RadioEd co-host Jordyn Reiland chats with Assistant Professor Ajenai Clemmons about community policing and what people need to both be safe and feel safe. Listen to their interview here.

What makes you feel safe? Is it a familiar voice on the phone, a particular place, friends or family by your side, your spiritual beliefs or even a favorite blanket?

What about a person outside your personal circle, like a paramedic, a lifeguard, a firefighter or a police officer?

20-year-old Joseph said that people should feel safe around police officers, but that isn’t always the case in Durham, North Carolina—where he lives—and elsewhere.

He says, “I think that police officers almost have to have a—not necessarily nurturing aspect, but kind of like a—sense of safety about them. Because you should feel safe around police officers, you know? I don’t necessarily know how to put that in a word, but I think that you should definitely just feel safe around police officers.”

So how can police departments increase safety and earn trust in the communities where they work?

University of Denver Assistant Professor of Public Policy Ajenai Clemmons’ research answers these questions that can extend beyond North Carolina.

On this episode of RadioEd, co-host Jordyn Reiland chats with Clemmons about how the men she interviewed made sense of policing in their neighborhood—and what they needed to both be safe and feel safe.

Clemmons is an assistant professor of public policy at the Scrivner Institute. She researches the policing of marginalized communities in democratic contexts, particularly the United States and Europe. She teaches courses on the politics of the policymaking process, intersectional inequality, as well as state violence and local security.

More Information:

What the Durham Police Department Can Do to Enhance Safety and Earn Trust

Transcript

RadioEd S5E3: 

Guest: Ajenai Clemmons, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Scrivner Institute

Jordyn Reiland (00:04)

You're listening to RadioEd, the University of Denver podcast. I'm your host Jordyn Reiland.

What makes you feel safe? Is it a familiar voice on the phone, a particular place, friends or family by your side, your spiritual beliefs or even a favorite blanket?

What about a person outside your personal circle, like a paramedic, a lifeguard, a firefighter or a police officer?

20-year-old Joseph said that people should feel safe around police officers, but that isn’t always the case in Durham, North Carolina — where he lives — and elsewhere.

He says, “I think that police officers almost have to have a—not necessarily nurturing aspect, but kind of like a—sense of safety about them. Because you should feel safe around police officers, you know? I don’t necessarily know how to put that in a word, but I think that you should definitely just feel safe around police officers.”

So how can police departments increase safety and earn trust in the communities where they work?

University of Denver Assistant Professor of Public Policy Ajenai Clemmons’ research answers these questions that can extend beyond North Carolina.

Clemmons’ work around policing began in 2004 when she worked as a Community Relations Ombudsman in Denver. During that time Clemmons helped create a new government agency called the Office of the Independent Monitor.

Ajenai Clemmons (01:24) 

This was in response to some very high-profile incidents, some officer-involved deaths of civilians in Denver and so the city, the citizens rose up. The city came together across all agencies and volunteers from the community as well, to study new systems of civilian oversight that could improve transparency and accountability for public safety in Denver.

Jordyn Reiland (01:49)

The role of the Office of the Independent Monitor allows for an outside party to ensure law enforcement investigations are fair, thorough and timely and that any discipline is reasonable and appropriate.

Civilian oversight of law enforcement is something that's been around for some decades now, but it looks different in every city. Civilian commissions or boards exist in cities throughout the country including Los Angeles, Chicago, Kansas City, Missouri and Detroit.

Clemmons also spent time in Washington, D.C. between 2010 and 2015, where she was the policy director for a national professional association of Black state legislators.

At that time there were a series of high-profile shootings across the country, including Travyon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and Freddie Gray.

Clemmons’ interest in policing of marginalized communities only grew from there.

In 2018 until just before the onset of the pandemic, she conducted in-depth interviews with 18- to 29-year-old African American men—like 20-year-old Joseph, who we heard from earlier. These men lived in the most economically distressed, high violent crime areas in Durham.

Clemmons’ work sought to understand how they made sense of policing in their neighborhood — and what they needed to both be safe and feel safe.

She acknowledged the challenges of conducting this type of research in the community and wanted to find ways to ensure people felt the most comfortable sharing their thoughts — positive or negative.

Ajenai Clemmons (03:10)

I went out on foot into these neighborhoods and recruited them. I was in barber shops, I was on basketball courts talking to young men during halftime and trying to pull them aside to see if they were interested in my study. I was hitting the streets. So we did these interviews in a private location. I wanted them to be confidential so that people could be candid. These are very complex feelings that people have, and I wanted them to feel that they could be vulnerable, that they could feel comfortable to be fully honest about whether their experiences were negative, whether they were positive or whether they were neutral, that they would have the full range to discuss whatever they wanted. I was very honored that they were so forthcoming. And they didn't sugar coat anything, and they didn't hold back. And it wasn't just..they were also self-reflective. They talked about what their experiences were like as kids, as youth, as teenagers, you know, being angry, whether they had a chip on their shoulder or not, or whether they were trying to stay out of trouble, and the kinds of ways that they... the kinds of things that they did to keep themselves safe.

Interlude

Jordyn Reiland (04:44)

Why don't people trust the police?

