Join Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies for the ST Lee Lecture featuring Jeff Flake. Jeff Flake served as a United States senator from Arizona from 2013 to 2019. A Republican, Flake previously served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013. From 2022 to 2024 he served as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey. Following the lecture there will be a Q&A session with the audience. 

Please check here for more details closer to the date of the event. 

This event is open to the public.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ambassador Jeff Flake recently served as the United States Ambassador to The Republic of Türkiye. Prior to his ambassadorial service, Ambassador Flake represented Arizona in the United States Senate from 2013 to 2019. He also represented Arizona in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013.

Before entering Congress, Ambassador Flake served as Executive Director of the Goldwater Institute in Arizona, and he directed the Foundation for Democracy in Namibia during that nation’s transition to independence. Ambassador Flake holds a BA degree in International Relations and an MA degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University.

Ambassador Flake has guest lectured at Stanford, Princeton and Yale, and he was a Resident Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Ambassador Flake delivered the 2018 commencement address at Harvard Law School, and is a frequent guest on the Sunday morning political talk shows.

Ambassador Flake currently serves as the Director of the Institute of Politics (IOP) at Arizona State University, and as Chairman of the Board of World Trade Center Utah. He also serves as a Visiting Fellow at Brigham Young University.

In January of 2025, Ambassador Flake was knighted by the Swedish Government, receiving the “Royal Order of the Polar Star” for his pivotal role in securing Sweden’s accession to NATO while serving as Ambassador to Türkiye.

He is the author of the New York Times best seller Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle. 

Ambassador Flake and his wife, Cheryl, are the parents of five grown children.

The S.T. Lee Lectureship is named for Seng Tee Lee, a business executive and noted philanthropist. Dr. Lee was director of the Lee group of companies in Singapore and of the Lee Foundation.

Dr. Lee endowed the annual lectureship at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies in order to raise public understanding of the complex policy issues facing the global community today and to increase support for informed international cooperation.

The S.T. Lee Distinguished Lecturer is chosen for his or her international reputation as a leader in international political, economic, social, and health issues and strategic policy-making concerns. See previous lectures in the series.