Eddy Lecture Series

This lecture took place on November 13, 2024 at 7 pm in Benes Room AB.  Please watch for the link to view the recoreded lecture.

Gaza and America's Role in the Middle East

Marc Lynch, Ph.D., political science professor at George Washington University and visiting scholar at The Ohio State University's Mershon Center, presents Ohio Wesleyan's 35th annual John Kennard Eddy Memorial Lecture on World Politics.

This year this lecture is co-sponsored by the Sagan National Colloquium.

John Kennard Eddy

Class of 1990

November 6, 1967 – September 23, 1988

John Kennard "Jeff" Eddy was a junior majoring in politics and government, attending a twelve-college Russian Studies Seminar at Oberlin College with several other Ohio Wesleyan students and professors, when a reckless driver smashed head-on into their car, killing him, Bill Kroener and Jay Riesz. The previous spring, his long term fascination with politics and history combined with a new maturity to turn him on intellectually. He had always read voraciously— magazines, novels, non-fiction—and watched TV and movies—all to fuel his mind for endless political debate. He was so excited about the Russian Studies weekend.

Born and raised in Short Hills, New Jersey, and a 1986 graduate of the Pingry School in Martinsville, he was the beloved son of John and Ellen Eddy and brother of Hilary Lafferty. He spent many summers in Maine, learning and then teaching sailing, his great passion. 

Jeff had such a distinctive style of dress, posture and speech that he was always noticed in a group and his keen eye for individual idiosyncrasies of speech or movement, perfect mimicry and outrageous word choice made his storytelling legendary.

He loved his friends, called them by special names, listened hard to their troubles and actively sympathized and helped. He was an enthusiastic Beta brother and social chairman at the time of his death. Jeff always knew how to create parties.

He was born with a strong sense of justice, honesty and a deadly eye for sham and pretense. He lived by these values. His last summer he talked of a career in government service, maybe the FBI or Secret Service, in order to combat some of the evil in the world. After OWU he was going to law school or into the Navy.

It seems appropriate to us, his family and friends, to remember our intelligent, committed, witty young man by sponsoring this lecture on World Politics, the ruling interest in his life.

Ellen Eddy, April 1989

Ryan Hass  
Brookings Institution, Director of the John L. Thornton China Center and the Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies
"Are the US and China Destined for Conflict?" View recording  

Yoshiko Herrera
Professor of Political Science at Wisconsin Madison University 
Russia's War Against Ukraine

Navin A. Bapat
Dowd Professor in Political Science and the Chair of the Curriculum of Peace, War, and Defense at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Afghanistan and the End of the War on Terror

Joshua Rovner
Associate Professor at the School of International Service at American University
Democracy in the Shadow of Foreign Meddling
Rovner spoke at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 via an online Zoom lecture. Watch his presentation here.

John Overpeck
Dean of the School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
Global Climate Change, Water Security and Ecosystem Disruption: Higher Scientific Confidence Than You Might Think

Julianne Smith
George Marshall Fund, former National Security Adviser to Vice-President Joe Biden Defining Moment of Déjà Vu? The Future of the Transatlantic Relationship

Beth Simmons
Andrea Mitchell University Professor in Law and Political Science, University of Pennsylvania 
The Future of Human Rights

Sumit Ganguly
Rabindranath Tagore Chair of Indian Cultures and Civilizations; Director, Center on American and Global Security, Indiana University
The Significance of South Asia for World Politics

Mark R. Beissinger
Henry W. Putnam Professor, Politics, Princeton;  Director, Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies
Ukraine, Russia and the End of the Post-Cold War Political Order

Douglas Brinkley
Professor of History, Rice University; Bestselling Author and Presidential Historian for CBS News
Vietnam, Walter Cronkite and Today's Foreign Policy Lessons

Complete Speaker List