Video / Audio

Check out the Seminars at Steamboat podcast, produced by KUNC 88.5 FM, community radio for Northern Colorado. Look for new podcasts to be released about a week after each live talk in Steamboat Springs. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

“Disaster Preparation and Management in the Face of a Changing Climate” W. Craig Fugate

Craig Fugate Consulting, LLC, Gainesville, FL,
Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Administration (2009-17)

Craig Fugate is the former administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), during which time he organized recovery efforts for a record eighty-seven disasters in 2011 alone. Before that, as director of the Florida Emergency Management Division, he coordinated the state’s response to Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne (the “Big 4 of ’04”), and Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Wilma in 2005. At FEMA, Fugate emphasized a “whole community” approach to emergency management, spearheaded the effort to build capacity to stabilize catastrophic events within 72 hours and incorporated “Thunderbolt exercises” using fake disasters and lightning inspections to train emergency operations centers.

“Colorado River in Crisis: Learning From the Past to Protect the Future” Heather J. Tanana, J.D.

Visiting Professor at the University of California – Irvine School of Law, with introductory remarks by Luke Runyon, Managing Editor & Reporter, Colorado River Basin, KUNC — Community Radio for Northern Colorado

Heather Tanana is a visiting Professor at the University of California – Irvine School of Law and has become a nationally recognized researcher and educator specializing in the vexing questions at the junction of law, health and water policies. In 2021 she received an award from the American Bar Association for “distinguished achievement in environmental law and policy” for her work including the 2021 report Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribes in the Colorado River Basin, for which she served as lead author. She is also contributing to the water chapter for the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5), due in 2023, which will analyze the effects of global change on the world’s natural environment, resources and social systems.

“Russia, Ukraine, and Beyond — Challenges for the U.S.” by Matthew Rojansky, J.D.

Matthew Rojansky is one of the country’s pre-eminent Russia scholars. In early 2022 he became President and CEO of the U.S.-Russia Foundation, a private grant-making foundation established to promote the development of the private sector and the rule of law in Russia. Prior to joining USRF, Rojansky served as Director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, the premier U.S. institution for research on Russia, from 2013 to 2021. Between 2010 and 2013, he was Deputy Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he founded Carnegie’s Ukraine Program and prior to that he served as executive director of the Partnership for a Secure America (PSA).

“Elections on the Brink: Where We Are and Where We Need to Go to Ensure Fairness and Integrity”
by Wendy R. Weiser

Wendy Weiser directs the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan think tank and public interest law center that works to revitalize, reform, and defend systems of democracy and justice. Her program focuses on voting rights and elections, money in politics and ethics, redistricting and representation, government dysfunction, rule of law, and fair courts. She founded and directed the program’s Voting Rights and Elections Project, directing litigation, research, and advocacy efforts to enhance political participation and prevent voter disenfranchisement across the country.

“R/Evolution: Recasting Life in an Age of Radical Biotechnology”
by Jamie Metzl

“The Supreme Court 2022: Institutional Shock and Constitutional Change,” by Garrett Epps.

“America’s Dysfunctional Housing Market,” by Christopher Ptomey, The Urban Land Institute.

“Cryptocurrency: The Future of Money or All Hype?” by Lee Reiners, CFA, Global Financial Markets Center, Duke University

Lee Reiners joined the Duke Global Financial Markets Center as executive director in 2016. At Duke Law, Reiners teaches FinTech Law and Policy as well as seminars relating to financial policy and regulatory practice. His research focuses on how new financial technologies fit within existing regulatory frameworks and he writes frequently on FinTech and other financial regulatory matters. Prior to joining Duke Law, Reiners worked for five years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), first as a supervisor of systemically important financial institutions and then as a senior associate within the executive office.
Presented: Monday, July 25, 2022

“U.S.-China Strategic Competition,” by Dr. Scott Kennedy, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Scott Kennedy is a leading authority on China’s economic policy and global economic relations. He has been traveling to China for over 30 years and has interviewed thousands of officials, business executives, lawyers, nonprofit organizations and scholars. His specific areas of expertise include industrial policy, technology innovation, business lobbying, multinational business challenges in China, global governance, and philanthropy. He is currently at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
Presented: Monday, July 18, 2022

Deeply Divided and Closely Divided: Why the Temperature Has Been Rising in American Politics

William A. Galston has written 10 books and more than 100 articles on political theory, public policy, political and moral philosophy, and U.S. politics. He also writes a weekly column on Politics & Ideas for the Wall Street Journal. He is currently a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and holds the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program.
Presented: Monday, July 11, 2022

Thinking Differently About Race and Public Policy

Camille Busette, PhD is a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies and Director of the Race, Prosperity and Inclusion Initiative at the Brookings Institution.  She has dedicated her career to expanding financial opportunities for low-income populations. Her work has centered primarily on systemic racism, the importance of social relationships to economic mobility and equity in healthcare. She also focuses on local and state government policy priorities.  Prior to joining Brookings, Camille was an executive at the World Bank, where she led the World Bank’s financial inclusion innovation arm. Presented: Monday, August 23, 2021

