Schedule for the 27th Annual Black Hills Research Symposium:

The last date for submission to BHRS is Friday, February 28th, 2025

• Wednesday, March 26th:

  • 9:00AM-3:00 PM

    • Oral Presentations - Meier Hall 203 and Meir Hall 207

  • 3:00PM-5:00PM

    • Poster Presentations - The Hive Entryway, David B. Miller Yellow Jacket Student Union
    • Poster to be put up on display boards on Tuesday 3/25
    • Posters on display Tuesday 3/26 through Thursday 3/27
    • Posters on display to be taken down from display boards after the keynote address on Thursday 3/27

• Thursday, March 27th: Meier Hall Auditorium

  • 3:30PM-4:00PM

    • Pre-address light refreshments

  • 4:00PM 

  • Keynote Address at the 27^th BLACK HILLS RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM (2025) - Dr. Rouven Steeves, Lt. Col USAF (ret.), Senior Military Faculty USAF (fmr.) & Managing Director of HP Advisory

• Keynote Address Title: "Grand Strategy: American Statesmanship in Light of the Prospects and Problems of Contemporary Geo-Politics"

• Address Description: Grand strategy, the art and science of a state utilizing the entire spectrum of socio-cultural, political, economic, and military means to achieve national interests, is a critical element of statecraft.  Although it remains the purview of our elected officials to precisely delineate and implement our grand strategy, it is the privileged duty of every citizen in a republic to participate in its formulation.  This is especially true in the case of the American republic, which finds its vitality in “we the people.” For such a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” (“Gettysburg Address”), the people are not merely citizens but statesmen.  It is therefore incumbent that every American understands what this means and entails in light of domestic and geo-political verities.  Surveying the politics of our planet, we will not only seek to illuminate the many opportunities and threats that face us but do so in light of extolling what is required of each of us as citizen-statesmen. 
• About Dr. Steeves: Dr. Rouven Steeves, Lt Col, USAF (ret.), is an educator, author, and consultant as well as the managing director of HP Advisory.  As a former member of the Senior Military Faculty at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he served for 15 years as Associate Professor of Humanities and the Director for the Study of Statesmanship in the Martinson Honors Program, teaching in the departments of Foreign Languages, Political Science, and Philosophy.  A native German speaker, he earned his Master of Arts in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School and his Doctorate in Political Philosophy from Georgetown University.  A 2001 Presidential Fellow and 2007 recipient of the Bronze Star, he has served as a political-military advisor and negotiator in Iraq and worked on NATO just war doctrine during the Kosovo intervention.  A renowned international scholar, his most recent publications include “The War on Terror and Afghanistan” in America and the Just War Tradition.  He is the 2015 recipient of the USAF Academy’s Robert F. McDermott Award for Research Excellence in the Humanities and most recently a finalist for the Dr. William H. Heiser Award for Teaching Excellence.