Ajenai Clemmons (04:46)

Yeah, this is a very big question. It's simple, but it's actually complex in a lot of ways. So in a nutshell, people don't trust police when they feel like they're not doing their jobs. They trust police when they feel under policed, when they feel that police are not competent, and I'll talk about that in a second. And they also feel they don't trust police. When they feel that police are being abusive and they're harming them. So they're sort of over policed, right? So these are the neighborhoods that I study. I literally study neighborhoods that are considered by their residents to be over policed and under policed. So in these communities, there's this intense police presence. Residents are stopped on foot or in their vehicles in a way they describe as constant, intrusive and harassing. They describe many officers as quick to accuse them of wrongdoing, right to curse at them and to use unnecessary and excessive force. Yet in these same neighborhoods, in spite of all the police activity going on, they still face high levels of crime, right? And that includes violent crime, and so this causes stress and insecurity on their part. So there's this sense that you know there are all these police around, but they're not there when you need them, right, or they're not in the right spots or focused on the right priorities, or they don't care about us.

When people feel abandoned and neglected, sometimes they distance themselves in return. And so it goes beyond this sense of trust or mistrust, it can breed legal cynicism. And cynicism is this orientation in which the law and agents of its enforcement, like the police and courts, are viewed as illegitimate. They're viewed as unresponsive and ill-equipped to ensure public safety, and that's a definition from Kirk and Papachristos. So it is very much a sense of feeling alienated. And that can go beyond police. It can extend to the judicial system writ large. But when this happens, when people don't trust police anymore and they are cynical toward them, it's rational from the perspective of looking at an individual, but it actually harms the community as a whole, because what happens is that people won't report crime as much, right? They won't cooperate with investigations, they won't serve as witnesses in the court of law as readily, and this can make it very hard to bring people who commit crimes to justice, and I'm not talking about, you know, unserious crimes. I'm talking about serious crimes. And so, you know, these folks are not held accountable, and they are, in fact, making the community less safe. And then this further breeds the cynicism. It's a vicious cycle, because then people see folks running around who are threatening the community, and so then they even feel further alienated, as they feel that the police don't care about them.

Jordyn Reiland (07:55)

Wow, that must be so challenging, and it kind of alludes to what you were talking about with the different meanings and thoughts about safety. And I think you said feeling safe and being safe, if that's correct. Could you talk a little bit about that?

Ajenai Clemmons (08:11)

So in general, a lot of people assume that if crime numbers go down, then they will feel more safe, and that's actually not true. The perception of safety is completely independent of whether or not you are safe or your risk level. So crime went down for years, decades even, and people's assessment of the risk of crime really hasn't changed. And sometimes it went up, even though the crime was going down, depending on where you were. So those are two different things, and it actually makes police, their job tougher, because they do have that accountability of bringing down the crime levels. But then people can feel that way regardless. And so then they have to dedicate some considerable resources to making people feel safer.

In this context, though, there really is unacceptable levels of violent crime and so even though it's a tiny proportion of the population that's carrying it out, it is significant. And in a lot of it, there are innocent bystanders that get caught in the middle. And in fact, out of the men that I interviewed, eight had been shot at least once, and four of those were folks who were caught in the crossfire who didn't have any idea who the shooter was or were mistaken by the shooter for someone else. And then additional men that I interviewed who literally were at a bus stop, waiting for their bus to arrive to go to work, and ended up having to dive for cover as bullets whizzed past them, because somebody saw somebody that they had been looking for, and then, just without regard to the circumstances, just opened fire. So there really is an extraordinary level of risk in these particular neighborhoods, and so it is important for people to both be safer and to feel safer, and so I wanted to make sure that I was being intentional in pulling out those two things in the interviews.

Jordyn Reiland (10:36)

One question that you asked stood out to me, and you said, “If you had a magic wand and could make a perfect interaction happen between an officer and a civilian, what would you do?” And you said you can choose any scenario. Did any of those answers surprise you?

Ajenai Clemmons (10:52)

On the whole, most answers tried to find some sort of win-win. They tried to find some sort of reconciliation between both parties and ensure that that was a positive interaction. And so it wasn't the case that most people's first thought was to just take care of the needs of the civilian. That in that perfect scenario, they really did seek a win-win. And so I was struck by that. A lot of the men did use their wishes to also undo the deaths of the men who had been killed that we talked about earlier, those high-profile deaths that had happened across the country, there was a recognition of that. And it was something that all but one interview we related to on some level, that they could see themselves in those men who had died, or in those people who had died. We certainly want to take into account the women who have been killed as well. So they actually use their magic wand to undo those deaths and to undo the harms that have happened.

Jordyn Reiland (12:10)

You highlight five themes that emerged as the most desired characteristics for officers, including those who are just communicative, invested composed and discerning and adaptive in their decision making. Can you paint a picture for me of the ideal police officer?

Ajenai Clemmons (12:30)

There is not one person that I spoke with who thought that being a police officer was an easy job. Folks were very quick to say it is a hard job. Not everybody should be a police officer, there are a lot of things to manage. It was about being constitutional. People were clear about that. It was making sure that you're observing people's rights, that people are innocent until proven guilty—that officers are truly just in how they enforce the law.

But it goes beyond that. Really, they wanted officers to have integrity. They wanted officers to be good people. And I think this is because this is really the most powerful person in their lives. They're the only person who can literally take life. And so it is important then that people who hold the most amount of power are actually good and righteous, and because you don't have the opportunity to see officers outside of these sort of emergency situations, or time pressure situations, you need other opportunities to observe their behavior, to know if they're trustworthy, right? To know if you can bring confidential information to them, to know whether they will keep confidence and so this is where you know they wanted to see officers' character on display. How do you do that? Well, they got to get in the community. They’ve got to get involved.

Jordyn Reiland (14:14)

Clemmons said that what surprised her about her research in Durham was people’s inherent desire to have a connection and a relationship with law enforcement.