Prospects for U.S. National Security, Defense Strategy and Policy

Ambassador Eric Edelman served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey in the Clinton and Bush Administrations and was Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs. He has been Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary of State, special assistant to Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and special assistant to Secretary of State George Shultz. His other assignments include the State Department Operations Center, Prague, Moscow and Tel Aviv, where he was a member of the U.S. Middle East Delegation to the West Bank/Gaza Autonomy Talks. Presented: Monday, August 16, 2021

America’s Public Lands – A Look Back and Ahead

John D. Leshy is a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and was formerly solicitor of the Interior Department, counsel to the chair of the Natural Resources Committee, an attorney-advocate with the Natural Resources Defense Council and a litigator in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Considering the political history of America’s 600 million acres of public lands, he’ll look at how Congress and the executive might respond to numerous challenges, especially those related to climate change and the ongoing decline in biodiversity. Presented: Monday, August 9, 2021

Fiscal Sanity in an Insane World

Maya MacGuineas is the president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Her areas of expertise include budget, tax and economic policy. As a leading budget expert and a political independent, she has worked closely with members of both parties and serves as a trusted resource on Capitol Hill. She testifies regularly before Congress and oversees a number of the Committee’s projects, including the grassroots coalition Fix the Debt, the Fiscal Institute and FixUS. Her most recent area of focus is on the future of the economy, technology and capitalism. Presented: Monday, August 2, 2021

The Future of Public Health: Why We Should All Be Concerned

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo is a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations. An epidemiologist by training, her work focuses on global health security, with a focus on pandemic preparedness, outbreak detection and response, health systems as they relate to global health security, biosurveillance, and infectious disease diagnostics.
Presented: Monday, July 26, 2021

The Foreign Intelligence Threat to the U.S.: Russia, China and Other Bad Actors

James Bruce, Ph.D., is a former senior executive officer at CIA, an adjunct researcher and former Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation, and an adjunct professor at Georgetown and Florida Atlantic Universities. He also taught as an adjunct at Columbia and American Universities and as a full-time faculty member at the National War College.
Presented: Monday, July 19, 2021

Teaching Democracy: Civics and Civility in the Classroom and Beyond

Originally from the South Side of Chicago, Deval Patrick came to Massachusetts at the age of 14, when he was awarded a scholarship to Milton Academy through the Boston-based organization A Better Chance. After Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he clerked for a federal appellate judge and then launched a career as an attorney and business executive, becoming a staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a partner at two Boston law firms and a senior executive at two Fortune 50 companies.
Presented: Monday, July 12, 2021

Cyber Hacking and the 2020 Election

Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, the Walter and Leonore Director of the university’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, and Program Director of the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands.
Presented: Monday, August 10, 2020

Our Freshwater Future: Building Water Security in A Changing World

Sandra Postel is founding director of the Global Water Policy Project and author of Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity.  From 2009-2015, she served as lead water expert and Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society.  She is co-creator of Change the Course, the water stewardship initiative awarded the 2017 U.S. Water Prize for restoration of depleted rivers and wetlands.
Presented: Monday, August 3, 2020

Leadership and Geopolitics in the Time of Coronavirus

A Florida native, Jim Stavridis attended the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, earned a PhD from The Fletcher School at Tufts, and spent 37 years in the Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans and counter-piracy off the coast of Africa.
Presented: Monday, July 27, 2020

Immigration in the Time of COVID: Consequences for Election 2020

Amna Nawaz joined PBS NewsHour in April 2018 and serves as senior national correspondent and primary substitute anchor. Prior to joining NewsHour, Nawaz was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News, anchoring breaking news coverage and leading the network’s digital coverage of the 2016 presidential election.
Note! A thunderstorm rolled in at 34:43 and there’s a freeze on screen until 37:59. The recording didn’t stop, so there’s an interlude while Amna returns to the broadcast.
Presented: Monday, July 20, 2020

The 2020 Election in a Time of Pandemic

Having built a reputation as an accurate, objective and insightful political analyst with unparalleled access to campaign insiders and decision-makers, Washington political journalist and national editor of the Cook Political Report Amy Walter discusses the 2020 elections.
Presented: Monday, July 13, 2020

State of Play—The 2020 Election

Amy Walter has built a reputation as an accurate, objective, and insightful political analyst with unparalleled access to campaign insiders and decision-makers. Known as one of the best political journalists covering Washington, she is the national editor of the Cook Political Report and the former political director of ABC News.
Presented: Monday, August 12, 2019

How Do You Get to Mt. Rushmore: Can Presidential Character be Set in Stone?

Author and presidential historian Richard Norton Smith is a nationally recognized authority on the American presidency and a familiar face to viewers of C-SPAN and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Presented: Monday, August 5, 2019

 U.S.-China Relations: Can We Step Back from the Brink?

