In reviewing Iowa's remarkable agricultural and humanitarian heritage, 1979 stands out as a time of exceptional global moral leadership. Republican Governor Robert D. Ray was at the forefront of related efforts: to rescue the Vietnamese "Boat People" refugees who were drowning while seeking to live in freedom as well as to rush desperately needed food and medicine to starving and dying Cambodian victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide. Both humanitarian life-saving efforts featured significant involvement by Iowans and Iowa institutions across the state, thus making them a clear example of "citizen diplomacy." That same year also saw the visit of Pope John Paul II to Living History Farms in Urbandale, which provided a powerful moral underpinning to refugee assistance programs. While on "loan" from the U.S. State Department to the Governor's staff in Des Moines, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, then a young Foreign Service Officer, was directly involved in both historic endeavors, which drew Iowans together across sharp political differences just four years after the conclusion of the deeply polarizing Vietnam WarDr. Kenneth Quinn served for 32 years as an American diplomat, including: as ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia; as a Rural Development advisor in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam; on the National Security Council staff at the White House; and as Director of Iowa SHARES, the humanitarian campaign formed by Iowa Governor Robert D. Ray that sent lifesaving aid to Cambodian genocide victims. Following his Foreign Service career, he served for 20 years as president of the World Food Prize Foundation located in Des Moines, retiring in January of 2020. Established by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug, under the Ambassador's leadership, the World Food Prize came to be referred to by global leaders as the "Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture." During his tenure, individuals from 19 countries, including six Laureates from Africa, received the $250,000 annual award for their breakthrough achievements to reduce hunger and malnutrition. Amb. Quinn, was presented the State Department Award for Heroism and is a recipient of the Iowa Medal, that state's highest citizen honor. He served as Chair of the Iowa committee that raised the funds for, and selected the artist to create, the statue of Dr. Borlaug that stands in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol. A graduate of Loras College in Dubuque, he holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Maryland. For more information about the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, visit icfrc.org.

The Nile is the longest river in the world. It is shared by 11 countries. For thousands of years, the river watered Egypt, the lowest riparian state in the Nile basin and one of the oldest civilizations in the world, without much competition from the upper riparian states. However, in the twentieth century things started changing. The upper riparian states started making plans to utilize the waters of the Nile River which once flowed to Egypt in its entirety. Presently, the biggest challenge for Egypt's claim to the Nile waters is coming from the largest hydro-electric dam on the African continent being built by Ethiopia, the upper riparian state providing more than three-quarters of the waters flowing into the Nile River. Egypt claims the Nile waters belong to it as a matter of historic right. Ethiopia argues the waters flowing from it to Egypt belong to Ethiopia as a matter of national sovereignty. The presentation discusses this dispute from the perspective of international law. Specifically, it addresses the issues by discussing the various treaties signed by the Nile basin states. The presentation also discusses international law principles relevant to the dispute. Daniel Teshome Teklu is a second-year Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) student in International and Comparative Law at the University of Iowa College of Law. He is currently writing a dissertation on the Nile water dispute. Daniel is from Ethiopia. He came to the US as a high school junior. In 2012, he graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.S. in Engineering and worked as an engineer for a few companies, including Messier Bugatti and Ford Motor Company, before turning to the study of law. In 2019, he graduated from Wayne State University Law School (Detroit) with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. In 2021, he graduated from Indiana University-Purdue University School of Law (Indianapolis) with a Master of Laws (L.L.M.) degree in International and Comparative Law. He wrote his master's thesis on the Nile water dispute. For more information about the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, visit icfrc.org.

Professor Ando introduces his Sicilian home to an American audience by applying his long experience as a professor of comparative law and a student of different cultures to bear on the questions of Sicily's role in the current world. Sicily is undeniably an island and that fact entails a certain degree of insularity though modern forms of information technology may be overcoming some of the isolation due to geography. But islands can also be meeting points, and Sicily's position in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea has made it an important meeting point throughout recorded history. It has served and will continue to serve as an important meeting point for Europeans, Africans, and Middle Easterners. It is, however, also being overwhelmed by waves of refugees fleeing Africa and the Near East. Professor Ando will seek to acquaint us with Sicily by exploring these multiple meanings of Sicilian "insularity."Professor Biagio Ando earned his basic law degree and his Ph.D. in law at the University of Catania. He is currently a professor of comparative law at the University of Catania and is visiting Iowa's College of Law as a visiting research scholar during this fall semester (2022). He has deepened his understanding of islands through several stints as a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta and research stays at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. He has also conducted research at the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg, at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University.For more information about the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, visit icfrc.org.