Ajenai Clemmons (14:22) 

Now maybe because they can't tell who's a safe officer and who's not a safe officer, and because there's so much unpredictability that is possible in those interactions, having positive encounters and having incredibly scary negative encounters, the safer thing to do could be to avoid police. To try to minimize the possibility of an experience, right? To keep a low profile.

But that ideally in their heart of hearts, many wished that they could just casually walk up to a police officer, say hi, chat, check in, or have that police officer do the same. That in their ideal world, that's what the general relationship would be between the police and the community. That you would see officers jumping in and playing double dutch, or joining in a pickup game of basketball or guiding a young person and talking to them about healthy life choices that those officers would be leading by example, that they would be a fabric of the community, that they would be rolling up their sleeves, and serving food and soup kitchens. And so there were so many ways that they saw police as able to be a force for good that I didn't expect. I didn't expect that level of specificity and of richness and of desire in elevating, actually, the importance and the impact that officers could have.

I also want to add a quote that I think exemplifies this desire for a better relationship and what it would take in order for officers to build trust in the community. So I named this interviewee, Marcus, and he's 25. This is what he says:

“Get police to come out here in these neighborhoods where a lot of these people are getting shot and killed and do something. Make a difference. Go drop off flowers at some of these people's graves. Act like a human being. You want the community to trust you? Do something for the community. Communication. Do a fundraiser. Do a get together, throw a police parade, you know? How many cops are out here, genuinely just to protect and serve? If, instead of judging us, officers would be more prone to trying to get to know the people they see every day, we wouldn't have so many problems with law enforcement and young black men in the communities. Pull up to the basketball court, play some ball with us. Throw a football with us. They're all frisbee for all I care. But do something."

Jordyn Reiland (17:15)

Yeah that really gets to the heart of that aspect of trust building and community involvement and really harkens back to just wanting to have that dual interaction.

Ajenai Clemmons (17:28)

You know, sometimes we can overthink what it would take for officers to create connections. But the desire is already there. It just needs an opportunity to be tapped into. And so it can be so many simple little things that officers can do to connect with folks in a way that's authentic, in a way that's joyful, to have that organic experience. And so those are the things that I'll be researching in the future and working on – like matching officers, even, with opportunities to connect and in activities like anything from this basketball or something sports, to arts and crafts and music, and all sorts of things that young people and officers could take a joint interest in.

Jordyn Reiland (18:24)

Clemmons posed a question that went beyond policing and asked participants if they could have the full attention and concern of anyone in power to fix or improve anything in their life, what would it be?

Here’s one response that really stuck with her.

Ajenai Clemmons (18:37)

This is a quote that really moved me. This is from a young man, Joseph, who's 20 years old, and he said:

“I would tell politicians to more so hear the letter, not the law, of what's being said, and to try to understand people's feelings, not just what they're saying. What comes out of their mouth is ultimately influenced by how they feel. So, if you can understand how someone feels, then you're more so to meet their expectations, not just do what they tell you to do. To say it in other words, when you understand how someone feels, you're more so to not necessarily make the same mistake again, if they understand how we feel when they're reading the analysis and not just see what we're saying, but see in what we are saying, like how we feel, it would help them to make better decisions about how to accommodate what we're saying.”

This is at the heart of what I am trying to do as a researcher, is certainly capture their words, but also pair that with their underlying emotions to capture how they feel, so that when I'm sharing my findings and evidence with policy makers, that they're able to see both. That they're able to see the words, read the words, hear the words, but also understand what's behind that, what's underlying that, that subtext, so that they can properly receive that, understand it and then try to address it in the most appropriate way.

Interlude

Jordyn Reiland (20:29) 

Now you write that, in addition to the work that you've done in Durham, at least hundreds, if not thousands of jurisdictions across the country would also be well served by participants' insights and calls for action. How does your work translate beyond North Carolina?

Ajenai Clemmons (20:44)

In terms of the policy recommendations that come out of this report, it is the relationship building. It's also the transparency. It's also the accountability. I mean, if you're not cleaning up things and making it better, if you're not resolving the problems that you know exist in your department, then you're not going to improve that relationship. So, there are many... the hiring, the recruitment, the policies that are in place, the accountability to make sure that those policies are being adhered to, the training and that follow up with the relationship building are all key.

And in Denver, we're fortunate that Police Chief Ron Thomas has taken an interest in this work as well, and so he has already taken many steps in his short—he just recently took over, was appointed relatively recently, and has already started implementing more community outreach programs. And so has asked me to advise on what implementation would look like. And so my colleague Kate Sims and I are working on that with the police department. So, we'll be rolling out a program and evaluating that and measuring and seeing what works, what doesn't work and how to improve upon that. And I think it's commendable, to see a chief that is deeply interested in the evidence base and being a willing partner in the research process to see what can work and how to improve and make things better.

Jordyn Reiland (22:37) 

This report is based on interviews that concluded in March 2020 and a lot has happened in the United States as it relates to policing since that time. How do you think about these findings in 2024?

Ajenai Clemmons (22:49)

I believe the findings are still very much relevant in 2024. In the interviews, which ended in March, which ended at the at the onset of the pandemic, the men were very vocal about the deaths that preceded George Floyd, which happened three months after I ended the interviews And so they related very much to the men that they had seen, the people that they had seen in the media. They were concerned about that, they used their magic wand and one of my questions to undo their deaths. So, this was at the forefront. It was something that they thought about when they got pulled over by police. So, George Floyd was not new, in other words, sadly. It was not new to them at all. And so in that sense, I think that the findings still stand.

