The Tufts ALLIES chapter is proud to present several programming events throughout the year, from conferences and simulations or art exhibits and movie nights. Check out some of the exciting events we’ve hosted before.
2023-2024 Events
Fall 2023
10th Annual Civil-Military Relations Conference
ALLIES hosted its tenth annual Civil-Military Relations Conference. This year’s topic focused on contested territories, and featured panels on Taiwan, the Russia-Ukraine war, and Nagorno Karabakh. Associate Dean McField delivered opening remarks ahead of the keynote address by Dr. Jaw-Ling Joanne Chang, the former Deputy Secretary General on Taiwan’s National Security Council. ALLIES students also welcomed delegations of students from the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Military Academy.
James Forest: Terrorism in the Modern Age
ALLIES’ Speaker Series welcomed Professor James Forest to a discussion on terrorism in the modern age. We talked about everything from definitional issues to the impact of generative AI. Professor Forest shared some insightful information about the evolution and dynamism of terrorist acts in the 21st century, and how terrorism might look in the decades to come.
Past Events
9th Annual Civil-Military Relations Conference: This year’s theme was Geopolitics, Resources, and Power Projection. On Friday, we welcomed Dr. Yong Deng, who started the conference with an insightful speech about the role of geographic resources in Chinese power projection. Throughout the rest of the conference, we hosted several incredible panelists, who spoke on the subjects of China’s recent geopolitical moves, competition for resources in the Arctic, the state expansion in Ukraine.
Anna Kijas: Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage: Last semester, ALLIES had the pleasure of welcoming Anna Kijas, Co-Organizer at Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO), an international initiative working on digitizing and preserving Ukrainian cultural heritage. Kijas explained the process of getting SUCHO off the ground and how the organization has developed, now archiving art, music, and other cultural artifacts, taking on enormous cultural responsibility in time of conflict.
Internship Panel 2022: ALLIES hosted its annual Internship Panel, where Tufts alumni shared their experiences with navigating the internship process, and how they’ve used their opportunities to strengthen their career prospects. We hosted five alumni, now working in government, finance, cybersecurity, consulting, and analytics.
ALLIES x Hemispheres: Security Review Panel: ALLIES and Hemispheres co-hosted the Security Review Panel, where attendees got to discuss international relations, meet experts from the Fletcher School, and learn the behind-the-scenes of editing and publishing an IR journal.
Climate and Militarism: On March 9th, 2022, Tufts ALLIES had the distinct honor of hosting Nick Rabb to speak with our members about Climate and Militarism. Nick Rabb is a Ph.D. Candidate at Tufts University and spends his time organizing with Sunrise Movement, MA Peace Action, and Dissenters. He has given climate-related talks at webinars held by MA Peace Action, 350MA, CODEPINK, and more.
Graduate School Panel 2022: ALLIES hosted its annual Graduate School Panel in Fletcher’s ASEAN auditorium where we invited four panelists from various graduate schools to speak in person to Tufts students. The panel consisted of William Huang, Sophia Warner, Emma Plankey, and Bethany Tietjen. William Huang (A’12) is a second-year Master in Public Policy (MPP) candidate at Harvard Kennedy School interested in economic mobility.
FieldEx 2022: From 10-3 on Saturday, April 16th Tufts ALLIES hosted FIELDEX: a wargame simulation that took place on a paintball field. Participants were assigned a role randomly to play out in a fast-paced crisis simulation, with lots of conflict. Lunch was provided, and after the simulation is over there was time to change teams and play traditional paintball!
Internship Panel 2021: ALLIES hosted its annual Internship Panel where former Tufts alumni shared career insights from their internship experiences in International Relations. All pursuing diverse paths in IR, our speakers spoke on their individual career backgrounds in the federal government, journalism, economic research, and program management
David Shear: US Indo-Pacific Strategy: ALLIES had the pleasure of welcoming (virtually) their second speaker of the semester, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear. Previously in his career, Shear served for over three decades in the foreign service, most notably as the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam
Mark Storella: 30 Years in the Foreign Service: ALLIES had the pleasure of welcoming retired Ambassador Mark Storella to dinner with the organization’s executive board and to give a talk to the Tufts community about working in the U.S. Foreign Service. Amb. Storella is a Fletcher alumnus and the former U.S. ambassador to Zambia, thus providing enthused students with a first-hand experience of life in the Foreign Service and the responsibilities of an ambassador.
