Park University’s 2019 Hauptmann Lecture to Feature Discussion on American Foreign Policy

Aug. 15, 2019 — A presentation on “Can America Still Have a Successful Foreign Policy?” will be the focus of Park University’s 27th annual Dr. Jerzy Hauptmann Distinguished Guest Lecture Series event on Thursday, Sept. 12. This year’s lecture will be held in the Jenkin and Barbara David Theater within Alumni Hall on the University’s Parkville Campus starting at 6:30 p.m. Admission to the event is free and open to the public, but attendees are requested to register at park.edu/hauptmann2019.

This year’s Hauptmann Lecture featured speaker will be Stephen Walt, Ph.D., the Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Walt’s presentation will look at how U.S. foreign policy veered off-course and what must be done to get it back. He will explain the sources of recent foreign policy failures and offer an alternative grand strategy that would be better for the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Walt was appointed to his current position at Harvard in 1999, and he also served as academic dean of the Kennedy School of Government from 2002-06. In addition, he has been a contributing editor of Foreign Policy magazine since 2009 and serves as co-editor of the Cornell Studies in Security Affairs. In 2005, Walt was elected as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he received the International Studies Association’s Distinguished Senior Scholar award in 2014.

His latest book, The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy, was published in 2018. Among Walt’s other published books include The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy which he co-authored with 2011 Hauptmann Lecturer John Mearsheimer.

Walt earned both his doctoral degree and Master of Arts degree, both in political science, from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in international relations.

The lecture series is named in honor of the late Park University professor emeritus of political science and public administration, Jerzy Hauptmann, Ph.D. Hauptmann taught at Park for more than 50 years, and launched the University’s first graduate degree program in 1982. In 2001, Park’s School for Public Affairs was renamed the Hauptmann School of Public Affairs in honor of this remarkable educator.

The Dr. Jerzy Hauptmann Distinguished Guest Lecture Series was established through the generosity of alumni, colleagues and friends of Hauptmann upon Hauptmann’s 40th anniversary at Park University. The Hauptmann Lecture brings outstanding scholars to the Kansas City area to address topics related to Hauptmann’s three areas of study: international politics, public administration and democracy.

This year’s Hauptmann Lecture is presented in partnership with the International Relations Council and the National Archives at Kansas City.