The Spotlight
A Student-Run Podcast of ISCOR
Today’s geopolitical landscape is both precarious and interconnected in a way it never has been before. Nations constantly jostle for positions in the global hierarchy, climate change looms as an existential threat, and AI continues its revolutionary march. Which is why it is more important than ever for students to stay informed and get involved in these conversations, and to think critically about the greatest challenges facing the world today. The Spotlight answers this call.
The Spotlight is the International Security and Conflict Resolution (ISCOR) Program’s student-run podcast. Hosts and producers have the opportunity to engage with prominent figures at the local, state, national, and even international level on a range of topics surrounding international security. The Spotlight prides itself on its unique approach to communicating the ISCOR mission, giving students total control to choose which guests they would like to invite and what questions will be asked.
Some guests featured on the latest season of The Spotlight podcast include global
climate change expert and Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Protection,
Sherri Goodman and global affairs analyst and former State Department official, Benjamin Moore. Previous episodes are available now on The Spotlight Podcast Spotify channel.
Listen to the Latest Episode
How Students Can Get Involved
Your involvement in The Spotlight podcast is contingent on you having at least 2 more semesters remaining at SDSU. Chosen applicants will take on a producer role for their first semester to learn from the hosts on how to connect with potential guests and structure and publish a podcast episode. The following semester, producers will be promoted to hosts and will become the voices of The Spotlight Hosts. To get involved with The Spotlight podcast, fill out the Spotlight Podcast Interest Form below.
Previous Hosts
Previous Guests (as of April 2026)
Media Coverage
ISCOR Students Create “The Spotlight” Podcast to Demystify Current Events
When international security and conflict resolution (ISCOR) Director and Professor Latha Varadarajan was discussing issues in global security with her class in spring 2023, she floated the idea of a podcast about current events that would be student-focused and student-led.
Enter Avery Cochrane, a fourth-year political science student, and John-Michael Ellis, a history student, who had met in Varadarajan’s ISCOR Global Systems class in fall 2022 and were part of the cohort in her upper-division class on National Security Policy in the spring. Both are minoring in ISCOR.
Top banner photos (L to R): (1) Nov. 2025 of hosts Chandria and Sophia interviewing
guest Sherri Goodman, (2) Avery and John-Michael in the podcast booth, and (3) April
2026 of hosts Parker and Alexis interviewing guest Dr. Lorraine Bayard de Volo.