Speakers
International Diplomats
2007
Gillian Sorenson
Senior Advisor
United Nations Foundation
Gillian Martin Sorensen, Senior Advisor at the United Nations Foundation is a national advocate on matters related to the United Nations and the United Stated-United Nations relationship.
From 1997 to 2003, she served as Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations on appointment by Secretary-General Kofi Anan. She was responsible for outreach to non-governmental organizations and was the contact point for the Secretary-General with parliamentarians, the academic world, religious leaders and other groups comitted to peace, justice, development and human rights.
Prior to that, Ms. Sorensen served from 1993 to 1996 as Special Adviser for Public Policy on appointment by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali where her duties included directing the UN's global Fiftieth Anniversary observances in 1995. She is an experienced public speaker and often represented the World Organization in this country and abroad.
Gillian Sorensen is a graduate of Smith College and studied at the Sorbonne. In the Fall of 2002, on leave from the UN, she was a Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government (Institute of Politics) at Harvard University. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow at the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy. Previously, she served as a Board Member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on appointment by the President of the United States.
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Vali Nasr
Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
New York, NY
Vali Nasr is one of the world's leading experts on the Islamic world and Muslim politics. He has advised senior policy makers, members of Congress, and leading executives in the private sector. As a consultant to the Department of state and USAID, he has provided expert testimony to the US Senate on the Muslim world, and is a major influence on ongoing public debates on such critical issues as Islam and democracy, Islamic extremism and anti-Americanism, America's relations with Iran, the war in Iraq, and potential global effects of conflict within Islam.
An Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Professor and Associated Chair of Research at the Department of National security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Nasr is the author of several important books on politics and Islam, most recently, Democracy in Iran and The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future. He has written for The New York Times, TIME, and The Washington Post, and is a frequent guest on CNN, BBC, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, NPR, 60 Minutes, NOW with BILL Moyers and Frontline.
Nasr's singular understanding of conflicts within Islam and their potential global effects has not gone unnoticed: he has been awarded grants from the MacArthur Foundation, The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council.
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Dr. Dorina Akosua Bekoe
Senior Research Associate
Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention
United States Institute of Peace
Dorina A. Bekoe is a senior research associate in the center for Conflict analysis and Prevention, where she specializes in African conflicts, political development, institutional reform, and peace agreement implementation. She manages a project on political transition in Africa that includes work on electoral violence, Nigeria, and Cote d'Ivoire; and organizes working groups on Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan. Previous research has focused on the incentives for warring parties to comply with peace agreements, the new Partnership for Africa's Development and its related African Peer Review mechanism, and the regionalization of conflict in Africa. Bekoe holds a B.A. in economics from Franklin and Marshall College, and M.S. in public policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University.
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Dr. Linda Bishai
Senior Program Officer of the Education Program
United States Institute of Peace
Linda Bishai is a senior program officer in USIP; Education program, where she focuses on secondary and university education in international relations, conflict resolution, human rights, and peace studies. She is responsible for curriculum development and developing faculty and teacher workshops throughout the United States and in conflict zones, especially the Sudan.
Before coming to USIP, Bishai was an assistant professor of political science at Towson University, where she taught courses in international relations, international law, the use of force, and human rights. Her research interests include identity politics, international human rights law in domestic courts, and the development of international law after the Nuremberg trials. During 2003-04, Bishai served as a Supreme Court Fellow at the Federal Judicial Center where she worked on an introduction to international human rights law for the federal judiciary. She has also taught at Brunel University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Stockholm.
Bishai holds a B.A. in history and literature from Harvard University, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Ph.D. in international relations from the London School of Economics.
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Fredy Chicangana
Indigenous Poet
Cauca, Colombia
Fredy Chicangana is Kitchua poet from Colombia and a speaker for Quechua and other Indigenous people. His work is absolutely tied in with Indigenous communities and he is a community spokesperson as well. Fredy Chicangana Poet of the Yanacona Community of South East of Cauca, Colombia, was born in 1964. His poems describe the indigenous life and have been published by several national and international magazines and newspapers. He has participated in continental events taken in indigenous languages in Mexico, Venezuela, Chile and Ecuador and Peru.
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Dr. Yusri Hazran
Fulbright Scholar / Israel
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Harvard University
Yusri Hazran was born in the Druze village of Yarka. He received his Ph.D. from Hebrew University in Israel (2007). His dissertation explores the relationship between the Druze community and the Lebanese state from 1943-1975.
