Eye of the Hawk Lecture Series
The Eye of the Hawk lecture series was developed as a way to bring the UND community together to discuss important topics with preeminent experts.
The Series provides unique educational opportunities through seminars and lectures. It brings perspectives from visiting scholars or experts in a given field to UND and provides learning activities or content that would be unavailable without endowment support. Lectures engage the UND community as well as the larger regional community, in a shared learning activity that adds value to the UND experience.
The series is in its seventh year.
2024: Edward O'Keefe Eye of the Hawk Lecture
A Grand Forks native, Edward F. O’Keefe spent two decades in broadcast and digital media at ABC News, CNN, and NowThis, during which time he received a Primetime Emmy Award for his work with Anthony Bourdain, two Webby Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and a George Foster Peabody Award for ABC’s coverage of 9/11. Focusing again on North Dakota, O’Keefe is now the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, and his newly published book, The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President, reveals how TR was profoundly shaped by the women in his life.
2023: Tawakkol Karman Eye of the Hawk Lecture
UND College of Arts & Sciences welcomed Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Tawakkol Karman, to campus in Fall 2023. Her speech was titled “Tyranny and the Future of Democracy.”
Past Eye of the Hawk Speakers
UND has been honored to have heard from many of the nation and world’s most preeminent experts in their fields on various topics that have been of interest to the UND and greater community. Below is information on many of our past Eye of the Hawk lectures.
- “Access, collaboration and retention,” featuring Nathan Grawe, economist at Carleton College. Held in October 2021 at the North Dakota Museum of Art.
- “How colleges can keep the American Dream alive” featuring author and professor Tressie McMillan Cottom. Hosted by the College of Arts & Sciences. Held in March, 2021 as an online event. A video of the speech can be found at: https://vimeo.com/522909103.
- "Knowing the dangers" featuring William N. Bryan, acting under secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s research and development directorate. Held in March, 2019 at the Gorecki Alumni Center.
- “Global Affairs and the ‘Red Dragon’ of Asia” featuring Hal Brands, Johns Hopkins global affairs expert, former Defense Secretary staffer. Held in November, 2018 at the Gorecki Alumni Center. Hosted by the College of Business & Public Administration and sponsored by BankNorth.
- “China’s role in innovation, North Dakota trade and higher education” featuring Scott Kennedy, deputy director of the Freeman Chair in China Studies and director of the Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Held in April, 2018 at the Gorecki Alumni Center. Hosted by the College of Engineering & Mines and sponsored by Great River Energy.
- “How China Impacts North Dakota and Your Future” featuring James McGregor, chairman of the greater China region for APCO Worldwide, a leading global public affairs consultancy. Held in January, 2017 at the Gorecki Alumni Center.