There have been some researchers that have found in terms of behaviors, like, for example, calling the police to report a crime, that those can be temporarily affected by high profile, very disturbing incidents, but that with time, the behaviors return to normal. And so there's a sort of eventual kind of snap back effect, for lack of a better term, that happens. So whether it's reporting crime, whether it's their likelihood of cooperating with investigations, or avoiding police – whatever police behaviors they had before, whether they were avoiding them, whether they were cooperating with them, all of that, I think, is still relevant. There haven't been a ton of reforms that have happened across the country, not in any kind of systematic way. And so the concerns that they have are still very much present in most jurisdictions, and to the extent that some things were done, not nearly enough, as far as they would be concerned, so the problem is still there. The concerns are still there, and what they were calling for still remains. So yeah, I mean taking all that into account, would say that the findings still stand.

Jordyn Reiland (25:33)

A big thanks to our guest, University of Denver Assistant Professor of Public Policy Ajenai Clemmons. More information on her work can be found in our show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Music or Spotify, and if you really liked it, leave us a review and rate our work. It really helps us reach a larger audience and grow the pod.

Joy Hamilton is our Managing Editor, Madeleine Lebovic is our production assistant and musical genius, and James Swearingin arranged our theme. I'm Jordyn Reiland and this is RadioEd.

Article written by Jordyn Reiland.

Over the past two years, the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy and Korbel School have proudly partnered with the Aspen Institute to offer a Denver Dialogues panel at the Aspen Strategy Group’s annual Aspen Security Forum (ASF), the premier national security and foreign policy conference in the United States. This past July, the Scrivner Institute and Korbel School, in collaboration with the Aspen Strategy Group, convened a special edition panel at ASF entitled “The End of Soft Power?”, exploring the state of soft power in the contemporary global context.

This summer, the Aspen Institute generously extended four complementary passes to Korbel students to join Korbel Dean Fritz Mayer and Scrivner Institute Director Naazneen Barma at the Forum. After applying to receive one of the passes, Korbel students Omar Aittakalla, Micah DenBraber, Norair Hevorkian, and Hans Schaler were selected to attend the 15th annual Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, CO. The students made the most of the wonderful opportunity to engage with experts in international security and diplomacy, learn about the most pressing global issues from domestic and global leaders, and to network with policymakers, diplomats, and scholars.

Student attendee Omar Aittakalla, who is in the International Development graduate program, reflected on his experience: “Attending the Aspen Security Forum has been one of the most enriching experiences of my summer. The opportunity to engage with leaders who have shaped, are shaping, and will shape the future of global security was truly unparalleled. I had the privilege to converse with a diverse array of experts, including seasoned policymakers, influential thought leaders, and rising stars in the field…Topics ranged from the strategic implications of space and cybersecurity to the geopolitical dynamics of great power competition. These discussions not only deepened my understanding of the difficulties we confront on a global scale but also instilled in me a sense of optimism…"

"As I reflect on my time at the Aspen Security Forum, I am left with a renewed sense of purpose and a deeper appreciation for the collaborative efforts required to navigate the complexities our world is facing and will continue to face in the future.”

Micah DenBraber, another student attendee, said: “Attending the 2024 Aspen Security Forum was truly life changing. As an undergraduate international affairs major at Korbel, it was exhilarating to engage in conversations with top policy and business professionals in the national security space. A highlight of the forum was attending the Google AI security breakfast, where the new multi-stakeholder standards initiative, the Coalition for Safe AI (COSAI), was announced. This initiative brings together AI developers, industry leaders, academics, policymakers, and civil society organizations to promote the safe and responsible development, deployment, and governance of AI technologies. One of the most memorable moments for me was approaching a panelist during the AI security dialogue, where my initial nerves gave way to forming a valuable connection with someone who offered to support my BA thesis. As I enter my final undergraduate year, I’m excited to leverage the insights and connections gained at ASF to pursue opportunities in the global governance of artificial intelligence. I’m incredibly grateful to the Scrivner Institute and the Korbel School for facilitating this unmatched exposure to the nation’s leading national security practitioners and granting students such transformative opportunities.”

The Scrivner Institute and Korbel School are proud to partner with the Aspen Strategy Group in offering a transformative experience for our students and connecting a new generation of foreign policy leaders to ASG. We extend our thanks to the Aspen Strategy Group for their generous invitation for Korbel students to attend the Aspen Security Forum this summer and look forward to this mutually beneficial partnership in the years to come.

By: Sylvia Morna Freitas

The Institute for Security Studies African Futures (ISS) has released a new article about how the unprecedented shut-down of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will affect African countries. Using the Pardee Institute’s International Futures forecasting platform (IFs) to model the cut in assistance, the ISS found that 5.7 million more Africans would fall below the US$2.15 extreme poverty income level in the next year should the Trump administration continue with its sweeping aid reduction. 

Author and Founder of the ISS, Jakkie Cilliers, provides detailed context on the reliance of several African countries on U.S. aid and delves into the changing landscape of U.S. foreign aid policy. The U.S. provides 26% of all aid that comes to Africa. The largest component of which is spent in the health sector to combat deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and more. Outside of the health sector, U.S. aid to African countries supports agricultural productivity and economic growth, bolsters security, promotes democracy, human rights, and governance, and improves access to quality education and social services.  

