environment, national security, energy, and commerce. The keynote address will be followed by a panel discussion with faculty from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Conference participation is by application only, however the keynote address is open to the public.

Helene D. Gayle is president and CEO of CARE USA. An expert on humanitarian issues, Dr. Gayle previously held senior positions with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dr. Gayle serves on several boards, including the Rockefeller Foundation, Colgate-Palmolive, ONE and the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, chaired the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and currently serves on the President's Commission on White House Fellowships.

This Ford Policy Union event will feature a debate on the effectiveness of international agreements on cyber security. Professor John Steinbruner, a noted international security scholar, will argue that the U.S. interest in prohibiting destructive attack on critical infrastructure assets is evident and urgent, and that direct multilateral negotiations are necessary to pursue that objective. Dr. Steven Bucci, a former military officer and government official, will argue that only after the U.S. establishes how to best address cyber security from the standpoint of purely American interest, should the U.S. push for international agreements on cyber security.

Please join us as Kenneth Lieberthal returns to the University of Michigan for a lecture on current U.S-China relations under President Obama's new foreign policy team.

This Ford Policy Union, a public debate event, will feature Thea Lee and Alan Deardorff discussing the costs and benefits of free trade.