8th Annual Civil-Military Relations Conference: The 2021 theme was Nation-Building and Peacekeeping in the 21st Century. On Saturday, November 13th, we hosted a keynote speaker followed by two panels examining the political, military, and economic factors in rebuilding nations (all virtual and open to the public). On Sunday, November 14th, we hosted an interactive crisis simulation for Tufts students. All of the info for the event can be found at this link
Fall 2020 Internship Panel: ALLIES and WIIR co-hosted a virtual internship panel where Tufts alumni discussed how their internship experiences have enhanced their career prospects, how they navigated the internship search process, and how they found opportunities in their fields of interest.
Peacebuilding in a Pandemic: ALLIES had the honor to host Britt Sloan and Sharon Ogbogu, who discussed how the fight against COVID-19 has derailed peace-building efforts in some African states.
7th Annual Civil-Military Relations Conference: This year’s theme was Securing the Final Frontier: The 21st Century Space Race. The conference featured two panel discussions on the transformation of space into a domain for international conflict and the formation of the US Space Force. Separate speakers talked about the role of the commercial satellite industry in space competition and Chinese space interests.
ROTC Panel: This year, ALLIES had the distinct honor of hosting Dean Diane Ryan of Tufts’ Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life as the speaker. The event focused on learning about Dean Ryan’s 29 years in the Army, and her experiences transitioning to the civilian lifestyle.
75th Anniversary of WWII: ALLIES had the distinct pleasure to host Professor Marc Gallicchio from Villanova University. In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, our theme for this event was a dive into the relations between the United States of America and East Asia post-World War II.
LGBT Service in the Military: Past, Present, and Future: Mr. Denny Meyer presents a lecture on LGBT service in the military. Mr. Meyer works with American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER), and is a gay Vietnam veteran with decades of experience. He currently serves as both the AVER national Public Affairs Officer and Vice President of Veterans Affairs.
Cybersecurity and Civ-Mil Lecture: Famous cryptographer and security technologist Bruce Schneier presents a lecture on the collision of the civilian and military spheres when it comes to the government’s role in cyberspace and data collection.
Combat Paper: An exhibit of artwork made by veterans on re-purposed combat fatigues that helped them address PTSD and other emotional and psychological effects of warfare.
FieldEx: A yearly event held near the Tufts campus, FieldEx seeks to expose participants to the difficulties of decision making during conflict through a kinetic simulation. Check out the FieldEx website for more information about this year’s event.
Veteran’s Day Panel: As part of a year-long focus on veterans’ issues, we organized a panel featuring three veterans to discuss their personal experiences with reintegration into society after their service.
Ethics of War Event: ALLIES partnered with another IGL-affiliated group, the New Institute for Middle East Peace, as well as a number of other student groups, to create an event that would bring in students from a range of groups from different ethnic communities, both religious and non-religious, to discuss the morality of war.
Video Teleconference: This fall, we were able to organize a video teleconference in which students were able to talk with Col. William Ostlund from his office in Zabul province, Afghanistan on his mission to train Afghan security forces and the upcoming drawdown of American forces in the country.
Day of Service: The Friday of Veterans’ Day weekend, ALLIES members joined students from Fletcher, including many of the Fletcher Military Fellows and Fletcher veterans in a day of service at the New England Center for Homeless Veterans in downtown Boston.
Fall Internship Panel: As the season for applying for internships approached, we decided to host a panel to advise students on how best to go about applying for summer internships.
Discussion with Gen. Stanley McChrystal: Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal (Comd. ISAF) visited Tufts University. While he was here, he met 20 student leaders, five of which were affiliated with Tufts ALLIES, and engaged in a meaningful discussion on public service.