As part of the Frank Church Institute‘s “Fridays with Frank” series – biweekly lectures that stream on Fridays – the institute will present its 37th annual Frank Church Conference from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20. The theme for the conference is “How Do Democracies Survive and Thrive in the 21st Century?”
Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, will deliver the keynote speech. Diamond writes a monthly column for “The American Interest” and consults on policies and programs to promote democracy around the world.
“This year’s Frank Church Conference continues the ‘Fridays with Frank’ series on the democracy theme as part of the institute’s long tradition of offering speakers and programming at Boise State,” said Garry Wenske, executive director of the institute. “And we invite all the Boise State community to join us.”
The conference will include two panels on the theme of democracy: (8 a.m.) “Hungary: A Case Study in Democracy” with panelists Andras Simonyi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council of the U.S. and at the George Washington University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science; Melissa Hooper, director of the human rights and civil society program at Human Rights First; and Chase Johnson, a political consultant and former Research Associate at the Frank Church Institute. Diamond will deliver the keynote following this panel at 10 a.m.
A second panel, Cyber Security and Democracy (1 p.m.), will feature Zachary Tudor, associate laboratory director of Idaho National Laboratory’s National and Homeland Security directorate; Sin Ming Loo, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Boise State; Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.; and Thomas Beckwith, an international corporate consultant who has held executive positions with several transformative technology companies.
The conference is free and no registration is required in advance. To access the conference on Friday, visit this website and view the sessions under “November 20 Frank Church Conference.” The sessions also will be recorded and posted for later viewing.