2022 Schedule
Seminars is pleased to report that plans are now in place for an in-person 2022 summer season at the Strings Music Pavilion at our usual 5:30pm start time. Here‘s a short preview of this summer’s five seminars:
July 11. “Deeply Divided and Closely Divided: Why the Temperature Has Been Rising in American Politics,” by Dr. William Galston, The Brookings Institution. Perspective: The substantive disagreements between the political parties have been deepening for half a century. In the late 1980s, moreover, we entered an era of closely contested elections in which control of Congress and the White House has shifted back and forth several times. Dr. Galston will discuss ways in which this combination of deep division and close division has intensified the passion and bitterness that permeate our politics today.
July 18. “U.S.-China Strategic Competition,” by Dr. Scott Kennedy, Center for Strategic and International Studies. Perspective: Kennedy will cover both economic competition and China’s international ambitions. A leading authority on Chinese economic policy, he has been traveling to China for over 30 years, including six weeks earlier this year. His specific areas of expertise include industrial policy, technology innovation, business lobbying, U.S.-China commercial relations, and global governance. His articles have appeared in a wide array of policy, popular, and academic venues, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and China Quarterly.
July 25. “Cryptocurrency: The Future of Money or All Hype?” by Lee Reiners, CFA, Global Financial Markets Center, Duke University.
Perspective: Cryptocurrencies have come of age holding the potential for faster and cheaper financial transactions than traditional payment models, creating alternative decentralized asset markets and driving significant innovation via the underlying networks that they run on. However, valid concerns exist and range from criminal activities such as money laundering and tax evasion to the safety of digital assets in a currently minimally regulated online world to the impact growth in cryptocurrency adoption might have on the stability of our financial markets. Come hear Lee Reiners, the executive director of Duke Law’s Global Financial Markets Center, provide us with a current state of affairs on the world of cryptocurrencies, what the future has in store for us with such digital assets and the public policy that needs to be put in place to ensure safe and well-functioning markets.
August 8. “America’s Dysfunctional Housing Market,” by Christopher Ptomey, Urban Land Institute. Perspective: Ptomey’s presentation will address the ways in which American notions of liberty, property, and the role government have shaped where we live, who succeeds, and what we must to do to achieve a new ‘American Dream’. Christopher Ptomey is the Executive Director of ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Housing, which works to promote residential development and housing affordability. Terwilliger’s programs include extensive research, local and national convenings and consultations, and the Jack Kemp and Robert Larson awards programs that highlight innovative and best practices for improving housing affordability. Previously, Ptomey led Habitat for Humanity International’s U.S. government relations and advocacy team, following his role as Federal Liaison for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
August 15. “The Supreme Court: Looking Back While Looking Ahead,” by Joan Biskupic, J.D., CNN Legal Analyst. Perspective: The Supreme Court is transforming the law in America, rolling back a half century of constitutional rights from abortion to voter protections. Will a new justice make a difference? Journalist, author and lawyer Joan Biskupic has covered the U.S. Supreme Court since 1989 and has written biographies of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia and Sonia Sotomayor. She has been described as “one of our country’s most insightful writers about the Supreme Court.”