In January 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid executive order, which led USAID to suspend operations by award recipients. According to the models, the sudden loss of funding to these development sectors will have a considerable impact on the future of Africa. In this assessment, the ISS African Futures modeling platform used IFs to model a scenario in which aid to Africa is reduced by 20%. By 2030, they found that 19 million more Africans would be considered extremely poor as a result of the aid reduction. ISS tested an alternative scenario where Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was used to replace the loss in aid. They increased FDI to the same volume to see if it could offset the loss but found “no evidence.” For the poorest countries, FDI increased inequality and poverty in the short and medium-term. Further findings include a dramatic decrease in the sub-Saharan economy by $4.6 billion and a rise in mortality and displacement throughout the continent. Cilliers offers alternative solutions that serve both the U.S. desire to reform its aid policy and African leaders as they navigate this geopolitical shift.  

The IFs platform is the only open-source, global model that covers 188 countries and integrates data to forecast a range of interconnected variables across human, social, and natural systems. With a database that goes back to the 1960s in key areas—such as agriculture, economics, governance, health, and more—the IFs is a tool that allows researchers and policymakers to explore the way different policies will shape the future up to the year 2100 and can be used to model the potential consequence of aid loss to several African countries.  

The importance of ISS’s work with Pardee’s International Futures model comes from its ability to forecast how the change in U.S. foreign aid policy will impact Africa. This will allow leaders in African nations and across the world to prepare themselves for the course ahead. It also enables ISS and other researchers to plumb the depths of aid reform and explore how alternative aid policy could better meet the needs of our global future.  

Read the full article here. 

Making career moves while serving in the U.S. military can be tricky. “A lot of people still do it,” says Daniel Doerr, a Veteran and alumnus of the Korbel School, “even though you could be deployed and pulled away from your degree at a moment's notice. But graduate school at Korbel was worth it.”

Military service is something that appealed to Daniel from a young age. There were Veterans and active military personnel in his family, and moments like the September 11th attacks compelled him to join once he was an adult. “It’s always been about protecting people for me,” Daniel says. “That’s been a huge driving force in my life.” He began his military career in Fort Benning in Georgia — now known as Fort Moore. After deployments while on active duty in Afghanistan and again while in the Reserves to the South Pacific, he took a quick pivot to medical sales. After a break from the military, he relocated to Colorado, where he would soon re-enlist and serve at Fort Carson.

Through peers in the Denver area, he heard about the Korbel School and its expertise in security. It was an easy decision to enroll, even though he knew his military service would always come first. Thankfully, circumstances allowed him to pursue his degree uninterrupted.

Daniel graduated with his M.A in International Security in 2022, the same year his military service ended. His career trajectory has been unconventional. He’s stepped away from planned career paths for personal matters and has shifted focus once or twice. When prompted to give advice to others considering graduate school while mid-career, Daniel says to just go for it: “It was a really rewarding experience. I found community at Korbel, but since I was older and already established in Denver, I had community outside of school, too. I was similar in age to a few of my professors and had life experiences they didn’t. My professors felt like peers — peers who taught me a lot along the way.”

As an officer in the military, Daniel spent his time at Korbel side-by-side with students who had served in completely different capacities. “A good example is my peers coming in from the Peace Corps,” he says. “On the surface, the Peace Corps and the Army are diametrically opposed in their approach to foreign affairs. But we approached things with an open mind, and I’m proud of my friends in the Peace Corps and me for creating a space for open and safe dialogue. We ended up having excellent conversations about some difficult subjects, and in the end, I now approach security from a more well-rounded standpoint.”

For Daniel, Veterans Day can be challenging. “It’s a time to reflect on my own combat experiences, both positive and negative,” he says. “It tends to be somber as I think of the friends that I’ve lost, much like Memorial Day. But it’s a day to embrace the feelings and emotions that I carry with me, and also a day to pay homage to all those who’ve served. If I’m honest, it’s also a day to pat myself on the back, thinking how wild of a ride it was and how much I learned through it all.”

Daniel is currently a Physical and Digital Security Advisor for RedBag Inc. He works toward providing safety and security for K-12 school teachers, allowing him to continue protecting others as he did in the military. His security experiences — both in the Army and at Korbel — have given him unique perspectives that help him improve the safety of kids at school.

Dr. Hilary Matfess, Assistant Professor and Director of Korbel’s International Security Degree, never planned to study gender and war. However, a series of unexpected obstacles early in her career forced her to rethink her approach and ignited a passion for uncovering overlooked narratives—one that continues to fuel her work today.

“I love telling my students how I started this work because my entire career is an exercise in serendipity and mistakes,” she said.

From Serendipity to Passion

Dr. Matfess, who has taught at Korbel since 2021 and is an affiliate of the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy, examines how women mobilize for war globally with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She looks at what they do in non-state armed groups, “which is a clunky academic term,” she explained, “for any group that’s not ‘official’ state military.” Her work explores why women join these groups, their roles, and their personal experiences within them.

“When I was getting my master's degree, I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant tracking political or social violence in Nigeria,” she said. When she arrived to study Boko Haram, Dr. Matfess found that she couldn’t access the armed men at the heart of the conflict. “I was ambitious enough to think I’d get to the bottom of Boko Haram as a 20-something. Turns out, insurgencies are very good at staying hidden. I was really frustrated that I couldn't sit down with the people that I thought were at the heart of the war, which would be armed young men my age or younger.”

Fortunately for Dr. Matfess, what started as a roadblock became an opportunity that would shape the course of her work for years to come.

