Join us in mentoring the next generation! The WFPG's Annual Mentoring Fairs in DC and NY provide an opportunity for students and young professionals to meet with international affairs professionals and learn from their career experiences. This year's New York fair will be co-sponsored by and held at New York University. Many thanks to all of our DC Mentors!
Apply to be an NY mentor
Join us as a student/YP
Author Series
On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines—and Future
Karen Elliott House, Author and Former Publisher of The Wall Street Journal
February 27, 2013 | Washington, DC
March 11, 2013 | New York, NY
WFPG invites you to join us for a program with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Karen Elliott House. Ms. House has spent the last thirty years writing about Saudi Arabia as diplomatic correspondent, foreign editor, and then as publisher of The Wall Street Journal. In this program, she will explore all facets of life in Saudi Arabia and analyze the maze in which Saudi citizens find themselves trapped to reveal the mysterious nation that is the world’s largest exporter of oil, critical to global stability, and a source of Islamic terrorists. There will be a book signing with Ms. House after the program.
View invitations and register for 2/27 DC or 3/11 NY
Save the Date
International Women's Day Luncheon
March 7, 2013 | Washington, DC
The United Nations Foundation, UN Information Center in Washington, DC, and the WFPG invite you to join us for our annual International Women's Day Luncheon. The program will be held at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel—Invitation and details to follow
View Save the Date
Recent Events
Foreign Policy and National Security Challenges
for the Second Obama Administration
Karen DeYoung, Senior National Security Correspondent, The Washington Post
David E. Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent, The New York Times
January 28, 2013 | Washington, DC
Journalists Karen DeYoung and David Sanger joined WFPG and NYU Washington DC for a discussion on the numerous foreign policy and national security issues facing the second Obama administration. These included unrest in Syria, the transition in Afghanistan, threats from Iran and North Korea, and the situation in Mali. Photos | Video
Burma Reborn and Full of Hope
Barbara Crossette, author and journalist
January 10, 2013 | New York, NY
Barbara Crossette, United Nations correspondent of The Nation and author of several books on Asia, briefed the Women’s Foreign Policy Group on Burma Reborn and Full of Hope. Crossette addressed the current internal situation in Burma, as well as its relations with Burma's neighbors and the US. She also highlighted potential challenges facing the country in regards to minorities, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and the economy. Crossette does, however, believe in the Burmese people and has high hopes for Burma’s future. Photos
State Department Series
Women, Girls and Public Diplomacy
Tara Sonenshine, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
December 5, 2012 | Washington, DC
Tara Sonenshine, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, spoke with WFPG members and guests about women, girls, and public diplomacy. Her remarks included highlights from her recent trips to the Dominican Republic, Japan, Turkey, and Bosnia, as well as explanations of State Department programs to empower women through leadership programs, pursuing jobs in STEM fields, sports diplomacy and entrepreneurship initiatives. Read more
Photos | Transcript
Turkey's Role in Syria and the Region
Pelin Gundes-Bakir, Member of the Turkish Parliament
November 29, 2012 | Washington, DC
WFPG and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations hosted Member of the Turkish Parliament Pelin Gundes-Bakir (AKP), who spoke on Turkey's role in Syria and the region at a luncheon at the Capitol Hill Club. In her remarks, Bakir discussed Syria's attacks on Turkey, thieir request for NATO patriot missiles, the state of the 120,000 Syrian refugees within Turkey's borders, and the financial strain that the refugees camps are placing on their economy. Photos | Video
Embassy Series
Jordan and Developments in the Region
H.E. Alia Hatoug-Bouran, Ambassador of Jordan to the US
November 27, 2012 | Washington, DC
Jordanian Ambassador Alia Hatoug-Bouran joined New York Times Pentagon Correspondent Elisabeth Bumiller for a conversation on Jordan and developments in the region. Ambassador Hatoug-Bouran’s remarks covered the economic crisis and protests resulting from increased gas prices, Jordan’s response to the crisis, the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis, and US-Jordanian relations. Read more
Photos | Transcript
How Have Women's Political Rights Fared in Egypt?
November 16, 2012 | Washington, DC
WFPG hosted a panel discussion on how women’s political rights have fared in Egypt with Zainab Al-Suwaij of the American Islamic Congress, Yassmine ElSayed Hani of Al Akhbar daily newspaper and Nancy Okail of Freedom House. Their remarks included a discussion on controversial portions of the new draft constitution relating to women, developmental and economic issues, and issues surrounding the unification and mobilization of women’s rights activists. Read more
Photos | Video
Embassy Series
UK Foreign Policy Priorities and Transatlantic Relations
Sir Peter Westmacott, British Ambassador to the US
November 1, 2012 | Washington, DC
British Ambassador to the United States Sir Peter Westmacott spoke to WFPG on UK Foreign Policy Priorities and Transatlantic Relations at an Embassy Series event moderated by Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent. WFPG members and guests enjoyed a cocktail reception at the residence of the Ambassador, followed by a program that touched on UK foreign policy concerns as well as the security, political, and economic dimensions of the transatlantic alliance. Read more
Photos
Major Foreign Policy Challenges Facing the Next Administration
Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University
November 1, 2012 | Washington, DC
Anne-Marie Slaughter addressed WFPG on the foreign policy challenges and priorities for a second-term Obama administration, as well as some of the challenges that could possibly emerge in the future. Slaughter highlighted climate change and immigration—two hold-over issues from the previous term—as key items on President Obama’s agenda. She believes climate change became a much higher priority in the wake of Super Storm Sandy and the President’s failure to pass a cap-and-trade bill during his first term. Read more
Photos | Transcript
Board of Directors Announcements
WFPG Welcomes New Director Donna McLarty
Donna Cochran McLarty is an advocate for national and international efforts to support women, children and families. With a strong emphasis on cross-cultural understanding, she encourages international education and supports cultural diplomacy and interfaith dialogue. McLarty is a founding member and board co-chair emeritus of the Vital Voices Global Partnership. She currently serves on the executive committee and as a liaison with the Clinton School of Public Service, where she and her husband have endowed the McLarty Global Fellowship program, which enables students and faculty to work with Vital Voices’ projects. A former trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and a creator of the AmericArtes Festival, she continues to serve on their International Committee. She also serves on the Blair House Board of Trustees, the World Conference of Religions for Peace, the Meridian Council on Women’s Leadership, the Women’s Forum of Conservation International, and co-chairs the Global Initiatives Council at Wesley Theological Seminary.
WFPG Mourns the Loss of Former Board Member Catherine O'Neill
December 30, 2012—Catherine O’Neill, whose travels with the International Rescue Committee to refugee camps led her, along with the actress Liv Ullmann and others, to found the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 70. The cause was complications of cancer, her husband, the writer Richard Reeves, said. ...Catherine graduated from St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn and taught for a year as a Roman Catholic missionary in La Grange, Tex. She later earned a master’s degree in social work from Howard University in Washington and a second master’s, in international affairs, from Columbia. In 1999, Kofi Annan, then secretary general of the United Nations, appointed Ms. O’Neill director of the United Nations Information Center in Washington, a job she held until her retirement in 2007. Read the full obituary on The New York Times