Dean Rice, Knox County Chief of Staff, looks at the future as discussed in the book The next 100 years: a forecast for the 21st century by George Friedman. (Recorded June 18, 2014)

“Clearly, predicting events over a century is next to impossible; however, Friedman builds strong, logical cases for the shifts and changes he believes lie ahead. The next 100 years is an extremely thought provoking look at geopolitical shifts that, if realized, will profoundly impact the world our children and grandchildren live in. Anyone who follows the current events unfolding in Ukraine and Russia will find this book absolutely fascinating,” Rice said.

In addition to serving as Chief of Staff for Knox County, Rice is an adjunct faculty member with University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s College of Communication and Information Science, where he also earned a degree in communication studies. He served as Legislative/Policy Aid on issues of energy, federal budget, and national defense for members of the U.S. House and Senate during the mid to late 1990s. He was the 2013 recipient of both the Society of Universal Dialogue’s Atlantic Institute "Peace Award" and the Distinguished Alumnus, School of Communication Studies. He recently co-authored a opinion piece for CNN on the Ukrainian crisis and global security.