“Through other activists, practitioners, and academics, I landed interviews in displacement camps and with people who fled the crisis. Mostly women. Really embarrassingly, I treated them like a consolation prize at first, but they revealed conflict dynamics that I didn't see reflected in any of the narratives around Boko Haram. From then on, I became obsessed with shedding light on this under-explored dynamic of how armed groups function.”

Bringing Women’s Experiences from the Margins into the Light

Much of Dr. Matfess's research feels like assembling a puzzle with missing pieces. Alongside Associate Professor Meredith Loken, who teaches at the University of Amsterdam, she built the Women’s Activities in Armed Rebellion (WAAR) Dataset—tracking women’s roles across more than 350 rebel groups worldwide. The challenge? “Women’s experiences are often tucked away in offhand comments or footnotes, if they’re mentioned at all. It can be hard to track them down.”

Women’s experiences reveal how policymakers need to respond to crises and how counterinsurgency responses should adapt. “Bringing women’s experiences from the margins into the light — that’s the work. It’s essential to understanding not only conflict itself but also how we build more effective policies for peace.”

Celebrating Women’s History Month: Honoring Women's Stories in March and Beyond

For Dr. Matfess, Women’s History Month has been less about grand gestures and more about reaffirming why her work matters daily. “It’s a reminder of the power of global women’s networks, activism, and what’s possible when we center gender in building political movements and communities of care,” she said.

Her perspective is a call to action—one that acknowledges both progress and persistent challenges. As she points out, “We’re living through a backlash moment on gender equality, and it’s exhausting. We need to rebrand more inclusive institutions as meritocracies because that’s what they’ve always been. It’s not about political correctness. The best person for the job only emerges when the playing field is actually level.”

Dr. Matfess brings this same urgency and dedication into the classroom. As degree director for International Security, she prepares her students for careers ranging from defense and intelligence to advocacy and policy analysis, emphasizing that security extends beyond military might to include human security, gender justice, and economic stability.

Her students, in turn, fuel her optimism. “They care so much about the world, and they challenge me every day with fresh questions and new perspectives.” Their passion and curiosity reflect the change Women’s History Month and work like hers seek to inspire—not just in March, but every day. To learn more about Dr. Matfess's work, visit her website here.

Women’s History Month is a moment to reflect not only on women’s achievements but also on the untold stories of women whose experiences are often pushed to the margins—including those in conflict zones. To learn more, visit the official Women’s History Month website, or check out Korbel's initiatives through our Inclusive Global Leadership Initiative (IGLI).

UNICEF and the Pardee Institute have released a report, Navigating the future: Four scenarios assessing child well-being in the twenty-first century. Authors Jonathan Moyer, director of the Pardee Institute, and Deva Sahadevan, research associate at Pardee, found that increased global cooperation, in tandem with high technological advancements and resource availability, promise the most sustainable future for younger generations worldwide.

These findings are useful, if not surprising. The authors arrived at this conclusion through simulating different future pathways along various points of intersection among those key domains of technology and cooperation. This methodology offers a proactive framework that can help policymakers promotes current and future well-being while mitigating the perverse effects of economic growth.

The authors apply a 2x2 scenario framework featuring scenarios grounded in combinations of high or low levels of technological innovation, resource availability, and international cooperation. These factors determine how future challenges such as climate change, resource distribution, and geopolitical tensions might affect children’s well-being. The scenarios are designed to evaluate long-term trends and their implications for children, with particular emphasis on regions most vulnerable to changes in development.

The resulting scenarios include possible futures of:

• Divided prosperity (our current path: high technology/resource availability; low cooperation);

• Global synergy (a better world: high technology/resource availability; high cooperation);

• Struggling together (not the best/not the worst scenario; low technology/resource availability; high cooperation); and

• Fragmented world (least ideal future: low technology/resource availability; low cooperation).

Using the Pardee Institute’s International Futures platform (IFs), the authors apply quantitative data from various sources, including economic indicators, health statistics, and environmental data, to define these scenarios and to project future well-being outcomes that are measured by economic output, extreme poverty, malnutrition, hunger, carbon emissions.

The global synergy scenario, the most ideal scenario, envisions a future where technological progress aligns with robust international cooperation, unlocking advancements in health, education, and environmental sustainability. Under this scenario, global GDP increases by 10.7%, while per capita GDP rises by 9.8%, accompanied by a dramatic reduction in global poverty—from 8.7% to just 0.4% by 2050. The scenario highlights clean energy infrastructure and lower carbon emissions, demonstrating how unified global efforts can foster a sustainable and prosperous world. However, its feasibility is questioned, given the current concentration of political power and the suspected depletion of Earth's resources.

The other three scenarios present fewer promising paths. The divided prosperity scenario, reflecting current trends, demonstrates significant GDP growth and reduced poverty, with 265 million fewer people living in extreme conditions and malnutrition halving by 2050. Yet, these gains come at the cost of escalating carbon emissions, worsened pollution, and rising global temperatures. The fragmented world scenario predicts slow technological and economic growth, with persistently high poverty levels and unaddressed critical issues like child malnutrition and mortality. Meanwhile, the struggling together scenario highlights the potential benefits of enhanced global collaboration, which lowers poverty and malnutrition rates. However, the lack of technological progress limits its ability to effectively address broader developmental challenges, like child development and technology.

The report concludes with broad policy suggestions based on the results of the 2x2 framework. The authors encourage the strengthening of international institutions to address global environmental issues while promoting economic equality, investing in children’s health and education, and fostering greater cooperation among governments and international communities. Read more about the scenarios, their results, and the authors’ recommendations here.

