Providing a Forum for Analysis & Dialogue on Critical Global Issues Fostering Educational & Professional Networks Among the St. Edward’s University Community, Austin & the World

On Tuesday March 23, 12:00 noon (CT), the Kozmetsky Center is pleased to welcome Dr. Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera to return to speak to the St. Edward’s University community on the topic “Impact of COVID19 on Migrant Communities.” Dr. Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera is Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University. Her areas of expertise are Mexico-U.S. relations, organized crime, immigration, border security, social movements and human trafficking. Her most recent book is titled Los Zetas Inc.: Criminal Corporations, Energy, and Civil War in Mexico (University of Texas Press, 2017; Spanish version: Planeta, 2018). Professor Correa-Cabrera is co-editor (with Victor Konrad) of the volume titled North American Borders in Comparative Perspective: Re-Bordering Canada, The United States of America and Mexico in the 21st Century (University of Arizona Press, 2020). Professor Correa-Cabera was the Principal Investigator of a recent research grant to study organized crime and trafficking in persons in Central America and along Mexico’s eastern migration routes supported by the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. She is currently working on a new book project that analyzes social movements, counterinsurgency tactics and migrant caravans, tentatively titled: The Networks of Mass Migrations, Social Protest and Counterinsurgency: Revising New Social Movement Theories. Dr. Correa-Cabrera is Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Non-resident Scholar at the Baker Institute’s Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University and past President of the Association for Borderlands Studies. She holds a Ph.D., M. Phil and M.A. in political science from The New School for Social Research, and a B.A. in economics from the Universidad Iberoamericana.

The Kozmetsky Center and the Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University will provide an update on our “Religion-Policy/Security Nexus” multi-year project and host a session “Exploring Religious Motivation and Justification for Comparative Violent Extremism” on Monday April 12, 12:00 noon (CT). Panelists will share research perspectives and findings on the ways in which texts and teachings of major religious traditions (Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and others) are distorted and exploited to justify extremist political violence. Invited speakers include Dr. John Jay LeBeau, twenty five year veteran U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) career professional, Chair Emeritus, Combatting Terrorism Workshop, Partnership for Peace Consortium and former Professor of International Security, University Massachusetts, Amherst and Professor of U.S. National Security Studies, Program on Terrorism and Security Studies, George C. Marshall Center, Dr. Kumar Ramakrishna, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Head of International Centre for Violence and Terrorism Research, Research Advisor to the National Security Studies Program, S. Rajaratham School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Dr. Maura Conway, Professor of International Security, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University (Ireland) and Director of VOX-Pol, a European Union funded consortium initiative on terrorist/violent extremist exploitation of the internet, Professor Matthew Feldman, Director Center for the Analysis of the Radical Right, The American University, London and Dr. Louie Dean Valencia-Garcia, Senior Fellow, Center for the Analysis of the Radical Right and Assistant Professor History, Texas State University. We will also be extending invitations to Dr. Kelley Colbentz-Bautch, Professor of Religious Studies, St. Edward’s University and Father Peter Walsh, Director St. Edward’s University Campus Ministry to offer their perspectives as discussants for the panel. Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou (Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University) will join us as co-moderator for the session.