Western Insights: National Policy Directions | The Foundation for WWU & Alumni

Check out this video to watch the Western Insights: National Policy Directions.

In the past few weeks we have all watched the transfer of power in our country take place without much of the usual pageantry, and on the footsteps of the Capitol building that only two weeks before had been ransacked by protestors rejecting the outcome of the election.

And the handover is taking place at a time of massive global uncertainty, with the pandemic still raging, vaccines being rolled out slowly, and a global economic order that is being reshaped by the continued rise of China, which is now set to overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy by the end of this decade.

Our conversation will focus on the biggest challenges facing the new administration’s economic agenda here at home and abroad.

This session is moderated by Ted Alden, Western’s Ross Distinguished Visiting Professor and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who is joined by Meredith Sumpter CEO of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism and Doug Robertson adjunct faculty member of the Political Science and Economics departments of Whatcom Community College.

Western Insights is an online panel series created in response to COVID-19 to provide the broader region, Western alumni, friends, and students with access to information on current events drawing from the University’s nationally respected experts. This free series is offered entirely online and is open to everyone.

Watch previous Western Insight sessions online at https://alumni.wwu.edu/past-events.

Ted Alden

Edward Alden is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., and author of Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). He was the project director for the Council’s Independent Task Force report "The Work Ahead: Machines, Skills and U.S. Leadership in the 21st Century" (2018).

His first book, The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration and Security Since 9/11 (Harper Collins, 2008), was a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas book prize. He has testified to Congress numerous times, written widely for major newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, and appeared on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, PBS News Hour and Bloomberg Surveillance. Prior to joining the Council, Mr. Alden was the Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times.

Meredith Sumpter

Meredith Sumpter is the CEO of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, where she leads the work of the Coalition along with private, public, and civic stakeholders to drive reform initiatives that make capitalism inclusive and its benefits more widely and equitably shared.

She also is CEO of the separate Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican, which is a global movement of business, public sector, and civic leaders who are working to build a more inclusive, sustainable, and trusted economic system that addresses the needs of our people and the planet.

Doug Robertson

Doug Robertson is an adjunct faculty member of the Political Science and Economics departments of Whatcom Community College. He has an undergraduate degree in Economics and then earned a Juris Doctorate in 1986. During his 30 year career as an attorney, Doug focused in business, land use and litigation. After post-doctoral work at WWU Woodring College of Education, he started his second career as an educator. At Whatcom, he is focusing on including Constitutional Law in his political science curriculum and analysis of human motivation/behavior in the Economics classes.

In addition to his professional career, Doug has served on numerous non-profit boards, owns the Bellingham Training and Tennis Club with his wife, and plays the French Horn in a variety of local musical ensembles.

Questions & Accommodations

Contact James McCafferty for this event. Feel free to email at James.McCafferty@wwu.edu if you have any questions or comments.

There will be auto-captions available for this event. To request closed captions, please mark the request on the registration form. Advance notice of three days to one week is appreciated.