IFs is the only open-source integrated assessment platform and forecasting tool that employs a hybrid approach, combining systems dynamics, econometrics, and other quantitative techniques to forecast a range of interconnected, macro-level variables across human, social, and natural systems for 188 countries in one-year time steps, extending as far as the year 2100. These multifaceted dimensions of modeling are integral to forecasting potential outcomes for future generations on a global scale, considering both actual and hypothetical drivers of change. 

UNICEF - an international organization dedicated to advancing children’s well-being around the globe - and Pardee’s collaboration bridges the gap between global decision-makers and academic researchers, using data tools and policy knowledge to encourage and assist in creating a more sustainable and equitable world for children.  

 

Join the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy as we launch the collaborative, multi-media art installation the bomb, which will be in place at the Community Commons Gallery (CCOM 1001) from April 1st through April 15th. We invite guests from all campus departments and the public community to engage with the installation, which explores the history, technology, and existential threat of nuclear weapons through the arts. The digital art installation displays award-winning film The Bomb (2016) from artist-journalist-directors Eric Schlosser and Smriti Keshari, who will join us the following week on April 8th for a film screening and panel discussion with Dr. Debak Das of nuclear disarmament and current security issues on the global scale. Refreshments will be served and all are welcome!

THE INSTALLATION
the bomb installation was inspired by nuclear command-and-control centers, addressing the vulnerabilities and the catastrophic potential of these complex technological systems. The centerpiece of the installation is an hour-long film that combines archival footage with animation and an original, electronic score by The Acid. Projected on a circular bank of forty-five screens that rise to the ceiling, surrounded by exposed wiring and circuit boards, the film conveys the hidden chaos and danger of the nuclear age.

University Engagement:
In addition to the installation, each university visit will feature a series of events designed to engage students, faculty, and the public in a wide-ranging dialogue and debate about nuclear issues. These events will include panel discussions, Q&A sessions with the artists, and interactive workshops that aim to deepen understanding and inspire campus-wide conversations about how to prevent nuclear wars.

Admission:
Admission to the bomb is free of charge for all university students, faculty, and the general public.

For more information, interview requests, or press materials, please contact Cherefawn Chang at [email protected].

Full credits:
the bomb is created by Smriti Keshari & Eric Schlosser; Film by Kevin Ford, Smriti Keshari & Eric Schlosser; Installation Design: Ben Kreukniet; Music: The Acid; Art Director: Stanley Donwood; Animation: The Kingdom of Ludd; Installation Technical Lead: Adam Paikowsky, Greenhouse Media; Installation Producer: C.A.V.E.; De-install & Transportation: Dimensions Art Production; Creative Producer: Cherefawn Chang

For former US Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley (pictured above, to the left), the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP) reaffirmed that she belonged in International Affairs. “ICAP provided the first gathering of foreign policy practitioners where I was not the ‘only’ in the room,” she said. “That gave me the ability to stop questioning my ‘appropriateness’ and focus on the mission at hand. It was key to my success in the field and raised my game as a proud American public servant.”

This Black History Month, the Korbel School honors the resilience, achievements, and lasting contributions that Black professionals have had on our culture, economy, and society. These influences have been profound for International Affairs and Public Policy — from embassies and classrooms around the world to grassroots organizers in our local communities. Founded by former Korbel Dean Dr. Tom Rowe, the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP) has helped Black professionals in government, nonprofits, and the private sector navigate career advancement for nearly thirty years.

ICAP empowers Black leaders to drive meaningful change and achieve excellence in their fields through mentorship, policy discussions, and professional development. The program has been recognized by the US Congressional legislation and the Global Diversity List for its impact on diversity in leadership, and has a network of 900+ alumni who have ascended to senior roles, including US Ambassadors, executive directors, and CEOs.

ICAP’s impact is best seen through the success of its fellows. Latanya Mapp, President and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), shares how the program helped shape her career:

“Since my time at the Aspen Institute more than 20 years ago, the ICAP network has allowed me to understand and experience international affairs as a career professional moving from the UN to the US Foreign Service with USAID, to social justice NGOs and funds. I've left no stone unturned, and I am still going. I would not have the courage to use my voice without this amazing network and the power that comes with it.”

As we honor Black history, resilience, and progress during Black History Month and beyond, it is essential to recognize and support programs that create lasting opportunities for underrepresented communities. ICAP has long been a vital resource for advancing fair representation and inclusive leadership in international affairs and public policy. By fostering a strong network of professionals dedicated to meaningful change, the program continues to empower the next generation of leaders. To learn more about ICAP and its impact, or to apply to the 2025 cohort, contact Program Director Dr. Tom Rowe at [email protected] and Program Coordinator Angela Martinez at [email protected].

To learn more about how we celebrated Black History Month this year at the University of Denver, click here.

Studying abroad at the Korbel School isn’t just about hitting the books in a different country. It’s about creating opportunities for students to immerse themselves in new cultures, network with global leaders, and dare to redefine their futures. The month between the Fall and Winter Quarters — called “Winter Interterm” — is a chance for Korbel students to embrace these experiences.

This year, graduate and undergraduate students took three separate faculty-led academic trips to Kenya, Colombia, and the Balkans.

Researching Green Energy in Kenya 

For Grecia Castel, a first-year Global Economic Affairs MA student, the study abroad program in Nairobi, Kenya was a deep dive into her passion for sustainability and green energy. “I got to research what I was passionate about while also talking to locals about real-world issues,” Grecia said.

