https://www.fpa.org/great_decisions/?act=gd_topics
Great Decisions 2026
Our North Hills Pittsburgh branch of AAUW has sponsored the Great Decisions program for over forty years. Great Decisions is a program developed by the Foreign Policy Association which provides communities with a unique opportunity to learn about issues of global importance in an engaging and interactive format. This seven-week program begins on the first Saturday in February and continues for the next six consecutive Saturdays.
Great Decisions March 21, 2026
AAUW North Hills Pittsburgh, proud sponsor of the Foreign Policy Association’s
Great Decisions program for over forty years, is pleased to share the 6th and final session for 2026!
What: Our topic is: “The Future of Human Rights and International Law in a Divided World”
Our Guest Speaker will be Mark Lagon, Chief Policy Officer at Friends of the Global Fight and adjunct professor at Georgetown University
When: Saturday, March 21st 2026, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Where: La Roche University, Wright Library-Fisher Room or Zoom (link below)
Mark P. Lagon is a thought leader on global institutions, human rights, global health and human trafficking.
He is Chief Policy Officer at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria—where he coordinates the non-profit’s Administration and congressional policy advocacy for global health investments; research; and partnerships with civil society, the private sector, and the faith community.
He is also currently Adjunct Professor in the Masters of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) Program at Georgetown University and adjunct Senior Fellow at the faith-based Trinity Forum.
In the non-governmental organization world, in addition to Friends, he served as CEO of Freedom House, and previously CEO of the leading anti-human trafficking nonprofit, Polaris.
In the executive branch of the U.S. government, he served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large directing the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; Deputy Assistant Secretary of International Organization Affairs; and member of the Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State under President George W. Bush.
Earlier, in the legislative branch, he was senior staffer at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee responsible for international organizations and human rights; and served as senior staff for the House leadership in the Gingrich-Gephardt era.
In academia and the think tank world, he was Global Politics and Security Chair for Georgetown’s Masters of Science in Foreign Service Program, and Adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights and Global Governance at the Council on Foreign Relations.
He is co-editor with Anthony Clark Arend of the 2014 book, Human Dignity and the Future of Global Institutions. He also authored the 1994 book, The Reagan Doctrine: Sources of American Conduct in the Cold War’s Last Chapter.
He received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University, and A.B. from Harvard University—both in political science.
NHP Moderator is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Great Decisions – Session #6
Time: Mar 21, 2026 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 811 6452 4023
Passcode: 284377
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Past Sessions
Saturday, March 14th 2026
AAUW North Hills Pittsburgh, proud sponsor of the Great Decisions program for over forty years, is pleased to share the 5th session in our 2026 season!
What: Our topic is: “Ukraine and European Security”
Our Guest Speaker will be
Dr. Soren Fanning from Robert Morris University
Dr. Soren Fanning is an Associate Professor of World History at Robert Morris University, where he specializes in issues of national identity formation, comparative history, and methods of imperial governance. Before moving to Pittsburgh in 2010, Dr. Fanning was a high school teacher of both history and world cultures in Chicago, Illinois, and Toledo, Ohio. He earned his B.A. and M.Ed. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his Ph.D. in history from Bowling Green State University. He has spent 24 years teaching at both the secondary and collegiate levels. Dr. Fanning has published articles on comparative North American history and the role of law enforcement in colonial settlement, and was awarded the RMU Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching.
When: Saturday, March 14th 2026, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Where: La Roche University, PSC room 101 or Zoom (link below)
NHP Moderator is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Great Decisions 2026 – Session #5
Time: Mar 14, 2026 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Passcode: 735140
Great Decisions March 7, 2026
What: Our topic is: “U.S. Engagement of Africa”
Our Guest Speaker will be
Dr. Innocent Badasu from the University of Pittsburgh
When: Saturday, March 7th 2026, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Where: La Roche University, PSC room 101 or Zoom
Our guest speaker:
Dr. Innocent Badasu is a Visiting Assistant Professor of African Politics in the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Badasu earned his PhD and MA in International Relations from the University of Ghana; LLM in International Law from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland. He has taught at the graduate and undergraduate level in a number of universities in Ghana: University of Ghana, Lancaster University, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and the Ghana Armed Forces Staff and Command College.
