E.N. Thompson Forum

Laurie Garrett is one of America's premier authorities on healthcare and disease prevention, and a powerful advocate for a forceful response to threats to human health. Currently the senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, she is the author of "The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance" and "Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public He...

  Charles and Linda Wilson Dialogue on Domestic Issues Chuck Hagel served two terms in the United States Senate, from 1997-2009, representing the state of Nebraska. He was a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Intelligence committees. He also served as the chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the Senate Climate Chan...

Christine Todd Whitman is the president of the Whitman Strategy Group, a consulting firm that specializes in energy and environmental issues. WSG offers a comprehensive set of solutions to problems facing businesses, organizations, and governments; they have been at the forefront of helping leading companies find innovative solutions to environmental challenges. Whitman is also co-chair of the Rep...

E. Benjamin Skinner is the first person in history to witness negotiations for the sale of human beings on four continents. In his book "A Crime so Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern Day Slavery," Skinner tells the story of individuals who live in slavery, those who have escaped from bondage, those who own or traffic in slaves, and the mixed political motives of those who seek to combat these cri...

Rob Gifford first went to China in 1987, as a 20 year old undergraduate, to study the Chinese language. He has spent much of the last twenty years living in and reporting on the rise of China, most recently as Beijing Correspondent of National Public Radio. In his recently-published book, China Road, he records a two month journey along Route 312, the Chinese equivalent of Route 66. The road flows...

Richard Behar has garnered 20 journalism awards over a career spanning 25 years. He was called "one of the most dogged of our watchdogs" by the late syndicated columnist Jack Anderson. Behar spent nine years with Fortune magazine, preceded by six years at Time and six years at Forbes. Prior to that, he was a stringer/researcher at the New York Times. Behar has also done assignments for BBC, CNN, F...

Shirk, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for China, knows many of today's Chinese rulers personally and has studied them for three decades. In her Thompson Forum lecture, Shirk will give an update on the state of China's internal politics and the fears that motivate its leaders. Susan L. Shirk is Director of the University of California's Institute on Global Conflict and Coo...

Born in the U. S. to Chinese parents, Kuo lives in China and identifies equally as American and Chinese. Formerly director of digital strategy for the Beijing office of a global advertising agency, Kuo has worked as a technology and business writer for publications such as Time, TimeAsia, China Economic Review, Asia Inc., and the South China Morning Post, and currently serves as an advisor for You...

As President and CEO of The Asia Foundation, Bereuter oversees an organization with 17 offices across Asia focused on improving civil society, women's empowerment, economic reform and development, international relations and more. Bereuter joined The Asia Foundation in 2004 following his resignation as Congressman representing Nebraska's First District, a position he held for 26 years. While in Co...

Colin G. Campbell is Chairman and President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation which, in 2007, convened the World Forum on the Future of Democracy. Since then, the Foundation has used both technology and face-to-face contact to engage thousands of people worldwide in a conversation about the roles, responsibilities and rights of citizens in a democracy.

Estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in the United States range from 11 million to more than 20 million. Most recommendations for immigration reform center on the issue of a path to citizenship for these people. Opponents say this is amnesty, a strategy which proved ineffective in previous immigration legislation. Supporters say legalization is both a necessity and a moral obligation. In...

F.W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa, delivered the E. N. Thompson Forum lecture on Feb. 10 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His talk, "Bridging the Gap: Globalization without Isolation," was also the Lewis E. Harris Lecture on Public Policy.

Sarah Chayes, a former National Public Radio reporter, delivered the E. N. Thompson Forum lecture "Notes from Afghanistan," at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Chayes has lived and worked in Kandahar, Afghanistan, since 2001, when she covered the fall of the Taliban for NPR. In 2002, she left journalism to help rebuild the shattered country whose fate will help determine the shape of the 21st c...

Theodore C. 'Ted' Sorensen, former special counsel and adviser to President John F. Kennedy and a widely published author on the presidency and foreign affairs, practiced international law for over 36 years as a senior partner, and now of counsel, in the prominent U.S. law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Sorensen is a Lincoln native and graduate of UNL and the University of N...

Dubbed "Mr. Justice" by the Times of London, Dworkin's pioneering scholarly work has had worldwide impact. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University and a Professor of Law at University College London.

Commentator, editor, teacher, public servant, best-selling author and adviser to presidents, David Gergen has been an active participant in American national life. He served as director of communications for President Ronald Reagan and also held positions in the Nixon, Ford and Clinton administrations. Gergen currently serves as editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report and as a regular televisi...

Bruce Babbitt was Governor of Arizona from 1978-87 and Attorney General of Arizona from 1975-78. As governor, he brought environmental and resource management to the forefront in the state. He negotiated and steered to passage the Arizona Groundwater Management Act of 1980, which remains the most comprehensive water regulatory system in the nation. He was also responsible for creation of the Arizo...

Bruce Babbitt was Governor of Arizona from 1978-87 and Attorney General of Arizona from 1975-78. As governor, he brought environmental and resource management to the forefront in the state. He negotiated and steered to passage the Arizona Groundwater Management Act of 1980, which remains the most comprehensive water regulatory system in the nation. He was also responsible for creation of the Arizo...

Known as "The Green Evangelist," Reverend Richard Cizik calls climate change a crisis of "biblical proportions." Cizik is vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). His responsibilities include setting NAE's policy direction on issues before Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court, as well as serving as a national spokesman on issues of conc...

Physicist Amory Lovins is the Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an independent think-and-do-tank that creates abundance by design. RMI works with individuals and organizations of every imaginable kind to help them use energy and resources efficiently while being ever-better stewards of the environment.

Physicist Amory Lovins is the Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an independent think-and-do-tank that creates abundance by design. RMI works with individuals and organizations of every imaginable kind to help them use energy and resources efficiently while being ever-better stewards of the environment.

Is ethanol a genuine answer to climate crisis and energy woes or a smoke-and-mirrors solution with no real benefit? Designed to explore all sides of this many-faceted issue, the inaugural Charles and Linda Wilson Dialogue on Domestic Issues brings together two noted experts for a moderated debate on this topic of critical interest to our nation and our state.

Is ethanol a genuine answer to climate crisis and energy woes or a smoke-and-mirrors solution with no real benefit? Designed to explore all sides of this many-faceted issue, the inaugural Charles and Linda Wilson Dialogue on Domestic Issues brings together two noted experts for a moderated debate on this topic of critical interest to our nation and our state.