The CIS Starr Forum is a public event series sponsored by the Starr Foundation of New York. We bring to the MIT campus leading academics, policymakers and journalists to discuss pressing issues in the world of international relations and U.S. foreign policy. Many of our events are webstreamed below. Some of them can also be viewed at MIT World, MIT's on-demand video site. CIS Starr Forums are open to the general public as well as to the MIT community.

An adjunct series, The CIS Starr Forum on the Rise of China, addresses the effect of China's growing economic power and national competitiveness on such global sustainability topics as global resource consumption, greenhouse gas production and climate change, international public health and disease control, and regional military security.

To contact the CIS Starr Forum, please e-mail starrforum@mit.edu.

Most Recent CIS Starr Forum Videos

Please note: We are currently redesigning the video portion of this page. Due to the nature of the construction process, you may be experiencing a disruption in your ability to view our videos. We are very sorry for the inconvenience but in the mean time, you may view all of our recent Starr Forum events videos on the MIT TechTV website.
Thank you, CIS Starr Forums.

CIS Starr Forum Event Archive
Speakers' titles are as of the date of the given event.

2009 EVENTS
2008 EVENTS
2007 EVENTS
2006 EVENTS
2005 EVENTS
2004 EVENTS
2003 EVENTS
2002 EVENTS
2001 EVENTS

• September 23, 2009

"U.S.-Cuba Relations: The beginning of a long thaw? "
Cuban scholars Julia Sweig and Wayne Smith will be discussants at a CIS Starr Forum entitled: Cuba-U.S. Relations: The Beginning of a Long Thaw? Sweig is a senior fellow and director for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the award-winning author of Inside the Cuban Revolution, and, most recently, Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know. Smith is senior fellow and director of the Cuba Program at the Center for International Policy, and a visiting professor of Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University. Smith served in the State Department as executive secretary of President Kennedy's Latin American Task Force and chief of mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
See the event flyer here
The Starr Forum event was held on Wed, Sept 23, at 4:30 PM, in the Wong Auditorium, MIT Bldg E51.



• May 5, 2009

"U.S.- Iran Relations"
Should the U.S. build better relations with Iran? Can we live with a nuclear Iran? Do the Iranian presidential elections provide new opportunities for dialogue? A panel of international security and foreign policy experts will address such issues at a Starr Forum on Tuesday, May 5. Our featured speakers are: Jim Walsh, a research associate at the CIS Security Studies Program (SSP) at MIT, and Suzanne DiMaggio, director of the Asia Society. Stephen Heintz, president of Rockefeller Bros. Fund, will serve as the discussant and Barry Posen, Ford International Professor of Political Science and director of SSP, will chair.
See the event flyer here
Broad Institute Auditorium, MIT Bldg NE30, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA 4pm



• April 30, 2009

"Afghanistan"
Admiral Willam Fallon, USN (RET), will be giving a public talk on Afghanistan. Joining the discussion will be Fotini Christa, an expert on Afghanistan. Fallon joined the Center for International Studies for the 2008-09 academic year as a Robert E. Wilhelm fellow. Christia joined MIT last fall as an assistant professor of political science and a member of the Security Studies Program. The April 30 Starr Forum on Afghanistan commences at 4 PM in the MIT Wong Auditorium.
See the event flyer here
MIT Building E51, Wong Auditorium (Tang Center), 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 4pm



• April 13, 2009

"The Most Important Number in the World."
Science has given us, in the last 18 months, a real bottom line for the planet: a CO2 concentration above which, as NASA's Jim Hansen has put it, we can't maintain the "planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life is adapted." Bill McKibben, a scholar in residence at Middlebury College, an American environmentalist and prolific writer on related topics, will be calling on MIT students to join a global movement to share that alarming scientific truth to as many folks as possible. Along with the Center for International Studies this event was co-sponsored by its new program: Environmental Vulnerability, Resilience, and Justice.
See the event flyer here
MIT Building E51, Wong Auditorium (Tang Center), 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 4:30pm



• March 30-31, 2009

MIT/Harvard Gaza Symposium
The second annual Gaza symposium, this year jointly organized by MIT and Harvard, will host a series of panels on the role of U.S. and international actors, as well as human rights and international humanitarian law in the wake of recent events in Gaza. Bringing together experts in the fields of human rights, history, political science, U.S. foreign policy and law, the two-day symposium will include a range of views from US, Israeli, Palestinian and UN/NGO perspectives. The public event will be held at MIT on Monday, March 30, and at Harvard University on Tuesday, March 31. The official web site for the second annual Gaza symposium, including all updates, is located here.
The videos from day one at MIT are available to watch this site. To view the video from day two at Harvard click here.
See the event flyer here
MIT Building E51, Wong Auditorium (Tang Center), 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 1:30pm



• February 19, 2009

"The Endless Present"
On February 19, Israeli architect Eyal Weizman will present a public talk on the "architecture of occupation" in Israel Palestine. Weizman has taught, lectured, curated and organized conferences in many institutions worldwide. His books include Hollow Land, A Civilian Occupation, the series Territories 1, 2, and 3, Yellow Rhythms and many articles in journals, magazines and edited books. He became a member of B'Tselem's managing board in 2008.
Joining the discussion as commentator is Salim Tamari. Tamari is director of the Institute of Jerusalem Studies and a professor of sociology at Birzeit University. He edits Hawliyyat al Quds and Jerusalem Quarterly and is the author of several works on urban culture, political sociology, biography and social history, and the social history of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Along with the Center for International Studies this event was co-sponsored by Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Bustani Lecture Series and Jerusalem 2050
MIT Building 32-155 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 4:30pm



• February 11, 2009

"The Challenges to the Global Economy."
Economist Martin Feldstein will be speaking on the challenges that face the global economy. Joining the talk as a discussant, is MIT Sloan School's Simon Johnson.
See the event flyer here
MIT Building E51, Wong Auditorium (Tang Center), 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 5:30pm



• January 29, 2009

Mia Kirshner on "I Live Here"
Actor-author Mia Kirshner will be speaking at MIT on her book, I Live Here. The multimedia publication presents the first-hand stories of refugees and displaced people in four specific areas of the world, through their own words, photographs and stories, and in collaboration with artists of various different media. Mirroring the multimedia approach of the book, Kirshner has been teaching an IAP course at MIT. The course asks students to create their own short video based on hidden stories that need to be heard within the greater Boston community. The results will be featured on the CIS website and will be shown at the event on January 29.
See the event flyer here
MIT Building MIT Rm 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 5pm



• January 13, 2009

Chomsky on Gaza
Noam Chomsky addresses the crisis in Gaza followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience.
See the event flyer here
MIT Building E51, Wong Auditorium (Tang Center), 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 4pm