Indiana University’s School of Global and International Studies held its sixth America’s Role in the World conference this past week. This year, the conference was virtual but that did not stop it from being memorable.

It is no mistake that this non-partisan event took place in the middle of a presidential transition.

Special guests in the conference included former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, former Directors of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Lt. Gen. James Clapper, Rohingya Burmese activist Wai Wai Nu and PBS Newshour anchor Judy Woodruff.

The session with Madeleine Albright in particular included Stephen Hadley and Judy Woodruff as the moderator. Woodruff asked questions dealing with America’s current political climate as well as the major foreign policy issues facing the next administration.

“I want to see America that is as President elect Biden has been saying, the power of our example rather than just the example of our power,” Albright says.

Among the political talk, panelists paid tribute to former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton, one of the namesakes of the Global and International school. Not only is Hamilton a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he was also a member of President Bush’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. He currently serves as a Distinguished Scholar in the School of Global and International Studies and as a Professor of Practice in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.

The conference session with Hamilton included a conversation with Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, author of the New York Times bestseller “The World As It Is” and co-host of “Pod Save the World.” They focused on the importance of political unity and public support in order to have a successful foreign policy.

The entire conference is available on the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies’ facebook page and will be archived at broadcast.iu.edu.