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CWA Celebrates 70 Years of Conversation

The 2018 Conference on World Affairs will mark the 70th year of the event on the CU Boulder campus. Join us as we look back at some of our favorite moments and memories from the past seven decades.

CWA 70th Celebration

CWA 70th Year Photo Gallery

Take a look back at some of our favorite photographs of the conference and it's most popular attendees over the past 70 years.

A Student/Community Collaboration

All program design and speaker selection is done by the CWA Program Committee. The committee is comprised of CU students and Boulder community members, all who volunteer their time to produce the event.

"United Nations Week"

The Conference on World Affairs was originally titled "United Nations Week" as it celebrated the birth of the UN. The flags lining Norlin Quad during the conference represent the UN, and are symbols of the CWA's international scope.

Meet our Founder: Howard Higman

Howard Higman (center) photographed with CWA speaker James P. Warburg (right), financial adviser to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Higman was a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado and a beloved citizen of Boulder. The conference was originally designed as a one-shot tribute to the United Nations, but it proved so popular that the university offered Mr. Higman the opportunity to make it an annual event.

New York Times: Howard Higman, Academic Impresario, Dies at 80

First CWA Program: 1948

Read the program from the first ever Conference on World Affairs held in 1948 on the CU Boulder campus; 12 events were held.

CWA Speaker Biographies: 1968

Among the attendees at the 1968 CWA was American architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller. See his biography in the 'Who Is Who".

Watch some of our favorite CWA videos

47th Vice President Joe Biden

Joe Biden gives a plenary address at the 2007 Conference on World Affairs titled "America's Interests, Iraq's Future".

Molly Ivins CWA Tribute

A tribute to author and political commentator Molly Ivins who attended the CWA for 15 years.

Patch Adams: Best Possible Worlds

Physician, Comedian, Social Activist, Clown, and Author Patch Adams speaks at the 2002 Conference on World Affairs.

Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak presented by the CU Cultural Events Board, gives the keynote address at the 2015 CWA.

Roger Ebert: Hear, Speak, See No Evil

Roger Ebert, who attended the CWA for over 30 years, gives a Plenary address in Macky Auditorium in 2009.

Molly Ivins: How to be cheerful about the American political system

Molly Ivins gives a plenary address in Macky Auditorium at the 2001 Conference on World Affairs on the CU Boulder campus.

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