Johns Hopkins SAIS to host Hopkins-Nanjing Center 35th anniversary event, featuring Robert Gates, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, and Zhengyu Huang, president of the Committee of 100, on March 29

MEDIA ADVISORY

On March 29, Johns Hopkins SAIS will host a panel discussion titled, “A Special Relationship in Transition: U.S.-China Power Dynamics in the Emerging 21st Century,” featuring Robert Gates, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, and Zhengyu Huang, president of the Committee of 100. This event is part of the 35th anniversary celebration for the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, a graduate educational partnership between Johns Hopkins University and Nanjing University.
 
During the event, Gates and Huang will join Johns Hopkins SAIS Dean Eliot A. Cohen, a former Counselor at the U.S. Department of State, to discuss the heightened nationalism and antagonism between China and the U.S. over the past two decades. This conversation will also focus on how institutions can facilitate peaceful engagement between the two nations. 

Speakers

Eliot A. Cohen
Dean, Johns Hopkins SAIS
 
Robert Gates
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense
Principal, Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC
 
Zhengyu Huang
President, Committee of 100 

Time and Date

Monday, March 29, 2021
9:00 a.m.-10:15 a.m. ET

Registration

This virtual event is open to the public and media, with registration.

Media Contact

Jason Lucas
Communications Manager
Johns Hopkins SAIS
+1 (202) 663-5620
[email protected] 

 About the Speakers

Dean Eliot A. Cohen was appointed the ninth dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS in 2019. He has been a respected member of the school’s faculty since his appointment as the Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies in 1990. Prior to his appointment as dean, he founded and directed the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies and served as Executive Vice Dean. He has twice won the school’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Dean Cohen is a graduate of Harvard College, where he earned his Ph.D. in political science. Dean Cohen later served as Assistant Professor of Government and an Assistant Dean at Harvard. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the U.S. Army War College.
 
Dean Cohen served for two years as Counselor of the Department of State where he advised the Secretary on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia, as well as general strategic issues. For his leadership of The Gulf War Air Power Survey, he received the Air Force’s decoration for exceptional civilian service. He has also served as a member of the Defense Policy Advisory Board, the National Security Advisory Panel of the National Intelligence Council, on the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and on the Committee on Studies of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dean Cohen has authored several books, including “The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force” and “Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime.” He is also a contributing editor at The Atlantic.
 
Robert Gates served as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2006-2011. He is currently a principal in the consulting firm, Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. Gates was an intelligence professional for nearly three decades. During that period, he spent nearly nine years on the National Security Council at the White House. Gates served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 to 1993. He also served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 1986 to 1989 and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser at the White House from 1989 to 1991.
 
Prior to becoming Secretary of Defense, he served as the president of Texas A&M University from 2002 to 2006 and as interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at the university from 1999 to 2001. He has also written of four books: Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World, A Passion For Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, and From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War. Gates has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, President’s National Security Medal, and Presidential Citizens Medal. Additionally, he received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal three times, respectively.
 
Zhengyu Huang was selected to serve as president of the Committee of 100 in March 2020. He possesses extensive experience in technology, business, education, and public service in a career that spans more than 20 years. Before joining the Committee of 100, Huang served as chairman of Yu Capital, an investment firm focused on commercial real estate, direct investments, and wealth management products in the U. S.
 
Prior to Yu Capital, he founded and led a multinational financial service data firm, Business Connect China, Inc. He also worked at Intel Corporation where he ascended to the managing director position before serving as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID) from 2009 to 2010. 

Hopkins-Nanjing Center

Established in 1986, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC), located in Nanjing, China, is a graduate educational partnership between Johns Hopkins University and Nanjing University, providing approximately 200 students from the U.S., China, and other countries the unique opportunity to live and study international relations together. American and international students take the majority of their classes in Mandarin, while Chinese students study mostly in English. In addition, the HNC has the first and among the only uncensored libraries in China, featuring more than 120,000 volumes in English and Chinese, 400 periodicals and the electronic assets of both The Johns Hopkins University and Nanjing University. The HNC and its graduates have been at the forefront of efforts to build constructive relations between the U.S. and China for more than 30 years. 

Johns Hopkins SAIS

A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today's critical issues. For more than 75 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school's interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world today.
 
For more information, visit sais.jhu.edu or on Twitter @SAISHopkins