BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies' fifth annual conference on America's Role in the World will feature guests including former Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch and Sen. Todd Young and a keynote address from former Ambassador William J. Burns. The nonpartisan conference takes place March 5 and 6 on the IU Bloomington campus and is open to all IU students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the public.

View print quality image Former Ambassador Lee Feinstein, founding dean of the Hamilton Lugar School.

"This is the first conference on America's Role in the World convened without our namesake, the late Senator Richard G. Lugar, who knew the importance of bringing globally respected scholars and experts to Indiana University, not only to discuss critical foreign policy issues on a nonpartisan basis but also to better understand the part each of us can play in creating a more just and secure world," said former Ambassador Lee Feinstein, founding dean of the Hamilton Lugar School. Burns -- president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the oldest international affairs think tank in the United States -- is the author of "The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal." He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a 33-year diplomatic career. He holds the highest rank in the Foreign Service, career ambassador, and is only the second serving career diplomat in history to become deputy secretary of state. Before his tenure as deputy secretary, Burns served as ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from 2001 to 2005, and ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001. His other posts include executive secretary of the State Department, principal deputy director of the State Department's policy planning staff, and special assistant to the president and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs at the National Security Council. Burns will take part in a moderated conversation with Susan Glasser, writer at The New Yorker and global affairs analyst at CNN, at 4 p.m. March 5. Day two of the conference will open at 9 a.m. March 6, with the inaugural Richard G. Lugar Lecture featuring Young, a 2017 America's Role in the World panelist and champion for the Department of Education's prestigious Title VI program, which works to develop and maintain capacity and performance in area and international studies and world languages. A record number of centers housed within the Hamilton Lugar School received funding in the 2018 round.

View print quality image This is the first conference on America's Role in the World convened without the school's namesake, Senator Richard G. Lugar, who died in April 2019. Photo by James Brosher, Indiana University