Name: Global Honors Evening 2024
Start: 2024-10-17T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-10-17T21:00:00-05:00
Location: Kansas City Art Institute

Global Honors Evening: A Celebration of A Global Kansas City
Celebrating those redefining Kansas City as a global city in the heart of America.
Schedule for the Evening
5:00 VIP Reception with drinks and light hors d'oeuvres
6:00 Registration and reception with drinks and heavy hors d'oeuvres
7:00 Program with keynote by Eric Schwartz – theatre-style seating (no tables)
8:00 Coffee and dessert reception
About the Event
Kansas City's had a transformative decade so far, graduating from a globally minded city in the heartland of America to a truly global city. We've become an international hub for stadium design, animal health, and architecture. Our sports franchises have won championships, broken gender barriers, and made history. We're in the midst of an International Summer of Soccer, and are ready to welcome the world to Kansas City for World Cup 2026. Our international commerce is growing rapidly. Additionally, Kansas City has taken incredible steps to be a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees, to celebrate the history and the accomplishments of the people from all cultures who have called Kansas City home for generations, and to do the tremendous work to become the most accepting, inclusive, and globally minded Kansas City we can be.
About the Keynote Speaker
Professor Eric Schwartz is chair of the Humphrey School's global policy area. Schwartz returned to his full time appointment at the Humphrey School in the spring of 2023, after completing five years of long-term leave with partial appointment. Between 2017 and 2022, he served as president of Refugees International, the Washington, DC-based non-governmental organization that reports and advocates in support of the rights of refugees and displaced persons around the world.
From 2011 to 2017, Professor Schwartz served as dean of the Humphrey School. During this period, the School expanded its academic programs and its external engagement in Minnesota, the nation, and the world.
Prior to arrival at the Humphrey School, Schwartz served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, having been nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2009. Working with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he served as the Department of State's principal humanitarian official, managing a $1.85 billion budget, as well as State Department policy and programs for U.S. refugee admissions and U.S. international assistance worldwide.
From 2006 through 2009, Schwartz directed the Connect U.S. Fund, a multi-foundation/NGO collaborative seeking to promote responsible U.S. engagement overseas, and which included the Hewlett Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Mott Foundation.