Postgraduate Information Session

At the Postgraduate Information Session in October 2012, guests had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with academics, current students and course graduates about their study options, including individual units, which can be taken in many degrees at the University of Sydney.

US Election: America at a crossroad

Following the postgraduate information session a panel of experts discussed not only who will win the 2012 presidential election but its implications on US domestic and foreign policy. The election comes at a time when the two major parties are especially divided. But, regardless of the outcome, Americans and their leaders are going to have to make difficult choices on how to confront a still struggling economy, growing national debt, and the country’s uncertain role on the international stage. The panel discussed these challenges and how the US can and should proceed in the years ahead.

Panel

• Nick Bryant, BBC Correspondent
• Mike Seccombe, Business and Economics Correspondent, The Global Mail
• Rebecca Sheehan, Lecturer in United States History
• Fourth speaker TBC
• Moderator: John Barron, ABC journalist and co-host of Planet America
  
  

Nick Bryant
BBC Correspondent

Nick served as a BBC correspondent in Washington and South Asia before arriving in Sydney in 2006.

In Washington, he covered the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, while in South Asia he reported from the sharp end of the Bush administration's war on terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He has filed from many of the world's most famous datelines, including the White House, the Kremlin, the DMZ on the Korean Peninsula, Downing Street, Ground Zero and Guantanamo Bay.

He has also reported from many trouble spots, including Kashmir, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Gaza, Iran and Rwanda.

A history graduate from Cambridge with a PhD in American politics from Oxford, he is the author of the books, The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality and Adventures in Correspondentland.

Mike Seccombe
Business and Economics Correspondent, The Global Mail

Mike, widely known as ‘Secco’ is known by many for his coverage of national affairs and politics for The Sydney Morning Herald. He authored the once-infamous Kookaburra column, so named after then-PM Paul Keating referred to Secco as “that [expletive] Kookaburra.”

Secco has covered the term of three Prime Ministers and also served as the SMH’s Canberra Chief of Staff. From 2006-2011, he lived on Martha’s Vineyard Massachusetts writing for the venerable Vineyard Gazette. Secco is covering business and economics for The Global Mail, based in Sydney.

Dr Rebecca Sheehan
Lecturer in United States History

Rebecca joined the United States Studies Centre as Lecturer in US History in September 2010. Prior to that she was one of the US Studies Centre’s first postdoctoral fellows.

Rebecca Sheehan received her PhD in United States history from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She received her MA in history from USC, and a BA from the University of New South Wales with first-class honours in history and a major in literature and linguistics. Rebecca spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at UCLA, served on the Executive Council of the American Studies Association, and was a Graduate Fellow of the Center for Law, Humanities, and Culture at USC.

Rebecca has published on rock music in the 1970s and on boxing in Australia and the Philippines. She is currently working on a book manuscript. "American Redemption: Sex, Rock, and Religion, 1968-1983" argues that in the long 1970s a new sexual order was forged through the interactions of sexual liberation, popular music, evangelical religion, and market forces. Even as women enjoyed greater freedoms and homosexuality became more visible, permissive sexuality was mitigated by traditional Christian morality. It was in the 1970s that the battle lines were drawn for the culture wars fought ever since over issues including abortion, gay rights, and the ongoing sexual double standard.

Moderator

John Barron
ABC journalist and co-host of Planet America

John Barron has been covering Presidential campaigns as a journalist for almost 20 years.

He hosts a weekly program for ABC NewsRadio called “Inside America”, he is the author of the book “Vote for Me” about the 2008 Presidential campaign and a documentary film examining the history of the nominating contest “First Stop, Iowa”.

In 2012 John has been co-hosting ABCTV’s weekly “Planet America” program and producing a documentary on the GOP primary campaign called “The Party of Reagan”.

He also taught a course on US campaign politics and the media for the US Studies Centre this year.

Back to top

2011 Postgraduate Information Session

Hear Bob Carr speak on the US presidency past and present:

With a capacity crowd and thoughtful words on peace and presidencies from Bob Carr, the Centre’s first Postgraduate Information Evening was a great success.

The night at Sydney’s MLC Centre was intended to provide information and enable prospective students to speak to academic, administrative staff, and former students, about the US Studies Centre’s postgraduate course offerings.
 
"Terrific night,” commented one prospective student. “I’ll be putting my application in soon.”

Former NSW premier and Centre board director, Bob Carr, spoke to the gathering about the US presidency – including his recent reassessment of John Kennedy having listened to his 1963 ‘peace speech’ urging an end to the Cold War.
 
On more current matters, he said hindsight suggested Obama made significant errors in his early handling of the global financial crisis. “It seems clear now as the US economy takes another dip that something was lacking in his response [to the GFC].” 

If you want to kick-start your global career and learn more about US politics, foreign policy, business, media and culture, the Master of US Studies is the smart move. Find out more.

Back to top