Phi Alpha Theta Induction & Honors and Awards Ceremony Slated for May 19th; Alum Dr. Geoffrey Gresh ’02 To Speak

The Lafayette History Department will host its Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society Induction as well as its annual Honors and Awards Ceremony over Zoom on May 19th, 2021 at 5:00pm. This event will welcome new inductees into Phi Alpha, honor award recipients, and serve as an end of the year celebration for those in the department.

The ceremony will also feature guest speaker and Class of 2002 alum, Dr. Geoffery Gresh, who currently works as a professor of International Relations at National Defense University in Washington D.C.. After his graduation from Lafayette with a dual degree in History and French, he received his Ph.D. in International Relations and MALD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. At the ceremony, his planned keynote speech is entitled “To Rule Eurasia’s Waves: A Past and Present Perspective on the New Great Power Competition at Sea.” A brief description of this topic is included below. 

“Eurasia’s emerging powers—India, China, and Russia—have increasingly embraced their maritime geographies as they have expanded and strengthened their economies, military capabilities, and global influence. Maritime Eurasia, a region that facilitates international commerce and contains some of the world’s most strategic maritime chokepoints, has already caused a shift in the global political economy and challenged the dominance of the Atlantic world and the United States. Climate change is set to further affect global politics. Geoffrey Gresh will place Eurasia in a larger historical and maritime perspective and considers how the melting of the Arctic ice cap will create new shipping lanes and exacerbate a contest for the control of Arctic natural resources. He explores as well the strategic maritime shifts under way from Europe to the Indian Ocean and Pacific Asia and why this is historically significant. The race for great power status and the earth’s changing landscape, Gresh shows, are rapidly transforming Eurasia and thus creating a new world order.”

Alumni are highly encouraged to attend, as the department loves to see old faces and learn how everyone is faring since their departure from Lafayette! The event can be accessed on Zoom using the ID: 930 0974 2074. We hope to see you there!