As a scholar- practitioner, his teaching and research interests focus on Africa’s political history, African political economy, African agency in international politics, electoral politics and democratization, US foreign policy in Africa, migration and the Global south issues. He is also interested in protest movements, political violence, refugee studies and international security with emphasis on Africa. He is currently working on a book project titled Losers Consent in African Elections: Evidence from Ghana and Kenya. In this book, he seeks to explore the complex interrelated factors that shape the decision making of candidates and political parties in consenting to an electoral loss and how other political actors matter in preventing post-election violence.
During his doctoral studies, he received grants and funding support from the World Bank and the Elliot School of International Affairs, three-time winner of the Social Science Research Council Fellowship, African Studies Association(ASA)-Carnegie Fellow and served as visiting scholar at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies-Geneva, Switzerland.
He has served as senior political adviser at the UK Foreign Office, senior policy adviser to the ECOWAS Special Envoy on Counter-terrorism and recently, he convened a High Level Panel on democratic decline in West Africa, as a side event for the joint African Union-ECOWAS meeting on Unconstitutional Change of Government in Africa. He has served on international Election Observation Missions in West and East African countries aimed at deepening democratic governance. He provides expert commentary on African politics on various media platforms such as South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC), Voice of America (VOA).
NHP Moderator is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Great Decisions – March 7th
Time: Mar 7, 2026 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Great Decisions Feb. 28, 2026
What: Our topic is “U.S. China Relations in the new Trump Era”
When: Saturday, February 28th , 2026, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Where: La Roche University, PSC room 101 or Zoom (link below)
Our guest speaker will be Dr. Mark Haas from Duquesne University.
Mark L. Haas is the Duquesne Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He formerly was a National Security Fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies and an International Security Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, both at Harvard University. Dr. Haas received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Virginia and his B.A. in political science, economics, and history from Duke University. He is the author of numerous books including: The Geriatric Peace: Population Aging and the Decline of War (Oxford University Press, 2025); Frenemies: When Ideological Enemies Ally (Cornell University Press, 2022); The Clash of Ideologies: Middle Eastern Politics and American Security (Oxford University Press, 2012); The Ideological Origins of Great Power Politics, 1789- 1989 (Cornell University Press, 2005), and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Ideology and International Relations (Routledge Press, 2023); The Middle East and the United States: History, Politics, and Ideologies (Routledge, 2018, sixth edition) and The Arab Spring: The Hope and Reality of the Uprisings (Routledge, 2017). Dr. Haas’s scholarly articles have appeared in International Security, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, The National Interest, The Washington Quarterly, and The Review of Politics, and his opinion pieces have been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The International Tribune Review, and our very own Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
Great Decisions Feb. 21, 2026
What: The topic is “Ruptured Alliances and the Risk of Nuclear Proliferation”
When: Saturday, February 21st, 2026 – 9:30-11:00am
Where: In person at La Roche University or on Zoom (link below)
Our guest speaker will be Dr. Soren Fanning, Roberty Morris University
Dr. Soren Fanning is an Associate Professor of World History at Robert Morris University, where he specializes in issues of national identity formation, comparative history, and methods of imperial governance. Before moving to Pittsburgh in 2010, Dr. Fanning was a high school teacher of both history and world cultures in Chicago, Illinois, and Toledo, Ohio. He earned his B.A. and M.Ed. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his Ph.D. in history from Bowling Green State University. He has spent 24 years teaching at both the secondary and collegiate levels. Dr. Fanning has published articles on comparative North American history and the role of law enforcement in colonial settlement, and was awarded the RMU Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching in 2017.
NHP Moderator is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Great Decisions 2026 – Dr. Soren Fanning
Time: Feb 21, 2026 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Great Decisions Feb. 14, 2026
Please join us to examine the topic;
“America and the World: Trump 2.0 Foreign Policy”
Information and Zoom link below
Our guest speaker will be:
Professor Ross Harrison from the University of Pittsburgh
Ross Harrison is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. He is also on the faculty in the Political Science department at the University of Pittsburgh, where he teaches Middle East politics and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East. For over 15 years, Harrison was Professor in the Practice of International Affairs at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Harrison authored Strategic Thinking in 3D: A Guide for National Security, Foreign Policy and Business Professionals, which has been a required strategy text at the U.S. National War College, as well as at many civilian universities. He co-edited with Paul Salem a 2017 book, From Chaos to Cooperation: Toward Regional Order in the Middle East and in 2023 Salem and Harrison released the 2nd edition of Escaping the Conflict Trap: Toward Ending Civil Wars in the Middle East.
