Since 2011, the Walter Roberts Endowment has hosted an annual lecture inviting prominent and distinguished speakers on foreign policy, American politics, and the world at large. The WRE Annual Lecture is held at the George Washington University and is free and open to the general public. The lectures provide the opportunity for the diverse audience of students, faculty, public diplomacy practitioners, and other members of the public, to hear different perspectives on issues relating or influencing public diplomacy and U.S. foreign policy.
2025 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture
New Cold Wars: A Conversation with David Sanger
Highlights from the event
Previous Annual Lectures
2023: The 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture Iceland’s Ambassador to the U.S., Bergdís Ellertsdóttir, spoke on Iceland’s position on climate change, especially in the Arctic region.
2022: The 2022 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture featured retired U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius speaking on the diplomatic work that helped bring about reconciliation between the U.S. and Vietnam. Amb. Osius served in Vietnam from 2014-2017.
2021: The 2021 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture featured a virtual panel comprising of Richard A. Stengel, former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2014-2016), Amanda Bennett, former director of the Voice of America (2016-2020), and Professor Nicholas Cull, historian, and professor at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy in California.
2020: Joseph Nye, eminent scholar of international relations and political scientist, Harvard University Kennedy School.
2019: Robert Kagan, neoconservative American historian and foreign-policy commentator, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution
2018: Bruce Wharton, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2016-2017), U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe (2012 – 2015)
2017: Michael McFaul, U.S. Ambassador to Russia (2012-2014)
2016: David Ensor, Director, Voice of America (2011-2015)
2014: Robert Ford, U.S.Ambassador to Syria (2010-2014)
2013 January: Thomas Pickering, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1989-1992)
2013 November: Tara Sonenshine, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2012-2013)
2011: Brent Scowcroft, National Security Adviser (1989-1993, 1975-1977)
2016 Walter Roberts Centennial Anniversary Special Event
In honor of the 100th year birthday of Walter Roberts, the Institute for Public Affairs and Global Communication and the Walter Roberts Endowment organized a panel on “Challenges in the New Public Diplomacy Environment”. Distinguished panelists spoke on how they and their organizations were fulfilling the new demands of public diplomacy and navigating the New Media Landscape.
A blog post of the panel event is available on IPDGC’s Smart Power blog. The video presentations of the panelists can also be found on the blog.
