Press | Clements Dispatch

Marcus Golding came to UT Austin as a postdoctoral fellow in the History Department with two distinct research agendas running in parallel and spent the year advancing both. His primary work centers on the foreign oil companies that operated in Venezuela in the mid-twentieth century and the corporate social responsibility practices they used to maintain…

The Clements Center’s undergraduate and graduate programs wrapped up the spring semester with a mix of practitioner meetings, fieldwork, workshops, and graduations across three program areas. Undergraduate Fellows This spring, the Undergraduate Fellows cohort met with senior policymakers and professionals—including Rana Inboden, Ambassador Dennis Ross, and former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison—to discuss current events and…

The Clements Center’s 2025–2026 class of postdoctoral, predoctoral, and military fellows wrapped up a productive year marked by book contracts, journal publications, conference presentations, original fieldwork, and transitions to new positions in academia, government, and military service. America in the World Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow Joel Blaze taught two courses in the UT Department of History…

Emily Nejad came to UT Austin planning to study government and history. By the time she graduated this spring, she had also added a minor in International Business, a certificate in Security Studies, and a resume that stretched from the Texas State Capitol to the Brookings Institution. Nejad was a senior Undergraduate Fellow at the…

The Clements Center and its partners hosted a total of six talks, lectures, and panels this spring on questions at the center of national security and international affairs, from Venezuela’s democratic transition to the front lines of Russian aggression to the future of AI-powered intelligence. Across six events, the spring speaker series covered five continents…

This spring, the Clements Center and its partners hosted 11 book talks, drawing authors from Yale, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and institutions across the United States and Asia to discuss new work on China, American statecraft, revolutionary history, intelligence, and the long arc of conflict. January Book Talks Photos from You Must Take Part in the…

From February through April 2026, the Clements Center hosted four major events on national security and global affairs, bringing scholars, policymakers, military leaders, and intelligence professionals to the Forty Acres. Together, the spring lineup covered Eurasia, Iran, India, and China through a common set of questions: how states build and lose legitimacy, how force and…

The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project (ISP) at The University of Texas at Austin invites undergraduate and graduate students to submit original research for the 12th annual Bobby R. Inman Award, one of the most prestigious student honors in the field of intelligence studies. The winner will receive a cash prize of $5,000, with two semifinalists…

On March 4, 2026, the Clements Center for National Security, in partnership with the Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the Intelligence Studies Project, hosted a panel discussion at the LBJ School of Public Affairs titled “Striking the Ayatollah: War Powers, Political Order, and Consequences.” The event examined the legal, strategic, and political…

Joel Robuck was a treasured member of the Clements Center Advisory Board whose steady support and deep commitment helped shape our work for years. His genuine love for students, especially our May Term alumni, was evident in the time and energy he invested in them. Joel was an astute observer of America’s diplomatic and military affairs, and he was…

Take a look back at our fall programming and see what we have in store for the spring!

The Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at The University of Texas at Austin are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Alexandra Sukalo to lead the University’s Intelligence Studies Project (ISP). ISP was established in 2013 as a joint venture of the Clements and Strauss Centers out of a conviction that the…

The Clements Center for National Security, the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, and School of Civic Leadership are pleased to announce that Robert D. Kaplan, the renowned foreign affairs correspondent and author, will be joining The University of Texas at Austin as a Distinguished Senior Lecturer. Kaplan will teach undergraduate and graduate courses, participate in our public…

We’re thrilled to celebrate Aarushi Garg, our research fellow, for being awarded this year’s Bonfire Scholarship! Established in 2000, the scholarship honors Longhorns who stood united with Aggies after the tragic 1999 bonfire collapse. Aarushi is being recognized for her leadership, her work in international and global affairs on campus, and her research and fellowships…

We are proud to announce that Dr. Jaganath “Jay” Sankaran has been awarded a competitive grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York for the interdisciplinary research project, “How Are Modern Technologies Affecting Nuclear Risks?” About the Research Dr. Sankaran has partnered with Dr. Jaworek, the Director of the Nuclear Policy Program in the Nuclear Threat Initiative, to examine the…

Applications are now open for the 2026 Summer Seminar in History and Statecraft! Policymakers frequently attempt to draw on historical knowledge to gain perspective on contemporary national security issues. Meanwhile, historians and other scholars frequently comment on present-day decision-making problems and sometimes aspire to influence policy debates. Yet policymakers and scholars generally occupy separate intellectual…

Post-Doctoral Fellowship: The Clements Center offers post-doctoral fellowships to recent Ph.D. recipients to live and work in Austin, Texas. Fellows will spend the substantial portion of their time working on their own research and writing projects, while taking advantage of the many academic resources available here at the University of Texas-Austin. The fellowship offers a competitive stipend,…

The America in the World Consortium at Duke University, Johns Hopkins SAIS, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Florida seeks applications from current Ph.D. students for its Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.  The America in the World Consortium (AWC) is a dynamic partnership of universities seeking to create a more vibrant…

On September 11, 2025, the Clements Center for National Security, the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, and the Intelligence Studies Project hosted a panel discussion entitled “9/11: What Happened, and What It Means Today.” Held in the William C. Powers Student Activity Center Ballroom, the event brought together some of UT’s most distinguished…

Take a look back at our summer programming and see what we have in store for this fall semester.

