Tuesday, September 29, 2020
1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern

Register

Description

The Association for Public and Land-grant Universities is hosting a special online discussion with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on the unique role public and land-grant universities play in advancing U.S. global interests through education, international development, research and public diplomacy.

In his recent book, Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World, Secretary Gates laments the nation’s reliance on military power to advance U.S. interests to the detriment of many other tools of soft power, including its system of public and land-grant universities. He argues that it is only through exercising both hard and soft power that the U.S. will advance its principles and be globally respected.

Following his opening remarks, Secretary Gates will join a panel discussion with Montana State University President Waded Cruzado and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert Jones (moderated by APLU President Peter McPherson) that will explore the work public and land-grant universities are already undertaking around the world and ideas on what addition work can be done.