Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the former President of Croatia (2015-2020), delivers her Nanovic Forum lecture, titled “War in Ukraine, Peace in Europe? Geopolitics, Economics, and Security after Russia’s Invasion,” on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, at the University of Notre Dame.
Grabar-Kitarović was elected president of the Republic of Croatia in January 2015, a position she held until February 2020. The fourth person to serve in this role since Croatia’s independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, she was also the first woman and, at 46, the youngest person to assume the presidency. Since the 1990s, Grabar-Kitarović has held a number of governmental and diplomatic posts, including to the EU and the U.S., and has received numerous national and international awards. In 2019, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award from the Fulbright Association, which recognized Grabar-Kitarović’s remarkable contributions as a leader, diplomat and public servant who “embodies the best of leadership in times of unrelenting global crises.”
The Nanovic Forum deepens Notre Dame’s rich tradition of connections to Europe by bringing European leaders from a variety of academic, cultural and professional fields to campus to discuss issues of major importance in Europe. Established in 2011, the forum is sponsored by Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic. Past speakers in the Nanovic Forum have included European political leaders Horst Koehler, former President of Germany, and Hanna Suchocka, former Prime Minister of Poland, as well as other prominent leaders in education, law, government and the arts.
The Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame is an interdisciplinary home for students and faculty to explore the evolving ideas, cultures, beliefs, histories and institutions that shape Europe today. As part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, the institute is helping to advance integral human development through research, policy and practice.
