The Blair community was excited to welcome former Ambassador Raymond Seitz to the Society of Skeptics on February 6. Mr. Seitz is a retired career diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1994. His talk focused on the imperative and unraveling U.S. alliances in 2020.

After graduating from Yale University in 1963, Mr. Seitz joined the U.S. foreign service in 1966. He was the first career diplomat in modern history to be made ambassador to the United Kingdom, a position traditionally given to a political appointee by the president. Mr. Seitz was a member of the Founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University. 

Since retiring from foreign service, Mr. Seitz has held numerous directorships, governorships and trusteeships. He was senior managing director at Lehman Brothers International from 1995 to 1996 and vice chairman from 1996 to 2003. He has held non-executive directorships on the boards of British Airways, Hong Kong Telecom, Marconi, General Electric Co, Rio Tinto Group and Cable & Wireless. He published his first book, Over Here, in 1998, an autobiographical review of his time as ambassador and life in foreign service.

To watch his full presentation, please click below:

The History of Skeptics

The Society of Skeptics was established as a forum for students and faculty to discuss and debate important global issues; it has grown to become one of the premier high school lecture series in the United States. Each week, speakers from the political, social, scientific, economic and literary arenas share their unique perspectives with students, who are encouraged to engage with presenters, asking questions and debating points of view.

The program was an outgrowth of the Blair International Society, begun in 1937. Forty years later, former history department chair Elliott Trommald, PhD, Hon.’65, established the modern Skeptics program as a regular forum for student discussion and debate; history teacher Martin Miller, PhD, took over in the mid-1980s and molded the program into a weekly lecture series, one that has since continued without interruption. Under the tutelage of Dr. Miller, Skeptics has featured a wide variety of speakers who are engaging, accomplished in their respective fields and often controversial. For a listing of upcoming Skeptics programs, please click here.