By the time New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn finished answering questions at the final event in the semester’s Dean’s Leadership Series on April 22, Princeton SPIA students had enjoyed numerous opportunities to hear from and engage with an impressive, diverse collection of speakers.
Joining Kahn as DLS guests this spring were a sitting U.S. senator, a former ambassador to the United Nations, leaders of international nongovernmental organizations, a U.N. under-secretary-general, a Polish senator, and former Department of Education assistant secretaries, all of whom exposed students to a wide variety of global and political perspectives and experiences.
“Many of us are deeply concerned about where our country is headed,” said U.S. Sen. Andy Kim on April 7. “But beyond asking what we oppose, we need to ask: What comes next? What are we trying to build?”
The series included one of the School’s signature Constructive Dialogues events on March 17, with former assistant secretaries of education Jim Blew and Roberto Rodríguez in conversation with Jennifer L. Jennings, the Class of 1988 Professor in Domestic Policy, a professor of sociology and public affairs, and director of Princeton SPIA’s Education Research Section. In keeping with the spirit of Constructive Dialogues, Blew, who served under President Trump, and Rodríguez, a member of the Biden administration, offered differing views on education policy, yet did so in a spirit of collegiality.
“With the diminishment of the Department of Education, I worry about our ability to turn the corner on some of our grand challenges in education,” Rodriguez said. “Whether it’s underachievement, whether it’s thinking about using technology more effectively, whether it’s thinking about helping more of our students get to and through higher education.”
“There are things the federal government can do well to encourage choice, competition, innovation, and other things that they simply can’t do because of (a) it’s a government monopoly, and (b) it’s very partisan in Washington, D.C.,” Blew said.
One of the semester’s guests was a Princeton SPIA alumnus — Damon Wilson MPA ’98, the president and chief executive officer of the National Endowment for Democracy. Talking with Kim Lane Scheppele, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values, on February 25, Wilson advised students to think about today’s issues and how they might be a force for change in the future.
“This is one of the most consequential moments for freedom around the world,” he said. “The game has changed, and we are losing.”
The School’s global focus was on display with events featuring Adam Bodnar, senator of the Republic of Poland, member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and Poland’s former minister of justice and commissioner for human rights, and Amandeep Gill, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies and former Ambassador of India to the Conference on Disarmament.
Speaking with Arvind Narayanan, director of the Center for Information Technology, on March 25, Gill addressed the state of global AI governance and digital cooperation.
“If you keep following the idea rather than the process,” Gill said, “you will remain more hopeful.”
In his conversation with Scheppele on March 30, Bodnar shared his perspective on the challenges of restoring democratic institutions under threat, drawing on his experience defending civil liberties and confronting the erosion of democratic institutions in Poland.
“In the judiciary, especially, it was exactly how the Polish government proceeded,” he said. “It was how the Hungarian government proceeded before it. All these technical legal changes that disable all the checks on power, and the council of the judiciary … They’re the ones who appoint the judges … [The judges] are proud of their careers. So, once you capture that body, the whole judiciary is open to manipulation.”
Also addressing international affairs was Comfort Ero, the president and CEO of International Crisis Group, who chatted with Razia Iqbal, the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and Lecturer, on February 4. Despite difficult conversations about national security and humanitarian collapses, Ero left Princeton SPIA students with a note of hope.
“Choose your path, your destiny, but keep your eyes open, because you never know which way you’re going to go,” she said.
The following day, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a member of President Biden’s Cabinet, shared candid stories of perseverance and preparation in a conversation with Zach Vertin, director of the SPIA DC Center. Thomas-Greenfield drew on her own experience growing up in poverty as she urged students to remain vigilant.
“Quitting is not an option when you’re trying to make a difference,” she said.
In his talk with Julian E. Zelizer, the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs, Kahn shared how the Times is dealing with a rapidly shifting global landscape that is often skeptical of traditional newsrooms.
“We’ve rededicated ourselves to the notion of truly independent reporting—independent of a political party, independent of corporate interests, independent of ideology,” Kahn said. “Whether you come from the left or the right, we think we can do good, quality reporting that enhances your ability to make intelligent decisions and understand the world better.”
Top photo: Julian Zelizer, Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs, interviews Joseph Kahn, executive editor, The New York Times, during the last Dean's Leadership Series event of the 2026 spring semester.
Photo credit: Sameer A. Khan / Fotobuddy