Seminars / Reading Group

Want to stay up-to-date with the latest events? Join our mailing list to receive the PACS weekly newsletter.

PACS Seminar Series

The Fall 2026 PACS seminar series will meet in person in Uris G-08 from 12:00 PM-1:15 PM on Thursdays, unless otherwise noted. Authors will lead a discussion of their works by delivering a formal talk followed by a Q&A. All events are in-person only unless otherwise noted. Readings for the seminars can be accessed here (Cornell Net ID required).

Seminar Recordings

Watch our recorded seminars on the Global Cornell YouTube Channel

Fall 2026

**September 10 - Clark Hall 700**
The Future of International Order: Rupture, Resistance, and Prospects for Peace
Panelists:

Amitav Acharya, UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and Distinguished Professor at the School of International Service, American University
Oumar Ba, Hardis Family Assistant Professor for Teaching Excellence in the Department of Government at Cornell University
Kyoko Imai, Associate Director and Resident Fellow for the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative (IPSI) of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Alexander Lanoszka, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo

**September 16 - Cornell Cinema (104 Willard Straight Hall) at 6 PM**
Film Screening: “Bombshell” (2026)
This event is part of the “Something Going Wrong with the Bomb”: Rethinking Nuclear Weapons and Global Security conference, taking place on September 17, 2026.

**September 17 - Biotech G10 FROM 10 AM TO 5:30 PM**
“Something going wrong with the bomb”: Rethinking Nuclear Weapons and Global Security
Panels:

"Nuclear War and Climate Catastrophe"
Neta Crawford (St. Andrews), Zia Mian (Princeton), and Benoît Pelopidas (Sciences Po)

"New Perspectives on Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control"
Ruoyu Li (Colgate), Leyatt Betre (Princeton), Benjamin Wilson (Harvard)

"Roundtable: Nuclear Arms Races and How to Stop Them"
Ray Acheson (Princeton), David Cortright (Cornell), Lisbeth Gronlund (MIT)

Keynote address: “Nuclear Weapons: An International History”
David Holloway, Stanford University

September 24
John Lechner, author of Death Is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare (Bloomsbury 2025)

October 1
The Predatory Sea: Human Trafficking and Colonization in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean
Casey Schmitt, Associate Professor in the Department of History at Cornell University

October 8
Adam Tooze, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History & Director of the European Institute at Columbia University 
IES Luigi Einaudi Distinguished Lecturer 

October 15
Rupal Mehta, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

**October 22 - G01 Gates Hall**
11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. 
Computer Science Colloquium (co-sponsored by The Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies)
Gabriella Coleman, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University 

October 29
Fiona Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania
Winner of the 2026 Peter Katzenstein Book Prize, Cornell University

November 5
Veronica Anghel, Assistant Professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, part of the European University Institute

November 12
Frank L. Smith III, Director of the Cyber and Innovation Policy Institute (CIPI), part of the Strategic and Operational Research Department in the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the U.S. Naval War College

November 19
Stacie Goddard, Betty Freyhof Johnson ‘44 Professor of Political Science & Associate Provost for Wellesley in the World at Wellesley College