For the last ten years, the Baker Center has served as a physical home for the life and legacy of our namesake, Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr. To celebrate the building's anniversary displays on the life and work of the Senator were placed in the rotunda for public viewing. The Modern Political Archives also released an online collection of his speeches and remarks, as well as his papers and photos from his life. 

Former US Ambassador Ira Shapiro also presented a lecture discussing Howard Baker's bipartisan efforts in what he deems to be the "last great Senate," that is, Howard Baker's Senate. More on Shapiro's recent book, Broken: Can the Senate Save Itself and the Country?, can be found here. 

A.B. Culvahouse was featured in the September issue of The American Lawyer for winning a Lifetime Achievement Award. The American Lawyer reports, "throughout his career, A.B. Culvahouse has been the man to turn to for presidents in peril." Most recently, he vetted Republican vice presidential candidates for the 2016 election and was named this month by President Trump as his nominee to be the US Ambassador to Australia. Read the full article about his achievement award here.  

Join us in welcoming Ambassador Steve Mull for an Ashe Lecture, as he discusses options for developing a constructive relationship between the US and Iran, one that mitigates potential conflicts and uses converging interests while preserving each country's core interests. Mull was the lead coordinator for ensuring compliance with the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal. He was formerly the US Ambassador to Poland, among other prominent roles in national security. 

The lecture is Tuesday, November 13 from 5:00 to 6:00 pm in the Toyota Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. Parking in the Vol Hall Garage on White Avenue can be validated at the venue. 

As a Global Security Middle East Lecture, Dr. Peter Krause will address some of the pressing questions of the global security community: Why do some national movements have independent states today, like the Israelis and Algerians, while others, like the Kurds and Palestinians, do not? Why do some organizations within the same national movement opt for violent or nonviolent tactics? Krause is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Boston College and a Research Affiliate with MIT Security Studies Program.

The lecture is Wednesday, November 28, 2018 from 5:30-6:30 pm in the Toyota Auditorium. The event free and open to the public. Parking in the Vol Hall Garage on White Avenue can be validated at the venue. 

On Friday, November 2, Dr. Matt Murray, economist and director of the Baker Center discussed an economic defense for free trade and the consequences which affect the industries in question. His talk was part of the continuing Baker Cafe Series.

As part of our Baker Cafe Series, the Baker Center will host Dr. Matt Cook for a light discussion on the political conditions that affected their evolution, and the ramifications for today’s political environment. 

This event will take place on Friday, November 9 from 10:00-11:00 am in Reading Room, 123. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided. 

As part of the Baker Cafe series, Dr. Bill Park  will discuss the economic and political impacts of research surrounding renewable energy and resources. There will be refreshments provided at this event, and it is free and open to the public.

The discussion will be in on Friday, November 16, fro 10:00 to 11:00 am in the Reading Room, 123.  

Dr. Deborah Penchoff and Dr. Howard Hall from the Center's Institute for Nuclear Security published a study on radioactive materials in ACS Omega, a journal of the American Chemical Society.

The study focuses on analyzing properties of actinide complexes utilizing high performance computing. Actinides is the name given to a group of radioactive elements in the periodic table which include commonly known elements such as uranium and plutonium. The actinides are highly important in military nuclear applications, nuclear power, cancer treatment, and neutron therapy. Their radioactivity causes great challenges for experimentation, and computational modeling provides essential capabilities for in-depth understanding of properties of interest to national security. Find more information on this study here. 

Graduate Research Fellow Benjamin Meadows and Dr. Charles Sims, Baker Center Faculty Fellow and Director of the Center’s Energy & Environment Program, have just released a new policy brief which looks at multiple strategies for combating the invasion of the Asian Carp in Tennessee. Some of the strategies include introducing predators of the Asian Carp or providing incentives to commercial fishers and wholesale fish dealers to focus on harvesting Asian Carp. You can find and read the full policy brief here. 

In the Spring of 2019, Dr. Matt Buehler, a Global Security faculty fellow, will offer a special topics course on nuclear politics of the Middle East. The course is co-sponsored by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Policy experts from the lab will visit the class and provide real on-the-ground information on the nuclear politics of these states. This course will be offered on Thursdays from 1:25 to 4:25 pm; register for POLS 410 or 595 with Dr. Buehler.  For more information about this course, contact Dr. Matt Buehler. 

Dr. Brandon Prins will offer a special topics course on understanding terrorism in the spring of 2019. This course will examine social scientific research on the drivers of insurgency, the rise of terrorist groups, the factors associated with radicalization, and efforts to combat violent non-state actors. 

This course will be offered on MWF from 11:15 am to 12:05 pm. Register for Political Science 410 with Dr. Prins. For more information, contact Dr. Brandon Prins.

Baker Ambassadors and members of the Speech and Debate Team, Cole Pawlaczyk and Mickayla Stogsdill, played an integral role in the preparation for the final Tennessee Senate debate held at the Baker Center in early October.

In each rehearsal for the actual live event, Cole and Mickayla acted as Bredesen and Blackburn respectively to prepare the moderators and camera crew. The students were given general topics to study the day of the first rehearsal, and the two took the job very seriously - even dressing the part.

They were instructed to learn and deliver the candidates positions on the topics and even prepared by watching the previous debates and studying the two candidates' major talking points. Their work allowed the moderators to have a realistic rehearsal for how the live debate would work and aided in the production of an ultimately successful event.

The debate resulted in 334 media placements naming the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and/or Center, including 224 Associate Press stories. The estimated reach of the debate was 159 million people. 

Howard H. Baker Jr Center for Public Policy
1640 Cumberland Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone: 865-974-0931
Email: bakercenter@utk.edu
Online: bakercenter.utk.edu