Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security & Diplomacy

As new students complete their orientation activities today, we want to extend a warm welcome from the Sié Center! 🤗

Swipe ⏩️ to read about how students have engaged with the Sié Center in years previous. As we reflect on what our alums have accomplished, we’re all the more excited to see what our newest community members will do with their time at Korbel (and beyond!). 📚🎓

ICYMI: the Sié Center turned 16 on August 9th! 🎉🏗️🌏
 
Founded in 2009, the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs has advanced knowledge and practice around global security, prosperity, and social justice through innovative research, interdisciplinary education, and thoughtful engagement with others who strive for a more just, prosperous, and peaceful world. Established thanks to a generous endowment from the Anna and John J. Sie Foundation (and named after John Sie’s father), the Center has supported research, programming, and curricula for a full 16 years. Swipe to read more about the Center’s Sweet 16! ⏩️

Happy Friday, Sié community! Today, we’re back with another Faculty Spotlight, featuring the most recent publication from our very own Dr. Hilary Matfess! 💡✍️🌍

Her recent article “Urgent Action Is Needed to Prevent Tigray from Sliding Back into War”, published on the IPI Observatory website, details the increased risk of war in northern Ethiopia following an uneasy peace established in 2022. Swipe to read more about the article and Dr. Matfess’s work, and click on the link in our bio to read the full article! 🔗

We’re back from our summer holidays to prepare for the upcoming school year to start in September—and what better way to bring some “back-to-school” energy than to spotlight our very own Dr. George DeMartino and his recent feature on The Hale Report podcast! 📉🎙️📈
 
In this episode, Professor DeMartino joins Lyric Hughes Hale to discuss the moral responsibilities of economists and how their actions carry very real consequences (and sometimes harmful ones!) despite the best of intentions. To listen to the full podcast, click on the link in our bio!

The month of July marks a new academic year at DU, but before our calendar fills up, we want to highlight the many accomplishments of the year we just wrapped!

At the link in our bio (and on the home page of our website), you can now read the full 2024-2025 Sié Center Annual Report, which details everything from our team, our initiatives, and our ongoing research projects to the accomplishments of our entire community. Scroll to take a peek at just a few of the report’s highlighted pages, and then make your way to the full report to read about this past year in detail. 📑🌎🎓

Join us and our friends at World Denver on Monday for our final public event of the year, and the final installment of our Nuclear Spring series!

From 5:30-7pm, our Korbel nuclear security expert Dr. Debak Das will discuss nuclear uncertainty and the future of arms control with Rose Gottemoeller of Stanford University, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institute, and Deputy Secretary General of NATO from 2016 to 2019.

Doors to Maglione Hall will open at 5pm for folks to grab some food and drinks and find their seats. We’ll see you there!

RSVP at the link in our bio on our CrimsonConnect page. Have any issues registering? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll add you to our list directly.

Thank you to all who joined us on Monday evening for an in-depth conversation about nuclear security and space policy with guest speaker Dr. Vipin Narang and our very own Dr. Debak Das! We’re looking forward to making the video recording of the event available soon, and setting our sights ahead to our next (and final!) open-to-the-public event as part of our “Nuclear Spring” series on June 2nd with guest Rose Gottemoeller.

We’re also grateful to our friends Denver Council on Foreign Relations for supporting this event. We’ll see you all at our next event soon!

Mark your calendars for our next exciting segment of Nuclear Spring! On May 19th, we are thrilled to be joined by Dr. Vipin Narang for “Nuclear Threats, Deterrence, and Proliferation” as he engages in conversation with our Korbel nuclear security expert Dr. Debak Das. Their conversation will cover such topics as current trends in global nuclera security, foreign and space policy, deterrence strategies, and possible conflict resolution outcomes.
 
Join us in the beautiful Reiman Theater (Margery Reed Building on DU’s campus, at the corner of University Blvd and East Evans Ave) with doors opening at 5pm and the discussion beginning at 5:30. Light refreshments will be served. We are grateful for co-sponsorship by the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, which makes events like this possible!
Register at our Crimson Connect* link in our bio! 
 
About Dr. Vipin Narang: Vipin Narang is the Frank Stanton Professor of Nuclear Security and Political Science and member of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From March 2022 through August 2024, he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and then Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, a portfolio with oversight over the U.S. Department of Defense’s strategic capabilities, including nuclear, space, missile defense, and cyber policy. For his service, he was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. His research interests include nuclear proliferation and strategy, North Korea’s nuclear weapons, South Asian security, and general security studies.

Grad students, mark your calendars! Join us on Friday, May 9th, for our final of this year. Professors Matfess and Das will lead this immersive crisis simulation, during which participants will represent competing (or collaborating!) entities based around Iranian nuclear proliferation/disarmament. We’ll bring the food, you bring the negotiation skills. Click on the link in our bio to secure your spot—we’ll see you on the 9th!

The Sié Center is thrilled to announce that Carla Dirlikov Canales will be returning to Korbel to teach a special two-credit course on cultural diplomacy this spring quarter! 🌏🎶🖼️🎭

This graduate-level course will provide an in-depth look at how the arts and culture have been harnessed by nations, communities and individuals to advance positive social impact worldwide. Starting with a history of cultural diplomacy (using examples both from the United States and countries around the world), participants will then gain experience organizing cultural diplomatic events and initiatives at various scales and discuss how this important foreign policy tool can be implemented in the real world.

Students, you can register for INTS 4710.1 “Cultural Diplomacy: The Power of the Arts for Social Change” via MyDU.
Community members or students who wish to audit the course for zero credits, you can register for free on Crimson Connect at the link in our bio! 🔗

New event alert! 🚨

On Tuesday, April 8th, join us at 5:30pm in Maglione Hall for selections of award-winning film “the bomb” and a conversation with its creators Smriti Keshari and Eric Schlosser. Keshari and Schlosser will then discuss the film and the current state of nuclear security with Korbel’s resident expert Dr. Debak Das (and moderation by Dr. Marie Berry), followed by audience Q&A. Mark your calendars, bring your questions, come hungry (we’ll be serving dinner!) and register to attend at the Crimson Connect link in our bio! 🔗

Doors will open at 5 for folks to find their seats and grab a bite to eat. We’ll see you there!

Missed our previous post? “the bomb” has also been transformed by its creators into an interactive art installation, which we’re hosting at the DU Community Commons Art Gallery from April 1st-18th. Join us at the gallery on the 1st for an opening reception and experience the show firsthand!

On this final Friday of Winter Quarter 2025, we’re spotlighting the recent publication from two of our faculty members: Drs. Debak Das and Rachel Epstein! 💡📝🖥️

Just this morning, Foreign Policy published their piece “An Unreliable America Means More Countries Want the Bomb.” In it, Das and Epstein discuss the destabilizing effects that shifting U.S. security policies are having on the rest of the world, particularly Europe and Asia. New U.S. relationships with NATO and Russia will have very real effects on the nuclear regimes of other countries, the authors argue. Swipe to read some key takeaways and click on the link in our bio to read the full article! 🔗

As this quarter wraps up, stay tuned for more from the Sié Center and Korbel about our upcoming “Nuclear Spring.” Public programming, classroom visits, and more to follow!