Upcoming Events

The Southeast Michigan World Affairs Council Presents: “U.S.AID; One Year Later” featuring Michelle Barrett, Senior International Development Executive.

January 27, 6:00 - 9:00

Birmingham Unitarian Church, 38651 Woodward Ave. (located on the

West Side of Woodward, just around the corner enter from Lone Pine Rd.

A SPECIAL EVENT FOR SEMIWAC MEMBERS

This is a specia; event for official members of the Southeast Michigan World Affairs Council. To become a member, click on Membership Page.

January 27, 2026 - “U.S.AID; One Year Later” featuring Michelle Barrett

“U.S.AID; One Year Later” featuring Michelle Barrett, Senior International Development Executive. Michelle will offer a rare, insider’s perspective on the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission leadership during the pivotal period from January to September 2025. She will reflect on her career as well as USAID’s longstanding role in advancing U.S. national security and global stability

Michelle Barrett is a career Foreign Service Officer having served for over twenty years with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), most recently as Deputy Mission Director for USAID/West Africa. She has led large, multi-country initiatives across Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Asia. She is a Michigan native with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a Master’s in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.

*This Program is not sponsored by and may not reflect the views of the Birmingham Unitarian Church

February 19, 2026 - Ambassador Paul Jones

Ambassador Jones served as US Ambassador to Poland, US Ambassador to Malaysia, Chief of Mission in Pakistan, as well as assignments in Moscow, Vienna, Sarajevo, Skopje, Manila, and Bogota, during a 33-year diplomatic career. In Washington, he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ambassador Jones is a board member of the US-Philippines society and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and American Academy of Diplomacy. He was the first US Ambassador to Malaysia to be conferred the honorary title of 'Dato’. He is the recipient of the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for Peace Building, the Presidential Meritorious Service Award, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Honor Award, and several Superior Honor Awards.

March 18, 2026 - Melanie Sisson

Melanie W. Sisson is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy program’s Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology where her current work focuses on U.S. nuclear strategy and the role of nuclear weapons in foreign policy. Author of many books her latest is “The United States, China and the Competition for Control” that considers whether the United States and the People's Republic of China have irreconcilable visions of world order. She has an M.A. from Columbia University and a Ph.D from the University of Colorado.

April 15, 2026 - Roy Gutman

Roy Gutman is a Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist who spent five years reporting on the Middle East for McClatchy digital media company as Baghdad bureau chief and as Middle East bureau chief. Previously, his reporting on ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina, won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, the George Polk Award for foreign reporting, and the Selden Ring Award for investigative reporting. His latest book focuses on ISIS “How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan".

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