Former Army Chief of Staff and Josef Korbel School (formally Graduate School of International Studies, GSIS) alum General George Casey came back to the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy this October to give a talk on what he calls a decade of “persistent conflict.”

Though Casey himself deemed the talk pessimistic, students at Korbel appreciated his insight. “He does a great job of looking back, and then using it to look forward to inform the future. It was nice to hear from somebody who actually went to this school. He gave advice to people who are graduating now based on his own experience,” said Brett Schneider, a second year Master’s student.

Over 150 people attended the event, including Casey’s own professors, who he noted had not aged a day. After outlining the trends that he saw would impact the next ten years, Casey fielded questions on a variety of topics.
“I thought one of the best points of the talk was how he doesn’t believe military officers should make policy that they should only respond to the effects of policy. While it’s a tenant of our military-civilian agreement it’s always refreshing to hear,” said Brian Johnson, a first year International Security student.

“I’m very excited that DU is able to provide us with the perspective of a former Army Chief of Staff. I think it’s a wonderfully unique perspective that DU has former secretaries of state, and other high officials that come back to the university to impart what they have learned over the past 20 or 30 years of their career, and how Korbel has set them up for success,” said Richard Sonnenfeld, a first year International Security student and veteran himself.

Read more about Josef Korbel School alum General George Casey's visit.

- Sarah Crozier, MA Candidate, International Development