California State University, Fullerton, OC Forum, & The World Affairs Council of Orange County present:

2024

Royce International Symposium

Hosted by the Department of Political Science at CSUF, Mr. Ed Royce, along with other distinguished speakers, will focus on China, Russia, and their interactions in Africa and their Triangular Alliance with Iran.

Date & Time:

Friday, March 8, 2024

10:00 am: Student Panel

11:15 am Welcome & Recognition of International Women’s Day

11:30-12:45: Lunch & Keynote by Ed Royce

12:45 pm: Student Research Award

1:00 pm: Break

1:15 pm: China/Russia/Africa Panel

2:30 pm: Break

2:45 pm: China/Russia/Iran Panel

4:00 pm: Closing remarks

Location:

The Richard Nixon Library and Museum

18001 Yorba Linda Blvd.

Yorba Linda, CA 92886

Website:

https://www.fullerton.edu/roycesymposium/event-info/

Keynote Speaker:

Ed Royce

Ed Royce is a foreign policy, national security, and international business problem solver. Unparalleled relationships with U.S. government officials and sovereign leaders.

Ed Royce leverages his exceptional understanding of world trends and high-level relationships with global leaders to creatively solve problems, unlock value and expand market opportunities for clients domestically and internationally. He represented southern Californians in the U.S. House of Representatives for 26 years, chairing the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) from 2013-2019. Ed also served as a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, where he led efforts to enact regulatory reforms impacting insurers, credit unions and housing finance.

Ed is active in promoting strong U.S. development and commercial engagement overseas. He serves on the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and on the Development Advisory Council of the Development Finance Corporation.

Panelists:

Dr. Heidi Hardt

Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine

Dr. Heidi Hardt is a 2021-2022 Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow (CFR-TIRS) in the U.S. State Department while on sabbatical from her job as an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. Her research examines transatlantic security, European security and defense and international institutions, including NATO, the European Union and the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe. Hardt has authored two books: NATO’s Lessons in Crisis: Institutional Memory in International Organization and Time to React: The Efficiency of International Organizations in Crisis Response (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Dr. Hardt is also a member of the World Affairs Council of Orange County.

Dana W. White

Senior Managing Director, Ankura

Dana White is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura and leads the Global Strategic Advisory group, which includes McLarty Associates. She is based in Washington, DC. Previously, Ms. White served as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and the Chief Pentagon Spokesperson for the Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis. In that capacity, she provided strategic public relations and media guidance to all branches of the U.S. armed services, combatant commands and their senior military, and civilian and political leadership. She also served as a professional staff member on the Armed Services Committee of the United States Senate under Senator John S. McCain as a foreign policy advisor on his 2008 presidential campaign.

Ms. White graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in East Asian languages and civilizations and studied at Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. She is proficient in Mandarin Chinese and French and possesses basic proficiency in Korean.

Dr. Teresa Wright
Professor of Political Science, California State University, Long Beach

Teresa Wright received her B.A. in Political Science at Santa Clara University, and her M.A. and PhD in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Since 1996, she has taught at Cal State Long Beach and served as department chair from 2009-2021. Dr. Wright’s research focuses on state-society relations, protest and dissent, and the relationship between capitalism and democracy—particularly in China and Taiwan. She has worked as a Visiting Scholar at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan and the East-West Center in Honolulu. From 2012-2022, she served on the Editorial Board of the China Quarterly.

Dr. Kelechi Kalu

Professor of Political Science, University of California, Riverside

Dr. Kelechi A. Kalu holds a Ph.D. (1997) in International Studies from the Joseph Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver.

His research and teaching interests are in International Politics, African Political Economy and U.S. Africa Relations. He is widely published and has served as a consultant to the World Bank on Public Sector Governance and to the Asian Development Bank on Managing Sustainable Development in Resource-Rich Countries. He is a recipient of grants from The Ford Foundation, The Mershon Center and The Korea Foundation. He is co-editor and contributor of West Africa and the U.S. War on Terror (Routledge, 2013), Territoriality, Citizenship and Peacebuilding: Perspectives on Challenges to Peace in Africa (UK: Adonis and Abbey, 2013) and United States–Africa Security Relations (Routledge, 2014).

Sean K. O’Neill
Foreign Policy Advisor, U.S. Marine Corps

Sean Kotaro O’Neill began his appointment as the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps in July 2023.  A member of the Senior Foreign Service, Mr. O’Neill previously served as the U.S. Consul General in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Mr. O’Neill served as a State Department fellow on the staff of the Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs during the 114th and 115th Congress, focusing on Indo-Pacific policy and oversight of U.S. government foreign-affairs operations. Earlier in his career, Mr. O’Neill served as a watch officer in the State Department’s Operations Center, briefing the Secretary of State and senior leadership on major events and operations.  He is a native New Yorker who worked as a capital markets attorney in New York and Tokyo before joining the Foreign Service in the wake of 9/11.  He received a B.A. from Tulane University and a J.D. from Fordham University’s School of Law.  In his career, Mr. O’Neill has studied Thai, Chinese, Burmese, Bengali and Japanese.