Assistant Professor Singumbe Muyeba and Postdoctoral Research Assistant Abigail Kabandula led the trip in collaboration with faculty from the University of Nairobi’s Department of Diplomacy and International Studies. Dr. Muyeba and Dr. Kabandula supplemented these lessons with research activities across the city, bringing students to United Nations offices and the Parliament of Kenya to experience Kenya’s green energy transition first-hand. “I learned how representatives write environmental law into the Constitution,” Grecia said.

Alongside their studies, there was time to explore the African countryside, too. “We got to see some lions in the middle of a hunt, and they even used the tourist vehicles to get closer to their prey. Everyone was quiet, and it was really interesting to watch and wait. It felt like National Geographic in real life,” Grecia said.

Connecting with Leaders in the Balkans 

Teaching Associate Professor Keith Gehring led a group of undergraduates to the Balkans. “Dr. Gehring’s enthusiasm was contagious,” Micah DenBraber said, a junior majoring in International Affairs. “Whether we were meeting with local politicians or just walking the streets, he made everything feel incredibly relevant and personal.”

The group’s itinerary included lectures at the University of Osijek, oral histories on pivotal events like the siege of Vukovar, visits to Parliamentary Assemblies in Belgrade and Sarajevo, and meetings with Serbian and US ambassadors. The trip was grounded in experiences with locals across the Balkans, ranging from personal accounts of local conflict to lectures about diplomatic relations.

“The opportunity helped me understand how leaders relate to their people and what a dysfunctional nation-state looks like,” Micah said. “We talked to politicians, including Marina Raguš, a Serbian parliamentarian, and even attended a lecture from the chair of the Serbian Parliament’s foreign affairs committee in the actual parliamentary hall. That was really cool.” Alongside his studies, Micah shared how life-changing it was to spend mornings in a city like Sarajevo. “I’d wake up to the call to prayer echoing across the city. From my hotel room, I had an amazing view of all the minarets lit up at twilight. It was something I’ll never forget.”

A Career Epiphany in Colombia 

“I always pictured myself as an intelligence analyst,” Helen Lee, a first-year International Security MA student, shares. “But after this trip, I realized I might actually want a career where I can travel, engage with people, and be on the ground. That was a huge shift for me.”

Associate Professor Oliver Kaplan and Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Student Affairs Lewis Griffith accompanied students to Colombia, where they toured Bogotá and engaged in meaningful conversations with government officials at the University of the Andes. They also traveled to Zipacón, a region famous for coffee cultivation, hearing from organizers about sustainability in the area. Students interviewed locals to hear what political advocacy looked like from people on the ground.

And for Helen, a simple late-night conversation in a hammock with a fellow student turned into an unforgettable bonding experience. “We stayed up until 3:30 in the morning, just talking about everything—life, career goals, travel. You build these relationships that you wouldn’t have in a normal classroom setting.”

Take the Leap 

One thing all three students agreed on: spending December abroad was worth it. “Since this is only a two-year program,” Helen said, “I didn’t want to miss too much of my time here. So when I saw that there was a Winter Interterm program, I thought, ‘perfect!’”

Micah says that even the Winter Interterm application process at Korbel incentivized travel. “Applying was super easy. I wasn’t nervous because I knew it was a great fit. If you’re applying for a trip and don’t know much about the host location, that is totally fine. You come to Korbel for opportunities like this. Not every school has experts with such incredible networks and first-hand experience. You can’t put a price on that.”

All three students emphasized how invaluable traveling with peers in their cohort was. “It’s a unique experience you’re all sharing at the same time,” Grecia said, “so you get to know each other very well and very quickly.”

To learn more about earning a degree at the Korbel school, contact us here.

By: Sylvia Morna Freitas

A new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change led by Marina Andrijevic of the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) argues for the importance of including gender dynamics and trends in the analysis of climate change. The study, co-authored by Caroline Zimm (IIASA), Jonathan D. Moyer, director of the Pardee Institute for International Futures, Raya Muttarak (IIASA), and Shonali Pachauri (IIASA), draws upon existing research to show that a direct relationship between gender equality and a society’s capacity to respond to climate change exists and is currently underexplored in quantitative models—a significant gap in research.

“Our work was inspired by growing evidence that when women lack opportunities, from access to primary schooling to having a say at top levels of government, it weakens the ability of entire societies to respond to crises, such as climate change,” Andrijevic says. The authors argue that issues of gender (in)equality are largely overlooked in scenario-based climate change research and show that this has implications for our ability to study patterns of mitigation and adaptation. When women do not have equal access to education or employment, the ability of women to contribute to climate mitigation is limited and, in some places, lost. This untapped potential both compounds the cost of climate adaptation and diminishes the capacity of a society to respond overall.

The Pardee Institute’s mission is to build data and tools to better understand and plan for the future. This publication furthers that mission by highlighting an important gap in research that can drive improvements in future models to help policymakers better assess risks and policy options. Understanding how gender and climate change overlap is crucial for building knowledge and crafting appropriate policy responses. For example, the authors show that men and women are more likely to face different climate-related risks. For women, there are increased risks to maternal health, undernutrition during droughts, and exposure to diseases while collecting water. Meanwhile, men are more likely to suffer from floods and storms, experience work-related heat stress, or face depression and suicide due to drought-related economic hardship.  By neglecting these dynamics, our current scenarios make a significant omission.

This work aligns with other research conducted at Pardee that uses gender as a lens. By modeling different patterns of gender equality in relation to unpaid domestic work, health, climate change, education, and poverty, the International Futures (IFs) model can be used to ask and explore a broader range of questions with implications for climate change and beyond.