School Notes: Jackson School of Global Affairs
May/June 2026

Yale Jackson presents discussion series

In March, the Jackson School of Global Affairs launched Yale Conversations, a new public forum presented in collaboration with the office of university president Maurie McInnis and led by presidential senior fellow David Brooks. The series aims to widen intellectual diversity at Yale, nurture a culture of argument and discussion, and connect the academy to the wider world. Brooks, author and columnist, was appointed Yale’s first presidential senior fellow in February. At the first talk in the series on March 3, he traced his intellectual and political journey—from a Greenwich Village childhood to early days at the National Review to two decades watching American conservatism transform at The New York Times. Brooks took questions from a standing-room-only audience, then met with a small group of students—as he will after every event in the series.

Chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s presidency visits school

On February 9, Yale Jackson welcomed Željko Komšić, chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite presidency, for a conversation on “The World from the Periphery.” Now in his fourth term as the Croat member of the presidency—a power-sharing system established by the Dayton Peace Accords—Komšić reflected on Bosnia’s place in a changing global order and the challenges facing small states as geopolitical alignments shift. He joined Jackson’s David Simon for a wide-ranging discussion, took audience questions, and met with students. The visit grew out of ongoing work in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the school’s Peacebuilding Initiative.

Blue Center convenes session on grey-zone threats

Yale Jackson’s Blue Center for Global Strategic Assessment, in partnership with NATO’s Allied Special Operations Forces Command, convened senior defense and intelligence leaders at the 2026 Munich Security Conference for an off-the-record session on countering Russian grey-zone activity. The gathering drew intelligence and cybersecurity leaders from NATO nations, a senior FRONTEX official, and members of the policy community. The Yale delegation included Dean Jim Levinsohn, Blue Center executive director Phil Kaplan, and senior fellow General (Ret.) Timothy Haugh. The session reflected the Blue Center’s mission to bridge scholarship and practice on security and statecraft.