The Young Initiative invites foreign policy experts and guest speakers to campus to engage in discussions on international relations and the global political economy with students and faculty.
Past Young Initiative Speaker Events
Young Initiative speakers give students and faculty an opportunity to expand their understanding of global issues. The Young Initiative sponsors several speakers each academic year highlighting particular aspects of global affairs and the global political economy. The Young Speakers program is devoted to highlighting the work and success of eminent international affairs experts and Oxy alumni in public service and academia.
Rick Cole '78 is the City Manager of Santa Monica, former Mayor of Pasadena
Sarah Portnoy is expert on Latino culture, author of Food, Health, and Culture in Los Angeles.
Heidi Nichols Haddad is a Professor of Politics at Pomona College.
Anand Grover is a senior lawyer known for legal activism in Indian law relating to sexuality and HIV.
Dr. Manuel Pastor is Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.
Steven P. Erie is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California San Diego
On March 27th, 2018, Dr. Pardis Mahdavi visited her alma mater, Occidental College, and lectured at the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs about Human Trafficking and Terror: Questioning the Construction of a Global Social Problem. She discussed her third book called Gridlock: Labor, Migration, and Human Trafficking in Dubai where she discusses the narratives around sex work and the...
Shalmali Guttal is the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South, an activist think tank in Asia providing analysis and building alternatives for just social, economic and political change.
Mary Thompson-Jones is the Chair of Women in National Security and Diplomacy at the U.S. Naval War College.