NEWS
NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma hosted Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, journalist and commentator Anne Applebaum for its spring Presidential Speaker Series dinner on Wednesday, March 25, at the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Applebaum, a Senior Fellow of International Affairs and Agora Fellow in Residence at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., engaged in a moderated conversation titled “Geopolitical Risk: Regionally and Globally.”
OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. began the evening with a keynote address, highlighting the recent historic growth at OU and the responsibilities of a great public research university.
“We have to teach individuals to become citizens and citizen leaders. It’s the reason we’re here tonight,” Harroz said. “All that we have that is based on democracy rests on a foundation that is not ever firm, not ever to be taken for granted and something that we have to work at.”
Applebaum was joined on stage for the conversation by Nicole and Evan H. Katz Endowed Professor of Journalism Mike Boettcher from the Gaylord College of Journalism.
She shared her perspectives on, and the implications of, many volatile current and historical world events. Among other topics, the talk detailed the impacts of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Applebaum’s experience witnessing the collapse of communism while living in Poland, the importance of citizen involvement in a democratic government and how authoritarian governments may utilize manipulation and exploitation to influence global affairs.
Applebaum’s book, Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World (2023) was a New York Times bestseller and recognized as a “Best Book of the Year” by multiple publications.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
The University of Oklahoma, partnering with the state of Oklahoma and academic and industry partners, has received funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation to build the nation’s first integrated platform for recovering critical minerals from existing oil and gas wells.
More Oklahoma families than ever will have a clear and affordable path to a University of Oklahoma education with the launch of OU Onward, a new scholarship that will help cover tuition and average fees at OU for qualifying Oklahoma students whose families earn between $60,000 and $75,000 annually.
Research published today in Cell identifies three small subclusters of cells driving pancreatic cancer-induced cachexia, a muscle-wasting and fat-loss condition that makes patients less tolerant of cancer treatment. The study, led by the University of Oklahoma, holds significant promise for the development of therapeutics to target these subclusters.