The Clements Center for National Security is honored to announce a $10 million endowment from the William P. Clements Foundation. This generous gift secures the long-term future of the Center and strengthens our mission to prepare the next generation of leaders in national security and public service. The endowment will support our expanding academic and…

The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project is pleased to congratulate the winners of the 11th annual Inman Award competition that recognizes outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security.   The recipient of this year’s Inman Award is Dr. Jennifer Smith-Heys (Colonel, USA), who recently earned her PhD in Public Policy from George Mason…

The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project hosted the sixth Texas Intelligence Academy (TIA) from May 11 to 20, 2025 in the National Capital Area. The TIA 2025 cohort comprised 15 UT-Austin undergraduate students. Students participated in lectures, exercises, and discussions with current and former professionals on intelligence collection, analysis, espionage, geospatial intelligence, measurement and signature intelligence, signals intelligence, covert…

The Clements-Strauss Asia Policy Program at the University of Texas at Austin invites applications for a one-day professional development workshop on “China and National Security,” to be held at UT’s Archer Center September 19. Early-career national security and foreign policy professionals who want to deepen their expertise on the most pressing national security challenges involving…

For over a decade, the Clements Center has proudly convened its annual Summer Seminar in History and Statecraft in Beaver Creek, Colorado, a weeklong program devoted to learning, thoughtful discussion, and networking.  This year’s highly selective program brought together twenty-three students from premier universities in the U.S. and abroad, including Boston University, Clemson University, Columbia…

This year, the Clements Center introduced the first iteration of our South Korea May Term: America in the Pacific – American History, Strategy, and the Future of the Indo-Pacific Region. Conducted entirely in South Korea, the program offered twenty UT Austin undergraduate students the opportunity to visit significant landmarks in Korean history and culture, meet with…

This year marked our tenth annual London May Term: The U.S. and U.K: Past Present and Future of the Transatlantic Alliance. From 2015 to 2025, we have partnered with the renowned War Studies Department at King’s College London to bring twenty undergraduate students from UT-Austin to the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium to study the…

Take a look back at the last semester in our Spring 2025 Newsletter!

On April 24th and 25th, the Clements Center for National Security, the UT-Austin Department of History, and the America in the World Consortium hosted the conference “Cold War 2.0? Power and Prudence: Lessons of the Cold War for the 21st Century” in Bass Lecture Hall at the LBJ School for Public Affairs. As great power…

The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project of The University of Texas at Austin announces the 11th annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security. The winner of the “Inman Award” will receive a cash prize of $5,000, with two semifinalists each receiving a cash prize of $2,500. This competition is…

Faculty Fellow and Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar Dr. Joshua Busby’s research with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs has given insight on a number of US foreign policy issues. Dr. Busby research included surveying over 450 foreign policy opinion leaders prior to the 2024 election, with questions targeting foreign policy issues including ongoing global conflicts, US…

On January 27, 2025, the LBJ School of Public Affairs proudly celebrated several new faculty recipients of prestigious chair and professorship titles, honoring their exceptional contributions to public policy research, teaching, and leadership. Among those recognized were Vice Admiral Joe Maguire, Executive Director of the Clements Center, and James “Paul” Pope, Senior Fellow of the…

On Friday, January 24, the Clements Center for National Security and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, in partnership with American in the World Consortium and Austin PBS, hosted a conference on the importance of active American engagement, titled “Engagement over Retreat: The Bipartisan History of American Leadership.”  Clements Center Executive Director, Admiral (Ret.) Joe Maguire, opened the event…

In his article “How to Transform the Army for Drone Warfare,” Lieutenant Colonel Neil Hollenbeck argues that the U.S. Army should establish provisional drone formations within existing divisions or corps to rapidly develop and integrate drone capabilities, rather than creating a separate Drone Corps, ensuring effective adaptation to modern warfare. Additionally, the article was selected…

This research will integrate engineering analysis, social science theories, and economic modeling to shed light on the potential economic and socio-political consequences of limited nuclear conflicts. Learn more about Dr. Sankaran here: https://lbj.utexas.edu/sankaran-jaganath