The Leadership and Ethics Institute is currently accepting applications to participate in ProjectLEAD for the 2017-2018 academic year. ProjectLEAD is a project management and community empowerment program. Students who join ProjectLEAD will enjoy a hands-on experience and have the opportunity to engage with the Austin community.

Designed to serve as a leadership development opportunity and mechanism for community engagement, students will participate in weekly instructive workshops to learn how to manage a project for an Austin nonprofit. Applications for the 2017-2018 cohort are available on Hornslink.

For more information visit: https://utexas.collegiatelink.net/account/logonrequired?ReturnUrl=%2Fform%2Fstart%2F116222

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Alyssa Ray, the Coordinator of ProjectLEAD, at alyssa.ray@austin.utexas.edu.  

The Undergraduate Writing Center is hosting its monthly Write Night Monday and Tuesday, April 24 and 25, 2017 in PCL Learning Lab 1A from 5-9 p.m. The purpose of Write Night is to provide a comfortable, productive environment for students to work on whatever papers they’re writing right now. Writing consultants will be on hand to answer questions and offer mini-consultations upon request. 

 The UWC is located in the UT Learning Commons at Perry- Castañeda Library (PCL 2.330). Questions? Call (512) 471-6222 or visit http://uwc.utexas.edu/.

Monday, April 24^th: Deadline to apply for Summer Internship Funding

The Clements Center awards funds to undergraduate and graduate students who secure unpaid internships in the fields of national security and foreign policy. Please apply on our website by Monday, April 24^th at midnight.

Tuesday, April 25th: America and Its Armed Forces Panel

Please join the Clements Center on April 25th in Sid Richardson Hall Room 3.122 at 12:15pm for a US Army War College panel discussion on “America and Its Armed Forces.” The panel will feature research on defense reform, including analysis of Defense personnel, structure, modernization, and readiness. Clements Center Executive Director and LBJ Professor Will Inboden will moderate the discussion. Panelists include Colonel Jerrett Dunlap, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Ray, Lieutenant Colonel Grey Venverloh, and Lieutenant Colonel Richard Balestri.

Wednesday, May 3^rd: “US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy—The Evolution of an Incidental Superpower” with Mackubin Owens

Please join the Clements Center on May 3rd in Sid Richardson Hall Room 3.122 at 12:15pm for a talk with Dr. Mackubin Owens, Dean of Academics at the Institute of World Politics, on his recent book “US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy: The Evolution of an Incidental Superpower.” Dr. Owens recently retired as Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. At the War College, he specialized in the planning of US strategy and forces, especially naval and power projection forces; the political economy of national security; national security organization; strategic geography; and American civil-military relations.

Friday, May 5^th: Conservatives and the World: The Ideas and Statecraft of Conservative Internationalism

The Clements Center and Harrington Faculty Fellows Program are honored to host distinguished academics and former policymakers for a workshop on “Conservatives and the World” from 8:30 am to 3:30pm on May 5^th in the Texas Union Governors Room. This day-long event will explore how a doctrine of conservative internationalism, distinct from liberal internationalism, emerged in U.S. foreign policy over the past century. Scholars will evaluate the core principles and key figures that have contributed to the history of conservative internationalism and assess the extent to which this philosophy continues to inform US diplomacy today.

Renowned Swedish novelist and poet Lars Gustafsson spent much of his life in Austin, and taught classes in both creative writing and philosophy at UT. To celebrate his life and work, Gustafsson’s former colleagues and students will gather to read selections of his poetry at 7 p.m. on April 27th, in the Joynes Reading Room. This event will also remember poet Christopher Middleton, who translated much of Gustafsson’s work into English. Readers will include: 

Paul Woodruff, former dean of Undergraduate Studies 

Jim Magnuson, director of the Michener Center for Writers

John Weinstock, scholar of Scandinavian literature

Lee Walker, educator and community leader

Kurt Heinzelman, poet and UT professor of literature

Carrie Fountain, St. Edward’s University writer in residence and former student of Lars Gustafsson

The Joynes Reading Room has a limited number of free books by Lars Gustafsson, which we will give away to honors students who wish to attend the event. (To claim a free book, inquire in person at the front desk of the Joynes Room.) This reading is free and open to the public. No ticket or RSVP is required. The Joynes Reading Room is located on the east side of the Carothers building at 2501 Whitis Avenue on the UT Austin campus. Call 512-471-5787 for more info. 