Between the years of 1998-2006, he worked as a junior lecturer at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University where he taught Introduction to the Islamic Religion and a Methodology Tutorial. Between the years of 2005-07, he taught Introduction to the History of the Religion of Islam, Introduction to the Modern History of the Middle East, and the Middle East between the World Wars.
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Pardiss Kebriaei
Staff Attorney for Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative
Center for Constitutional Rights
New York, NY
Pardiss Kebriaei joined the Guantánamo Global Justice Initiative at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in July 2007. She provides direct representation to several of CCR’s clients at Guantánamo and helps coordinate CCR’s network of hundreds of pro bono counsel representing other prisoners. She also focuses on using international human rights mechanisms to bring international pressure to bear on the U.S. government and hold other governments accountable for their role in the violations at Guantánamo.
Pardiss came to CCR after five years at the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she specialized in international litigation, working within the Inter-American, European and UN human rights systems, and in foreign jurisdictions including the Philippines, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Colombia. She has also worked with Global Rights in Morocco and as an adjunct professor at Hunter College in New York, where she taught courses on international human rights and women’s rights. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and has degrees in Middle Eastern studies and cello performance from Northwestern University. She speaks Farsi, Dari and French.
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Dr. Alexandra Miller
Senior Scientist
Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI)
Bethesda, MD
Alexandra C. Miller is currently a senior scientist and principal investigator at the U.S. Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. She received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD in 1981 and in 1986 she received her Doctorate in Radiation Biology and Experimental Pathology from Roswell Park Cancer Institute Division at the State University of NY in Buffalo, NY. Dr. Miller completed two post-doctoral projects; the first at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute from in the area of cellular radiobiology and the second at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences from studying molecular biology and carcinogenesis. She has received training awards from the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology and the Photo-radiation Society. Dr. Miller has been a visiting scientist at the National Cancer Institute Division of Cancer Treatment and at the University of Paris, in France. Dr. Miller was nominated for the Radiation Research Society Michael J. Fry award three times since 1996 and has over fifty-five peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Miller has received extramural funding from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for Medical Research, NASA, the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command, and the USAMRMC Congressionally directed medical research program. The author has been the principal investigator for more than eleven research projects since 1992. She has been an ad hoc member of panels for the World Health Organization, NIH-NCI, U.S. Army Medical Research Command, U.S. CDMRP, U.S. Agency on International Development Committee, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Dr. Miller's research interests include carcinogenesis, trans-generational genotoxicity, chemoprevention, and biodosimetry. Current research projects include heavy metal carcinogenicity, trans-generational genotoxicity, radiation protection against internal radiation emitters and external radiation exposure, chemoprevention of radiation-and heavy metal-induced leukemia’s, and biomarkers of exposure and disease development. Past research focused on molecular genetics of radiation resistance and photo-dynamic therapy of cancer.
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Kathleen Murray
Program Coordinator
Fort Worth Police Department – Human Trafficking Unit
Fort Worth, TX
Ms. Kathleen Murray, LMSW, is the program coordinator of the Fort Worth Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit where her primary responsibilities include public outreach and education, training for law enforcement officers, grant program management and compliance, victim service support, and general support of the activities of the Unit’s investigator. The Human Trafficking Unit supports the activities of a federal taskforce, The North Texas Anti Trafficking Taskforce (NTATT), which includes members from local and federal law enforcement agencies and non-governmental service agencies. The NTATT operates in the Northern District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office covering 54 counties.
Before coming to the Fort Worth Police Department, Ms. Murray worked in refugee resettlement assisting refugees and human trafficking survivors from all over the world adjust to life in the United States and rebuild their lives.
Ms. Murray holds a B.A. in Political Science from Ohio University, a Master’s of Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington, and is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer having served in Honduras, Central America.