Harrison has just released a new book on Iran’s foreign policy titled Decoding Iran’s Foreign Policy: Strategic Interests, Power, which was published by Bloomsbury of London during the Summer of 2025. The book draws on his meetings with senior Iranian officials, including several meetings with both the late Iranian President Raisi and current President Pezeshkian, plus their respective Foreign Ministers. He also interviewed many current and former officials close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamanie. Harrison has been widely published in policy related journals such as The National Interest, Al Monitor, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Orient, Al-Jazeera, Orient, al Majalla, and Parameters, and his work has been cited in The New York Times.
Here is the link to Professor Harrison’s most recent book, https://www.amazon.com/Decoding-Irans-Foreign-Policy-Strategic/dp/0755646053
Schedule 2026
It is almost Great Decisions season once again, and as of early December, we have a speaker for four of our six Saturday sessions:
- U.S.-China Relations Trade Rivalry, a discussion focused on both security motives as well as the tariff situation. (Dr. Mark Haas, Duquesne University)
This topic is scheduled for our first session, Saturday, February 7th, 2026.
- America and the World: Trump 2.0 Foreign Policy, a discussion that will explore the implications of a return of Trump to the presidency and how it may reshape U.S. foreign policy. (Professor Ross Harrison, University of Pittsburgh)
This topic is scheduled for our second session, Saturday, February 14th, 2026.
- Ruptured Alliances and the risk of Nuclear Proliferation, a discussion focused on the consequences of weakened alliances & the implication for global security, specifically in regard to nuclear weapons. (Dr. Soren Fanning, Robert Morris University)
This topic is scheduled for our third session, Saturday, February 21st, 2026.
- U.S. Engagement of Africa, a discussion focusing on Africa’s growing geopolitical role, comparing U.S. and Chinese presence, and the tools of statecraft the U.S. might use to strengthen ties. (TBA)
This topic is scheduled for our fourth session, Saturday, February 28th, 2026.
- The Future of Human Rights and International Law, A look at the future of global cooperation amidst shifting power dynamics and rising nationalism. (TBA)
This topic is scheduled for our fifth session, Saturday, March 7th, 2026.
- Ukraine and the Future of European Security, a discussion on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its effects on European security. (Dr. Soren Fanning, Robert Morris University)
This topic is scheduled for Saturday, March 14th, 2026.
Our North Hills Pittsburgh branch of AAUW is proud to sponsor the largest discussion program on world affairs (put forth by the Foreign Policy Association) and we hope you will be able to join us on Saturday mornings to learn more about some of the most critical issues facing America today!
Great Decisions facilitators – Francie Cech, Fran Bogos, and Sister Rita Yeasted
What: Our topic is “U.S. China Relations in the new Trump Era”
When: Saturday, March 21, 2026, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Where: La Roche University, PSC room 101 or
Our guest speaker will be Dr. Mark Haas from Duquesne University Mark L. Haas is the Duquesne Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He formerly was a National Security Fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies and an International Security Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, both at Harvard University. Dr. Haas received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Virginia and his B.A. in political science, economics, and history from Duke University.
He is the author of numerous books including: The Geriatric Peace: Population Aging and the Decline of War (Oxford University Press, 2025); Frenemies: When Ideological Enemies Ally (Cornell University Press, 2022); The Clash of Ideologies: Middle Eastern Politics and American Security (Oxford University Press, 2012); The Ideological Origins of Great Power Politics, 1789-1989 (Cornell University Press, 2005), and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Ideology and International Relations (Routledge Press, 2023); The Middle East and the United States: History, Politics, and Ideologies (Routledge, 2018, sixth edition) and The Arab Spring: The Hope and Reality of the Uprisings (Routledge, 2017).
Dr. Haas’s scholarly articles have appeared in International Security, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, The National Interest, The Washington Quarterly, and The Review of Politics, and his opinion pieces have been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The International Tribune Review, and our very own Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
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