Sustainability is inherently interdisciplinary. The technical skills necessary for developing a more sustainable society draw from multiple disciplines including the natural and social sciences, engineering and beyond. Technical skills, however, are not sufficient and developing a more sustainable society will require additional skills including communication and cultural competency to translate training outcomes to communities and the public at large. As such, sustainability focused training programs cannot thrive within the traditional structure of academic silos. The University of Iowa recently launched a new MS degree program built around the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This presentation will introduce the SDG MS program at the University of Iowa and talk more broadly about the skills and competencies needed to turn the SDGs into reality. Dr. David Cwiertny is the William D. Ashton Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Iowa, as well as the Director, Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination; Director, Environmental Policy Research Program, Public Policy Center; Researcher, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute; Researcher, Environmental Health Sciences Research Center; and Faculty Research Engineer, IIHR--Hydroscience & Engineering.For more information about the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, visit icfrc.org.

Election misinformation is a global problem that involves various actors and actions that contribute to both the spread of misinformation and responses to it. To better understand election misinformation requires examining the broader political and socio-cultural context as well as citizens' "everyday" experiences with misinformation that occur outside election contexts. Looking at the case of Kenya, this presentation will contextualize election misinformation and share insights from a variety of studies conducted in the past five years.Dr. Melissa Tully is the Interim Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, at the University of Iowa. She is also an Associate Professor and Easton Professor of Research. She studies news literacy, misinformation, global media with a particular focus on African media studies, and engagement. She has a particular interest in media produced in and about Africa and has conducted research in multiple Sub-Saharan African countries. She is currently working on research about misinformation and news literacy in Kenya and Senegal.For more information, visit icfrc.org.

Since 2000, the Kremlin has been waging a relentless information war against the U.S., NATO, the European Union, democracy, and liberal values. Russian disinformation and propaganda, disseminated to one extent or another on every continent, achieved hyper status as Vladimir Putin prepared to invade Ukraine. It continues in its varied, preposterous ways as the conflict endures. The presentation examines the nature, goals, and consequences of these ongoing struggles for the hearts and minds of audiences and the West's late arrival on this bloodless, nonetheless perilous battlefield. Peter Gross, Ph.D., is professor emeritus and former Director of the University of Tennessee's School of Journalism and Electronic Media (2006-2019). Before his tenure at the UT, he held the Gaylord Family Endowed Chair (International Communication) at the University of Oklahoma, where he also served as Director of the Institute for Research and Training at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He is now an adjunct faculty member at the University of Iowa's School of Journalism and Mass Communication.For more information, visit icfrc.org.

Sustainability is inherently interdisciplinary. The technical skills necessary for developing a more sustainable society draw from multiple disciplines including the natural and social sciences, engineering and beyond. Technical skills, however, are not sufficient and developing a more sustainable society will require additional skills including communication and cultural competency to translate training outcomes to communities and the public at large. As such, sustainability focused training programs cannot thrive within the traditional structure of academic silos. The University of Iowa recently launched a new MS degree program built around the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This presentation will introduce the SDG MS program at the University of Iowa and talk more broadly about the skills and competencies needed to turn the SDGs into reality. Dr. David Cwiertny is the William D. Ashton Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Iowa, as well as the Director, Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination; Director, Environmental Policy Research Program, Public Policy Center; Researcher, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute; Researcher, Environmental Health Sciences Research Center; and Faculty Research Engineer, IIHR--Hydroscience & Engineering.For more information about the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, visit icfrc.org.

Zaza Muchemwa, born, raised and making her artistic practice in Zimbabwe, looks at and shares the experiences of living in a country of constant transition, of being in fear and rising despite that fear, of holding onto hope amid despair and, what it means to stay alive in Zimbabwe today. Zaza is a poet, playwright, and arts administrator. She is a 2022 Fall Resident in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program.For more information on the Foreign Relations Council visit their website at https://www.icfrc.org/.Music that was originally played during this presentation has been removed due to copyright issues. You can find the music here:Forward Kwenda plays Tadzungaira: https://youtu.be/_0bwj580VwIWINKY D-KASONG KEJECHA: https://youtu.be/eZsxXJy6_sY

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. For more information on the Foreign Relations Council visit their website at https://www.icfrc.org/.

In an era when the Islamic Republic of Iran is vilified and poorly understood, Dr. Asaadi talks about the possibility for political change in and reformation of the Islamic Republic. He discusses the evolution of postrevolutionary Iran's formal and informal institutions from 1979 to the present and explore the possibilities for change embedded in its constitutional order. Robert Asaadi is 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. For more information on the Foreign Relations Council visit their website at https://www.icfrc.org/.