Robert Daly, the Director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, has compiled an unusually diverse portfolio of high-level work.
Presented: Monday, July 29, 2019

Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge: What We Know. What We Expect. What We Should Do.

As the longest serving White House Science Advisor, former director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, MacArthur “Genius Grant” winner and current Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Dr. John Holdren addresses the future of climate change. Presented: Monday, July 15, 2019

Trade Wars and the Global Trading Order: Reform or Collapse?

The Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow specializing in U.S. economic competitiveness, trade and immigration policy, and author of Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy, Edward Alden shares his perspectives on international trade policy.

Presented: Monday, July 8, 2019

The Road Ahead for Autonomous Vehicles

A nonpartisan policy talk with Robert Puentes, president and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation, a non-profit think tank with the mission of improving transportation policy and leadership. Presented: Monday, July 30, 2018

Cyber Conflict: The Perfect Weapon: How Cyber Conflict is Changing How Nations Compete and Conflict

A nonpartisan policy talk with New York Times national security correspondent and bestselling author David Sanger. Presented: Monday, July 23, 2018

Diplomacy and Action: U.S. Options for North Korea

Led by Christopher Hill, former ambassador to Iraq and Korea, among other posts, and head of the U.S. delegation to the Six Party Talks from 2005-2009 on the North Korean nuclear issue. Presented: Monday, July 16, 2018

A Bipartisan Roadmap for the American Healthcare System

Led by Stuart Butler, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and former board member of Health Care Services of the National Academy of Medicine and health adviser for the Congressional Budget Office. Presented: Monday, July 9, 2018

Growth and the Economy: Where Is It Headed? 

Led by Robert J. Gordon, one of the world’s leading experts on inflation, unemployment, and long-term economic growth. Presented: Monday, July 31, 2017

Brexit: What Lies Ahead for Britain and Europe?

Led by Douglas Alexander, a former top British Labour politician who currently serves as Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and as a visiting professor at King’s College, London. Presented: Monday, July 24, 2017

Fact Checking: Fake News and the Roles of the Press

Led by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania who runs FactCheck.org. Presented: Monday, July 10, 2017

Inequality and the American Dream

Led by Richard Reeves is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and co-director of the Center on Children and Families. Presented: Thursday, August 18, 2016

U.S. – Russia Conflict: The New Normal?

Led by Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center and an expert on U.S. relations with the states of the former Soviet Union, particularly Russia.
Presented: Thursday, July 28, 2016

Radical Islam and Terrorism, Views from the U.S. and Europe

Led by two Brookings Institution scholars, William McCants, a fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy and director of the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, and Philippe Le Corre, a visiting fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe. Presented: Monday, July 18, 2016

It’s Even Worse Than It Was: Examining Our Political Mess

Led by Norman Ornstein, political scientist and contributing writer for The Atlantic, a contributing editor and columnist for National Journal, and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Presented: Monday, July 11, 2016

 The New Middle East Disorder

Led by Martin Indyk, Executive Vice President of the Brookings Institution. Presented: Monday, August 24, 2015

Drones: Can They Revolutionize Aviation Without Endangering Safety and Privacy?

Led by Craig Whitlock, a journalist who covers the Pentagon and national security for the Washington Post. Presented: Thursday, August 13, 2015

Food or Consequences? Global Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability.

Led by Chris Barrett, Director of the Charles Dyson School of Applied Management and Economics at Cornell University. Presented: Thursday, July 30, 2015

The Shifting Dynamics Between Men and Women: Implications for Marriage, Work and More. 

Led by Hanna Rosin, a senior editor at Atlantic magazine and author of The End of Men and the Rise of Women. Presented: Monday, July 20th, 2015

Cyber Insecurity. Exploring what it means for national security and what we can do about it.

Led by Richard Danzig, Chairman of the Board of the Center for a New American Security and former Secretary of the Navy. Presented: Thursday, August 14th, 2014

Ethical Challenges, Ethical Answers.

seminar is led by Arthur Caplan, Director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center. Presented: Thursday, August 7th, 2014

A discussion about U.S. Relations with Russia, Ukraine, and the Former Soviet Region.

 Led by Matthew Rojansky, Director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center. Presented: Monday, July 28th, 2014

Income Inequality and Social Mobility

Charles Murray, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Timothy Smeeding, director at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin. Moderator: Belle Sawhill, a founder of the Seminars and senior fellow at Brookings Institution. Presented: Thursday, July 10th, 2014

Zero Day: The Threat in Cyberspace

Robert O’Harrow reports on cybersecurity for the investigative unit of the Washington Post. Presented: July 25, 2013

Reforming Our Broken Tax System

Martin Feldstein and William Gale, Feldstein is a former director of the Council of Economic Advisors. Gale is the chair of economic policy at The Brookings Institution. Presented: August 20, 2013

The Changing Face of America

Stephen Klineberg is a professor of sociology at Rice University.
Presented: July 8, 2013

The Next Influenza Pandemic: A Harbinger of Things to Come

Michael Osterholm is Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at University of Minnesota.
Presented: 2008