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Your passport to global affairs


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Our Exciting Lecture Season Is Underway

Naples United Church of Christ 
5200 Crayton Road, Naples

3:45 and 7:30 pm (except as otherwise noted)
In person and livestreamed

Our Enduring Global Crises

Lecture Schedule

Upcoming:

March 9: “The Future of U.S. Relations with Venezuela and Cuba”.  Prof. Paul Webster Hare, Master Lecturer, Boston University, former British Ambassador to Cuba.

March 23:  “Advances in Chinese Military and Uncrewed Technology”. Tim Ditter, Senior Research Scientist, U.S. Center for Naval Analyses.

April 7, TUESDAY: "A Global National Security Conversation". Ambassador Douglas Lute (usa ret.), assistant to President Bush and National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan

Videos available in NCWA archives:

November 3: “Conflict: Iran”, Distinguished Fellow Barbara Slavin of the Stimson Center in Washington.

November 17: Edward Luce, National Editor of the Financial Times, Author of "ZBIG", a Cold War biography of Zbigniew Brzezinski.


December 8: "Russia's War on Ukraine: an Update". William Taylor [U.S. Ambassador ret. Ukraine], Distinguished Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

January 12: "The Middle East at a Hinge Moment".  Mona Yacoubian, Senior Advisor and Director, Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and international Studies.

January 26: One session, “Issues Impacting the Global Economy”. Daniel Alpert, The International Club of Business Economics, and distinguished panelists. 

February 9: “To Dare Mighty Things: U.S. Defense Strategies Since the Revolution, and Lessons for Today”. Michael E. O’Hanlon, Brookings Institution.

February 23: "High Latitudes and High Stakes: Economics, Environment and Security in an Accessible Arctic". Louis Mead Treadwell, 11th Lieutenant Governor of Alaska and Former Chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.


Lecture Guests Can Sign Up Online

We've made it easier to tell others about the gem that is NCWA! Guests at our lectures can register themselves online.

Easy! All you have to do is tell your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and others with similar interests about the superior quality of our adult and youth programs and how it helps them to better understand our rapidly changing world. Don't forget to tell them that we're nonpartisan, non-profit and a place where friendships are built. Then send them to the NCWA website's home page to register. 

Guests can reserve their free passes for 

one or two persons by clicking here. Or they may scan the QR code below:

Guests can reserve a seat to attend one lecture during the season for themselves and one other person. Guests are limited to only one free lecture per season, after which we hope they will consider membership.

Great Decisions group leaders welcome guests. Hurry! Season is winding down!

Latest News

Mimi Gregory Receives Honor from WACA Board of Directors

Mimi Gregory receives the  2025 WACA Chairman's Individual Award from Matthew Hughes, president and CEO of WACA.

Mimi Gregory, NCWA Vice President of Programs, has received the Chairman's Individual Award for 2025 from Glenn Creamer, chairman of the board of directors of the World Affairs Councils of America (WACA). Last year she completed a term as vice chair of the WACA Board.

The award was presented at WACA's national conference and again last weekend during a visit by three WACA leaders to Naples to attend the lecture of Mona Yacoubian on the Middle East.

Mona is a WACA board member. Presenting the award in Naples was Matthew Hughes, president and CEO of WACA. Also attending was Stephen Lackey, WACA treasurer and Board member.

Mimi has committed decades of service to World Affairs Councils in Boston and Naples, as well as to WACA.

NCWA Adopts Vision and Values Statements

NCWA's Board of Directors has adopted statements of its long-term Vision and Core Values to support its existing Mission Statement. The new statements describe our intentions for our role in the Southwest Florida community

and the values we bring to that role as we inform adults and help create the leaders of tomorrow.

Click here to view the complete version of our Vision, Mission and Core Values.

Officers Leading Our Board for the Season



Mark Schwab, President



Gunther Winkler, President-Elect

Mark Schwab is continuing this season as president of NCWA. 

President-Elect is Gunther Winkler, who is returning to the Board after time away when he was president of Greater Naples Leadership. He will become president in April.

To view information on other Board members, click here.


Did You Miss a Lecture?

The lecture archive is available for members. 
To access the archive, first sign in.
Then, click this link

Upcoming Events

  • Model UN
    March 02, 2026

Important Dates!


Great Decisions meetings began January 19
Model UN competition at FGCU March 2-3
Great Decisions meetings end March 13
High School Academic WorldQuest March 21
Final  lecture April 7
Annual Meeting and election of new
Board members, in person and online April 7


Oakridge Middle School Wins 
Fast-Paced 2026 Competition


A team from Oakridge Middle School won the Middle School competition March 1. From left are Mark Schwab, NCWA president; first place winners Joseph “Nolen” Walter, John “JT” Haney, Santiago Grana, Jordan Rodriguez; Gunther Winkler, NCWA president-elect, and Michael Finkel, AWQ chair.  Photo by Martha Williams

For details on the competition, please click here.

NCWA Book Club 
Explores Foreign Policy

March 3: We will discuss via Zoom Michael O’Hanlon’s recently released To Dare Mighty Things: U.S. Defense Strategy Since the Revolution. He spoke to the NCWA membership February 9. The Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82174060005

The book is an excellent follow‑up to our January discussion about the new 2025 National Security Strategy, offering a well‑informed perspective on the subject. O’Hanlon argues that much, but not all, of the history of U.S. defense over the course of 250 years has been a story of success. Insulated by two oceans and mostly friendly neighbors, but constantly ambitious and more assertive abroad, America has dared mighty things and often achieved them. 

April 7: TBD
The club meets via Zoom, usually from 12:00 to 1:30 pm, on first Tuesdays of the month during the season. To get on the mailing list, click here. For Zoom link and more information, contact Bill Korstad at bkorstad@mac.com or go to our Book Club page.

Past Book Club topics:

November 4: ZBIG: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet by Edward Luce
December 2: The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman by Karen Elliot House.  
January 6: 2025 National Security Strategy. The recent update to U.S. security strategy is a dramatic departure from the liberal internationalist foreign policy in place the last 80 years. Perhaps it's time for a change. The Book Club will discuss the side of the story that is not being widely told.

February 3: Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis by Robert D. Kaplan, an urgent exploration of a world in constant crisis, where every regional disaster threatens to become a global conflict, with lessons from history that can stop the spiral. 

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NCWA has almost 1,600 members and is one of the largest chapters of the World Affairs Councils of America. Founded in 1980.

45 years of service to adults and students in Southwest Florida

Founded in 1980, now one of the largest chapters of the World Affairs Councils of America

25 discussion groups meet weekly focusing on global issues.

NCWA has almost 1,600 members and is one of the largest chapters of the World Affairs Councils of America. Founded in 1980.

45 years of service to adults and students in Southwest Florida

Founded in 1980, now one of the largest chapters of the World Affairs Councils of America

25 discussion groups meet weekly focusing on global issues.

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