Public Affairs Lecture Series (PALS) 2025
Who: 10 compelling speakers on foreign and domestic public affairs
When: 10 Monday afternoons in Fall 2025, 2PM to 3:30PM, (no lecture on September 22, 2025)
Where: Bickford Theatre, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
The Mission of PALS is to sponsor exceptional public speakers who are excellently credentialed to discourse on current and important topics of public affairs. For over three decades, PALS, the Public Affairs Lecture Series has presented distinguished professors from prominent universities, scholars from prominent think tanks, dignitaries and other governmental leaders. The subscription price for the 10 sessions is $120. See below for payment details.
The programs are held at the Bickford Theatre, in the Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ, each fall on Monday afternoons from 2:00 to 3:30 PM. Note 15 minutes earlier than last season.
PALS Topics and Speakers, Fall 2025
We are delighted to announce the return of our most popular speakers based on our 2024 Subscriber Survey. We have great speakers lined up for all ten weeks and are finalizing the schedule which will be announced on this website shortly.
September 8
President Trump’s Second Term Foreign Policy
Dr. Jerry Pubantz, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of North Carolina
September 15
The Impact of Crypto Currency on Our Economy, Future Dollar Exchange, Protection, and the Influence from the Current Administration
Dr. Merav Ozair, Leading Global Emerging Technologies Expert
September 29
What Does Criminal Justice Reform Now Mean for the US Supreme Court and America in the Fall of 2025?
Prof. Douglas Berman: Moritz School of Law, Ohio State University
October 6
Powershift, the Gulf Countries, the United States, and the New Middle Eastern Order
Dr. Steven Cook, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
October 13
An Uncertain European Future: War, Economic Competitiveness, and the Future of Alliances
Heather Conley, Former President of the German Marshall Fund
October 20
A World Without Rising Powers: How Population Decline and Economic Stagnation are Ending an Era of Global Upheaval—and Bringing New Threats
Dr. Michael Beckley, Director of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Associate Professor of Political Science, Tufts University
October 27
Can the Public Rely on Polling to Accurately Predict the Outcomes of the U.S. Elections?
Dr. Daniel Cassino, Prof. and Director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll
November 3
Death with Dignity: The Status of Medically-Assisted Dying in NJ and other States
Hon. Paul Armstrong, Retired Judge of the N.J. Superior Court, and Rutgers University Professor
November 10
Issues and challenges facing NJ’s next governor
Dr. Benjamin Dworkin, Director, Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship
November 17
Advances in Cancer Research: Innovative Cancer Immunotherapies
Dr. Andrea Schietinger, Professor, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Feel free to review our PALS Topics and Speakers, Fall 2024
PALS 2025 Subscriptions
Time change and Location
The programs are held at the Bickford Theatre, in the Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ, each fall on Monday afternoons from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Note that this time is a change from past schedules.
General admission and mask section option
As we did last year, we have reserved a section of the theater for those who prefer to be seated in a “mask only” section. Otherwise, the remainder of the theater will be “masks optional.”
At each lecture, please claim your seat at least 15 minutes before each lecture begins. After that the available seats will be offered to qualified standbys, as well as to members. Please sit in the “Mask Required” section only if you are wearing a mask.
Your subscription payment
You can submit your application and $120 subscription payment electronically or by mail. Your receipt will be forwarded to you via your email.
Submit Electronic Payment Online
Secure online payment is available via Touchnet.
Once you have placed your order, you will immediately receive an email order receipt from misecommhelp@fdu.edu (check your spam file) that is your confirmation letter to the Lecture Series. Simply print out that confirmation page or take a photo of it on your smartphone and bring it with you to exchange at the door for your PALS lecture series ticket.
OR
Send Subscription Payment by Mail
If you prefer, you can print out the subscription application form and mail it with your $120 check payable to FDU to:
Donna L. Sadowski, MAS
School of Public and Global Affairs
Fairleigh Dickinson University
1000 River Road, H-DH2-13
Teaneck, NJ 07666
201-692-7171
Once your check and application is received we will email you a confirmation receipt. Simply print out the emailed confirmation receipt or take a photo of it on your smartphone and bring it with you to exchange at the door for your PALS lecture series ticket.
If you have not received your confirmation email (and have checked your email spam files) or if you have any questions please contact us at palsboard2025@gmail.com.
PALS Board of Directors
Director, FDU School of Public and Global Affairs
FDU Facility Liaison, PALS Board
Current PALS Volunteer Board Members
- Marcia Geltman, Randolph
- Lynn Gold, Berkeley Heights
- Helen Saffer, Morristown
- Wally Saffer, Morristown
- Joan Sturm, Morristown
- Dorrie Susser, Morristown
New members for 2025
- Sandy Goodman, Livingston
- Fred Lavinthal, Florham Park
- Jack Lynch, Morristown
- Nancy Moore, Basking Ridge
PALS Board as of December 2024
Standing, from left: Robert Martin, Joan Sturm, Lynn Gold, Deborah D’Urso, Marcia Geltman, Tina Johnson.
Contact Us
Please use the PALS Reply Form to request to be added to our mailing list, or to send comments and questions about the PALS Lecture Series.
PALS 2025 Speaker Bios
Dr. Jerry Pubantz – September 8, 2025 Speaker
Dr. Jerry Pubantz Professor of Political Science University of North Carolina at Greensboro Executive Summary. Dr. Pubantz holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University and a B.S.F.S. degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His writings include works on the United Nations, the Middle East, and American foreign policy. His most recent book, The New United Nations: International Organization in the 21st Century, 2nd ed., was published by Routledge Publishers in 2017. Among his other volumes are Is There a Global Right to Democracy? A Philosophical Analysis of Peacekeeping and Nation Building and the Encyclopedia of the United Nations. He is also the co-author of To Create a New World? American Presidents and the United Nations, honored with CHOICE Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2000 by the American Library Association. Dr. Pubantz appears regularly on television and radio to discuss American politics and international affairs. He is a member of the Middle East Policy Council’s National Advisory Board, a former President of the North Carolina Political Science Association, the co-founder of the Southern Association of Pre-law Advisers, and the former Chairman of the National Collegiate Conference Association, corporate sponsor of the National Model United Nations in New York City. He has lectured at universities and colleges across the nation and internationally. He is also the founding dean of Lloyd International Honors College at UNCG.
Heather A. Conley – October 13, 2025 Speaker
Heather A. Conley is the former president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, having previously served for 12 years as senior vice president for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic and as director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Ms. Conley developed the acclaimed Kremlin Playbook series, a dedicated research effort that examined the doctrine and methodology of Russian malign economic behavior and its methodology across Europe. She also is a recognized expert on the Arctic region, focusing on the Russian Arctic, climate transformation and U.S. policy toward the region. Prior to her think-tank experience, Ms. Conley served as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs during the George W. Bush administration with responsibilities for U.S. bilateral relations with the countries of Northern and Central Europe. She co-led the U.S. interagency effort to enlarge NATO and secure Senate ratification of an Amended NATO Treaty.
Ms. Conley began her career in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and was selected to serve as special assistant to the coordinator of U.S. assistance to the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. She then went on to serve as a senior associate at an international consulting firm led by former U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage. Ms. Conley frequently appears as a foreign policy analyst and Europe expert on prominent media outlets. She received her B.A. in international studies from West Virginia Wesleyan College and her M.A. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).