The United States has been fortunate over its relatively short history to attract the best and the brightest to public service, providing America with its true competitive advantage: its people. But we cannot take this for granted. Changes in demographics, labor markets, the key drivers of the U.S. and global economies, and new technologies are forcing the Department of Defense, Army, and other military services to think creatively about how they more effectively attract the next generation of Americans to a life of public service. Eric Fanning, the 22nd Secretary of the Army, will share his story, discuss why students, faculty, and small business in the Columbus area could do more to contribute to our nation's security, and provide recommendations for how they should go about pursuing it. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/fanninge

King believed that racial injustice and economic injustice have always been linked in America. Tommie Shelby takes up the race-class nexus by considering King's analysis of ghetto poverty. Like Jim Crow segregation, ghetto conditions are a threat to dignity. But they are also incompatible with economic fairness and non-exploitative labor relations. Shelby discusses King's practical proposals for ending poverty in the United States and considers four principles of economic justice (each found in King's writings) that might justify these recommended remedies. He also takes up the question of what kind of egalitarian King was and whether he is best described as a socialist. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/shelbyt

Jason W. Moore is associate professor of sociology at Binghamton University, and coordinator of the World-Ecology Research Network. He writes frequently on the history of capitalism in Europe, Latin America, and the United States, from the 16th century to the neoliberal era. His latest book is Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital (Verso, 2015). In this lecture, Moore argues that rise of capitalism in the centuries after 1450 marked an environment-making revolution greater than any since the dawn of agriculture. Arguing that capitalism develops not only through economic process but by cultural and territorial conquests, Moore shows how the modern world was forged in a peculiar - and destructive - relation of work and energy. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/moorej

In the 1950s and '60s, the United States Information Agency shipped sound recordings and printed music all over the world. The USIA's music collections embodied an attractive portrait of America's ethnic and stylistic diversity: jazz, classical, folk, musical theater, and popular songs were well represented. This talk, given by Mershon affiliate  Danielle Fosler-Lussier of the School of Music as part of the 2016-17 Arts and Humanities Inaugural Lecture series, shows that the USIA's program not only documented American music as it was, but also offered incentives that meaningfully shaped its creation. Her research has been funded by several grants from the Mershon Center.  Read more and register

The Alexander Hamilton Society will be hosting a debate over the best policies with which to combat terrorism, whether it is home-grown, ISIS or al Qaeda-inspired, or ISIS/al Qaeda directly, at home or abroad. We will be featuring  Matthew Kroenig (left), associate professor in the Department of Government and School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and senior fellow in the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council, and Jason Keiber, assistant professor history and political science at Otterbein University. Faculty advisor and Mershon affiliate Peter Mansoor, Gen. Raymond E. Mason Chair in Military History, will be moderating. As always, we will be serving FREE Coke and Wings over products.  Read more and register

Headlines about the Middle East are part of our daily news cycle. There's political turnover, volatile oil prices, Islamic extremism, and a refugee crisis that affects the entire world. Join us as we explore current hot spots in the Middle East and U.S. policy implications for the new administration. Richard K. Herrmann, professor and chair of political science, concentrates on international relations, international security, and political psychology. He is also interim director of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, and has served as a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and on the Secretary of State's policy planning staff. Read more and register