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“Overcoming American Tribalism: Healing America through Common Purpose”

Today (Feb. 16) at noon, the Office of the Provost and the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence will host the second installment in the North Star Seminar series. The event will feature Reuben E. Brigety II, the 17th vice-chancellor and president of the University of the South and former U.S. ambassador to the African Union.

Brigety’s talk is titled “Overcoming American Tribalism: Healing America through Common Purpose” and will feature a robust conversation on how universities, society and private citizens can better lead during these fractured times and develop a stronger sense of constructive civic habits. His talk will borrow heavily from his new work around the area of adopting important leadership lessons from the realm of diplomacy in our collective civic dialogue. The event will be followed by an interactive Q&A session. 

This session will be moderated by Provost and Executive Vice President Ben Vinson III and Jonathan H. Adler, the Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law. This event is sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library.

Register for the event through CampusGroups.

About Reuben E. Brigety II

Before becoming vice-chancellor and president of the University of the South, Brigety served as dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. Prior to becoming dean in 2015, Brigety served as U.S. ambassador to the African Union for two years. In that role, he managed the strategic partnership between the United States and the African Union with an emphasis on democracy and governance, economic growth and development. He also served as the permanent representative of the United States to the UN Economic Commission for Africa; and, earlier, as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of African Affairs, with responsibility for Southern African and regional security affairs.

Prior to his work in the policy arena, Brigety was an assistant professor of government and politics at George Mason University and before that taught international relations at the School of International Service at American University. Before entering academia, he conducted research missions in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch.  

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Brigety is a 1995 distinguished midshipman graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a master’s degree in philosophy and a PhD in international relations from the University of Cambridge.