Walter Picard Lecture

In recognition of the key role played by Walter Picard in securing German government approval and funding for the Harris German/Dartmouth Distinguished Visiting Professorship, a "Walter Picard Lecture" was established concurrently under the auspices of the program. Lecturers and topics in this series have so far included the following:

Past Lectures

• 1991: Ambassador Andreas Meyer-Landrut, Bonn: "Germany between East and West: Europe after the Cold War."
• 1992: Ambassador Immo Stabreit, Washington, DC: "Europe at the Crossroads."
• 1993: Professor Michael Wolffsohn (University of the Bundeswehr, Munich): "The Holocaust, Germany, AND Jewish Identity."
• 1994: Professor Klaus Zimmermann (Dean of the Faculty of Economics, University of Munich): "European Migration and the Changing Economy."
• 1995: Walther Leisler Kiep (Chair of the Atlantik-Brücke, Bonn, and Chancellor Kohl's Special Envoy to the U.S. Congress): "Sharing Responsibility in the Shaping of a New World Order."
• 1996: Professor Philip Zelikow (J.F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and former national security adviser to President Bush): "Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: Looking Back and Looking Forward."
• 1997: Jürgen Dormann (Chairman and CEO of Hoechst AG., Frankfurt/M.) "Economy's Globalization: A Challenge for Transatlantic Relations."
• 1998: Dr. Gebhard Schweigler (Inst. for International Politics and Security, Foundation for Science and Politics, Munich, and Konrad Adenauer Dist. Vis. Professor, Georgetown University) "The Atlantic Community: Fact or Fiction?"
• 1999: Dr. J. Wilhelm Gaddum (Dept. Chair, Deutsche Bundesbank, ret.) "The Common Market and the Euro: Steps toward a Political Union?"
• 2000: Professor Ludger Kühnhardt (Director, Center for European Studies, University of Bonn) "Europe in Search of its Constitution and Identity."
• 2001: Cancelled because of the events of September 11.
• 2002: Dr. Peter Frey (Journalist and Berlin Bureau Chief, ZDF German Television) "U.S. and European Relations after September 11."
• 2003: Professor Axel Boersch-Supan (Direktor, Univ. of Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging) "Aging: A Timebomb for Europe and the U.S.?"
• 2004: David T. Wolfson '73 (State Department: former U. S. Minister-Counselor for Politcal Affairs in Berlin) "Germany: In the Old or New Europe? A Diplomat's View."
• 2007: Joschka Fischer (former Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of the German Federal Republic) "Iran, Iraq, and the Future of the Middle East."
• 2008: Prof. Sibylle Quack (Leibniz University, Hannover) "Remembering the Holocaust in United Germany: The Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe."
• 2009: Dr. Klaus Töpfer (former Director General of the U.N. Environment Programme and founding Director, Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V., Potsdam) "Global Climate Change - Strategies for the post-Kyoto World."
• 2012: Ursula Hegi (Novelist and Professor of Fiction at SUNY-Southhampton, MFA Program) "Living on an Ever-Shifting Border: Language and Identity."
• 2013: Philip Murphy (U.S. Ambassador to Germany, 2009-2013) "The New Shape of Germany — Why It Matters to You."
• 2015 Professor Mary Sarotte (Univ. of Southern California), "The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall."
• 2016 Nikolas Stargardt (Oxford) "So What Were They Fighting For? Germans in World War II."
• 2023 Volker Schlöndorff - Academy Award Winning Film Director, Film screening and discussion of "The Voyager" and Round Table Discussion, "Filming the Lebanese War"