{"id":43204,"date":"2026-09-11T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=43204"},"modified":"2026-09-11T09:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:00:26","slug":"furman-alumni-at-the-center-of-global-affairs-return-to-greenville-for-america-and-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-alumni-at-the-center-of-global-affairs-return-to-greenville-for-america-and-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman alumni at the center of global affairs return to Greenville for \u2018America and the World\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than three decades ago, Alexander Stubb \u201993 H\u201917 and Gen.\u00a0Joshua Rudd \u201993 were Furman students headed in very different directions.<\/p>\n

Stubb, a political science major from Finland, arrived on campus with a broad curiosity about the world and quickly immersed himself in political theory and international affairs. Rudd, also a political science major, was an ROTC student who would later admit that few people expected him to remain in the military beyond his initial commitment.<\/p>\n

Today, Stubb is president of the Republic of Finland and Rudd is a four-star general, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency.<\/p>\n

On Sept.\u00a018, their paths will converge again at the university where they began.<\/p>\n

Stubb and Rudd will return to Furman for \u201cAmerica and the World,\u201d a public conversation from 5:30-7 p.m. in McAlister Auditorium. The event is presented by Furman\u2019s Tocqueville Center, directed by Jane Fishburne Hipp Professor of Politics and International Affairs Brent Nelsen, in partnership with the Riley Institute and Furman ROTC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fascinating duo,\u201d Nelsen said of the two alumni, \u201cand it\u2019s wonderful to have them come in together.\u201d<\/p>\n

A friendship that spans decades<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"

Alexander Stubb, now president of the Republic of Finland, speaks at Furman in 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nelsen has a particularly close connection to Stubb, whom he taught at Furman and has remained friends with throughout his career. The two have collaborated on a book, visited one another in Europe and the United States, and stayed connected as Stubb moved from academia and diplomacy into Finnish politics. Stubb has also joined Nelsen\u2019s classes remotely and spoken with students during Furman study-away programs.<\/p>\n

Nelsen remembers Stubb as a student who loved ideas, people and new experiences. His Furman education gave him opportunities to travel and study beyond campus, including programs in Washington, D.C., and around the Baltic region.<\/p>\n

Those experiences helped Stubb develop the broad perspective that would become central to his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was outside the country, he could see what was going on in the bigger, broader world,\u201d Nelsen said. \u201cAnd then how it would impact Finland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for bringing Stubb and Rudd back to Furman together emerged last summer, when Stubb contacted Nelsen after reconnecting with his former classmate. Both wanted to return to campus for a conversation about the world they now help lead.<\/p>\n

What began as a relatively simple idea quickly grew into something much larger \u2014 and much more unusual for a university campus.<\/p>\n

\"A

Gen. Joshua Rudd ’93 in 2025 (then Lt. General) during a commissioning ceremony at Furman University. Photo: Jeremy Fleming<\/p><\/div>\n

A lesson in what\u2019s possible<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For Nelsen, the visit is about more than the distinction of having a sitting president and a four-star general on campus. It is also an opportunity for current students to see the unpredictable ways a Furman education can unfold.<\/p>\n

Rudd, Nelsen says, is an especially good example.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy his own admission, he did not stand out in classes,\u201d Nelsen said. \u201cBut he really did get a lot out of his Furman education.\u201d<\/p>\n

That makes his trajectory a useful reminder for students who may not yet know where their own paths will lead.<\/p>\n

The Sept.\u00a018 conversation will give students and community members an opportunity to hear directly from two Furman graduates whose careers have placed them at the center of consequential international questions.<\/p>\n

Nelsen hopes the discussion will explore the transatlantic relationship, the ways the United States and Europe influence one another and how trust between longtime allies can be strengthened.<\/p>\n

Stubb is likely to bring the perspective of a European leader navigating an increasingly complex relationship with Russia, China and the United States. Rudd will offer a very different perspective shaped by his leadership of the nation\u2019s military cyber forces and intelligence community.<\/p>\n

For Furman, bringing them together offers something rare: a chance to see two very different Furman paths converge \u2013 and to consider where the paths of today\u2019s students might lead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Stubb \u201993 H\u201917, president of the Republic of Finland, and Gen. Joshua Rudd \u201993, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, return to campus Sept. 18 for a public conversation on America\u2019s role in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":43206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,60,32,29,3250,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-alumni-profiles","category-politics-and-international-affairs","category-riley-institute","category-tocqueville-center","category-top-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43204"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43211,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43204\/revisions\/43211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}