Info Session: Student Professional Development Fund

The Clements Center awards funds to undergraduate and graduate students who secure unpaid internships in the fields of national security and foreign policy. Please join us on April 19th, in the Texas Governors’ Room UNB 3.116 at 12:00pm, for an information session on our Student Professional Development Fund. Associate Director Paul Miller will be there to answer any questions you might have about the application process, requirements, and funding. Applications for Summer 2017 funding are due April 24^th, by midnight. 

Democracy and Human Rights in US Foreign Policy

Please join the Clements Center on Thursday, April 20, at 12:15pm in SRH 3.122, for a talk on “Democracy and Human Rights in US Foreign Policy” with Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, Professor in the Practice of International Relations at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Ms. Bibbins Sedaca has held numerous positions in the public and non-governmental sectors in the United States and Ecuador. She served for ten years in the United States Department of State, working on democracy promotion, human rights, human trafficking, religious freedom, refugees, and counterterrorism. 

Call for Papers- 2017 “Bobby R. Inman Award” for Student Scholarship on Intelligence

The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project announces the third annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security. The winner of the “Inman Award” will receive a cash prize of $5000, with two semifinalists each receiving a cash prize of $2500.  This competition is open to unpublished work by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in degree programs at accredited U.S. higher education institutions during the 2016-17 academic year.  The deadline for submitting papers is June 30, 2017. 

In 2016, internationally acclaimed Israeli author DORIT RABINYAN published All the Rivers (also known as Borderlife), which became the center of a political scandal in Israel. The momentous novel, sensitive in its details and enthralling at its peaks, was banned from use in high schools curriculum by Israel’s Ministry of Education. The book tells a story crisscrossed by physical and emotional borderlines and courageously marks the deceit in the separation between “you” and “I,” between “us” and “them.” All the Rivers spent more than a year as #1 bestseller in Israel, and has been translated into 17 languages.

Phaedra is being put on by UT Ancient Drama, a group affiliated with the classics department. We would love for LAH students to come see the play. It’s a play that is rarely performed. Because of its unorthodox qualities, Phaedra has even been called unperformable; our intent is to challenge that assertion. Our experimental production is the foundation of a research project that has led the director to issue a call for papers on ancient “problem plays” for the upcoming Society for Classical Studies conference. See the play flyer: phaedra-final-1a

Come pick up the Spring 2017 edition of the LAH literary magazine Echo at the launch party:

Tuesday, May 2 at 7pm at Malvern Books.

LAH’s Foot in the Door Theatre presents: 

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

by Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest: a Trivial Play for Serious People

In 1890s London, two friends use the same pseudonym (“Earnest”) for their on-the-sly activities. Hilarity ensues. Hearts are broken. Muffins are eaten. 

Weekend 1:

CMA 2.306

April 14th at 7pm

April 15th at 2pm and 7pm 

Weekend 2:

BUR 106

April 21st at 7pm

April 22nd at 2pm and 7pm 

TICKETS $5 for students/UT faculty, $10 general admission

*tickets sold at the door approximately 30 minutes before the show starts*

Directed by Estevan Balderrama and Victoria Fazzino

Produced by Victoria Fazzino and Sandy Schwalen

CAST:

Jack/Earnest Worthing-Dane Sowers

Algernon Moncrieff-Ryan Chang

Gwendolen Fairfax-Brenna Larkin

Cecily Cardew-Grace Beaugh

Lady Bracknell-Eliza Day

Miss Prism-Rachel Stephenson

Rev. Canon Chasuble-Michael Knapp

Lane/Merriman-Oksana Lyon

 Last Week to Apply for the Clements Undergraduate Fellows Program

The Clements Undergraduate Fellows Program is committed to teaching, mentorship, professional development, and research with UT-Austin’s youngest aspiring statesmen and scholars. Fellows will convene monthly throughout the academic year to participate in discussion groups, meet privately with high-profile guest speakers, be mentored by the Clements Center’s affiliated scholars, and exchange ideas on their course projects. Each year also include at least one field tour of a nearby historic site related to diplomatic and military history. Application due April 14^th. Details and instructions can be found here.

The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues, and the Coming Dark Age

The Clements Center is excited to host James Kirchick on April 12th at 12:00pm in the Texas Eastwoods Room UNB 2.102 for a talk on his new book “The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues, and the Coming Dark Age” (Yale 2017). James Kirchick is a journalist and foreign correspondent currently based in Washington. Additionally, he is a fellow at the Foreign Policy Initiative in Washington, DC. He has reported from Southern and North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, across the European continent, and the Caucasus.