The Miller Center Forum
Upcoming Forums
Linking the Center's local community and the University of Virginia to the people who are writing about and shaping the future of our nation, Miller Center Forums draw nationally and internationally recognized experts in public affairs, American politics, and foreign policy. Questions regarding the scheduling of events, or forum changes and cancellations should be directed to George Gilliam.
The Forums are webcast live from this website.
Highlights of more recent forums and past archived forums are also available.
Fri., Feb 10, 2012
11:00 AM
Eli Saslow
Forum: Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President
ELI SASLOW is a staff writer at the Washington Post, where he covered the 2008 presidential campaign and has chronicled the president’s life inside the White House. Previously a sportswriter for the Post, he has won multiple awards for news and feature writing. Two of his stories have also appeared in Best American Sports Writing. A book signing will follow his Forum.
Mon., Feb 13, 2012
11:00 AM
Frederick P. Hitz
Forum: U.S. Intelligence in the Wake of September 11:The Rise of the Spy Commando
FREDERICK P. HITZ served as CIA inspector general and is currently a senior fellow at the Center for National Security Law at the U.Va. School of Law. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Hitz entered the Career Training Program at the CIA and served in the clandestine service in Africa. In 1974, he returned to law practice but re-entered government service in congressional liaison capacities with the State, Defense, and Energy departments before resuming his CIA career as legislative counsel to the director of Central Intelligence.
Fri., Feb 17, 2012
11:00 AM
Clarence Lusane
Forum: The Black History of the White House
CLARENCE LUSANE is an associate professor of Political Science in the School of International Service at American University where he teaches and researches on international human rights, comparative race relations, social movements and electoral politics. He is also an author, activist, scholar, lecturer, and journalist. A book signing will follow his Forum.
Fri., Feb 24, 2012
11:00 AM
Allen C. Lynch
Forum: Vladimir Putin and Russian Statecraft
Since Russian leader Vladimir Putin assumed power in August 1999, speculation about his character, motives, and plans for Russia’s future has been rampant in the West. Even after he stepped down as president in May 2008, retaining a significant measure of power as prime minister under his hand-picked successor, President Dmitri Medvedev, Putin remains poorly understood. In this interpretive biography of Putin, ALLEN C. LYNCH, director of the Center for Russian and East European Studies and associate professor of Government and Foreign Affairs seeks to reconcile the two conflicting images and find out just where the truth lies about the man and the statesman. A book signing will follow his Forum.
Fri., Mar 16, 2012
11:00 AM
Frank Costigliola
Forum: Roosevelt's Lost Alliances: How Personal Politics Helped Start the Cold War
FRANK COSTIGLIOLA is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Connecticut. He is a recipient of fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Norwegian Nobel Institute. In 2002 he received the Chancellor's award for excellence in research and the Alumni Association's award for excellence in research. In 2009, he served as president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR). This is the Gordon and Mary Beth Smyth History Forum. A book signing will follow his Forum.
Mon., Mar 19, 2012
5:30 PM
Jonathan Haidt
Forum: Civility in American Politics: How to Get (Some of) it Back
JONATHAN HAIDT is associate professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, where he does research on morality and emotion and how they vary across cultures. He is also the author of “The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. A book signing will follow his Forum.
Fri., Mar 23, 2012
11:00 AM
John Lewis Gaddis
Forum: George F. Kennan: An American Life
JOHN LEWIS GADDIS is a noted historian of the Cold War and grand strategy, who has been hailed as the "Dean of Cold War Historians" by The New York Times. He is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University. He is also the official biographer of the seminal 20th century statesman George F. Kennan. A book signing will follow his Forum.
Mon., Apr 2, 2012
11:00 AM
Del Quentin Wilbur
Forum: Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan
DEL QUENTIN WILBER is an award winning reporter for the Washington Post. He has spent most of his career covering law enforcement and sensitive security issues, and his work has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Mon., Apr 16, 2012
11:00 AM
J. Harvie Wilkinson
Forum: Cosmic Constitutional Theory: Why Americans Are Losing Their Inalienable Right to Self-Governance
J. HARVIE WILKINSON, III was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by Ronald Reagan. He has served on that court since 1984 and as its Chief Judge from 1996 to 2003. He has been frequently on the short list of prospects for the Supreme Court and is regarded as one of the nation's premier appellate jurists. He is also the author of "From Brown to Bakke: The Supreme Court and School Integration, 1954-1978."
Fri., Apr 27, 2012
11:00 AM
Bruce Riedel
Forum: Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America and the Future of the Global Jihad
BRUCE RIEDEL is senior fellow of Foreign Policy at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. A former CIA officer, Bruce Riedel focuses on political transition, terrorism and conflict resolution. He was a senior advisor to three U.S. presidents on Middle East and South Asian issues. At the request of President Obama he chaired an interagency review of policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan for the White House that was completed in March 2009. A book signing will follow his Forum.