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Ramon Palomares
Poet
Escuque, Venezuela
was born in Escuque, Venezuela, the 7 of May of 1935. One of the great present poets in Castilian language. Teacher and specialist in classic languages. Central personage of the Sardio group, and the ceiling of the whale, expression of the poetic vanguard in its country. Poem books: The kingdom, 1958; Countryman, 1964; You military funeral honors, 1965; Santiago of Leon of Caracas, 1967; The smooth vientecito of the dawn with the first aromas, 1969; Escuque good bye (Poems 1968-1974); It chose 1830, 1980; The wind and the stone, 1984; Mérida, praise of its rivers, 1985; Poetry (Anthology), 1985; Glad provinces, 1988; Wolves and hawks, 1997. More recently House of the Américas published its anthology In the kingdom of Escuque, 2006. It has obtained diverse recognitions, among them, the National Prize of Literature, in 1974 and the Prize the Poetry International Victor Valera Mora, 2006. As one affirms in contrarátula of In the kingdom of Escuque: “… Something more Exists in the Hard-twisted work of Ramon than an attempt to recover the magical relation with the surroundings, and that a recreation of the province and the personages of the childhood with a mythical sense, then, although its poetry is defined in these fundamental keys, it transfers the anguishes, challenges and questions to a universal plane, feeding and breaking simultaneously his apparent localismo…” And Ramon says to us Hard-twisted: “To be kind always, slope of certain sensorial zones, the dream, everything (…). You assume the bird and you find it with a forest spirit (…). You have salirte of the poem like language and to enter the poem like the life, vision, sensation, air, like stone, as she grazes…”
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Dr. Stephen Soldz
Director of Center for Research, Evaluation and Program Development
Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis
Brookline, MA
Stephen Soldz is a psychologist, psychoanalyst, and public health researcher who is currently Professor at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. At BGSP he teaches reserch methods and courses integrating social and psychodynamic aspects of violence. He also directs BGSP's Center for Research, Evalaution, and Program Development, where he consults to government, university, and corporate clients on research and program evaluation issues. He is also a Lecturer in the University of Massachusetts Boston Sociology Department and has taught at several other Universities, including a nearly a decade as Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. He has conducted research on topics as diverse as psychotherapy process and outcomes, personality, substance abuse treatment and prevention, tobacco control, social violence, and psychoanalysis. He is the Co-editor (with Leight McCullough) of Reconciling empirical knowledge and clinical experience: The art and science of psychotherapy (APA Books,; 2000) and of numerous papers in professional journals. He has a private practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
In recent years Dr. Soldz has written social commentary on such topics as the Iraq war, social aspects of mental health, and the role of psychologists in abusive interrogations in the war on terror. His work has appeared on numerous internet sites, including CounterPunch, ZNet, Common Dreams, OpEdNews, Information Clearinghouse, and Dissident Voice among others, as well as his own Psyche, Science, and Society blog. As an outgrowth of this writing, he was thrust into a leadership role in the movement to confront and change American Psychological Society policy permitting and even facilitating psychologist participation in coercive interrogations. Dr. Soldz is a founding member of the steering committee of the Coalition for and Ethical Psychology and is Co-Chair of the Psychologists for Social Responsibility End Torture Action Committee. He was principal author of an open letter from psychologists to the Senate Intelligence Committee, as well as numerous other documents on these issues. Dr. Soldz has also published and is preparing a number of scholarly works on the history and ethics of psychologists' involvement in coercive interrogations.
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Kristin Wiebe, JD
Director of Anti-Trafficking Programs
World Hope International
Washington, D.C.
Kristin Wiebe directs anti-trafficking programs in Africa and Asia for World Hope International, and advises on anti-trafficking programs for the Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAAST). After designing handcrafts for rural women's cooperatives in Bangladesh, she pursued a law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law to gain skills to use in the fight against human trafficking. Ms. Wiebe has been working on human trafficking since 1998 in countries including Ecuador, Russia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Albania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Cambodia, and the United States. She has lobbied at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to address the demand for trafficking, and given several anti-trafficking presentations at venues including the U.S. Committee on Homeland Security, Georgetown University, Christian Communities in Health and the U.S. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
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His Excellency Ambassador Nabil Fahmy
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Nabil Fahmy, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States since October 1999, is a career diplomat who has played an active role in the numerous efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, as well as in international and regional disarmament affairs. He has also served as Egypt’s Ambassador to Japan and was the Political Advisor to the Foreign Minister. Over the years, he has been a member of the Egyptian Missions to the United Nations (Disarmament and Political Affairs) in Geneva and New York and has held numerous posts in the Egyptian Government.
Ambassador Fahmy headed the Egyptian delegation to the Middle East Peace Process Steering Committee in 1993 and the Egyptian delegation to the Multilateral Working Group on Regional Security and Arms Control emanating from the Madrid Peace Conference from December 1991. He was elected Vice Chairman of the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security Affairs of the 44th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1986. And from 1999 until 2003, he was a member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board of Disarmament Matters and served as its chairman in 2001.
Receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics/Mathematics and his Master of Arts in Management, both from the American University in Cairo, Ambassador Fahmy has written extensively on Middle East politics, peacemaking and regional security and disarmament.
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His Excellency Ambassador Pierre Vimont
Embassy of France
Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Pierre Vimont was appointed Ambassador of France to the United States by President Nicolas Sarkozy on August 1, 2007. Prior to his present appointment, Mr. Vimont was chief of staff to the minister of foreign affairs, a position he had held since 2002. He was previously ambassador and permanent representative of France to the European Union from 1999 to 2002.
Pierre Vimont joined the Foreign Service in 1977. He was first posted to London where he was first secretary from 1978 to 1981. He then spent the next four years with the Press and Information Office at the Quai d’Orsay. From 1985-86, he was seconded to the Institute for East West Security in New York.
Returning to Europe, he served as second counselor with the Permanent Representation of France to the European Communities in Brussels (1986-1990), and was subsequently chief of staff to the minister delegate for European affairs from 1990-1993.
He went on to serve as director for development and scientific, technical and educational cooperation and then for cultural, scientific, and technical relations. He was deputy director general of the entire Cultural, Scientific and Technical Relations Department from 1996-97 and then director of European Cooperation form 1997-1999.
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His Excellency Ambassador Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat has had a distinguished career in Indonesia’s Foreign Service. He has been with the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia since 1981. Prior to his assignment as Ambassador to the United States, he was Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, 2002-2006. During his tenure as Secretary General, he was appointed as Senior Official Meeting (SOM) Leader for Asia Africa Summit; SOM Leader for ASEAN as well as Chairman of the Third Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee of the 2005 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty.
He was Ambassador to Australia and Vanuatu, from May 2001 to April 2002 and Director for International Organizations, Department of Foreign Affairs, 1999 – 2001;
In 1999, he was assigned as Secretary for the Task Force of the Implementation of the East Timor Referendum; Minister Counselor at the Indonesian Permanent Mission in New York, 1996-1998; First Secretary/Counselor at the Indonesian Permanent Mission in Geneva, 1989-1992; Third Secretary/Second Secretary at the Indonesian Permanent Mission in Geneva and Vienna, 1982-1986.
He received his degree in International Relations from Gajah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia and attended a Master Program at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York, USA.
He is married to Nunung Kuncorowati and has three adult children and one grandchild.
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Mr. Achilles Zaluar
Counselor
Embassy of Brazil
Washington, D.C.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, in 1964, in the neighbourhood of Botafogo. Bachelor in Mathematics at Rio Catholic University (PUC-RJ) in 1985. Graduated in Diplomacy from the Rio Branco Institute, Brazil’s diplomatic academy, in 1991. Master in Public Administration / Mid Career (MPA/MC) at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2002. In Brasilia, from 1991 to 1994, worked on non-proliferation and export control, including Brazil’s relations with the MTCR and NSG control regimes, and US-Brazil issues. Secretary of the interagency group that drafted Brazil’s export control law. Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations, New York, 1995-98. Worked on disarmament and non-proliferation (I Committee), Security Council and UN reform issues. Member of team that drafted the position papers and presidential message for Brazil’s accession to the NPT. First Secretary at the Brazilian Embassy to Paraguay, Asuncion, 1998-2001. Head of the Economic Section, 1999-00, and Internal Politics Section, 2000-01. First Secretary (Argentina Desk) at the Division for Southern American Affairs – I (DAM-I), 2002-03. Assistant at the Theory of International Relations Chair of the Rio Branco Institute, 2002-03. Counselor and Deputy Head of the Division for United Nations Affairs (DNU), 2003-06. Counselor (Political Section) at the Brazilian Embassy to the United States, Washington, 2006 to present. Approved (cum laudae) at the 50th Higher Studies Course (CAE), Rio Branco Institute, with the thesis “Nuclear non-proliferation and the Security Council”.
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Dr. Thomas Bagger
Counselor and Deputy Head of Political Section
German Embassy
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Thomas Bagger currently serves as political counselor at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. Thomas Bagger previously served at German missions in Ankara, Turkey (2002-06) and in Prague, Czech Republic (1996-98). From 1998-2002 he held the position of speechwriter for then-Foreign minister Joschka Fischer.
He joined the diplomatic service in 1992 after two years as a research associate at SWP, German's premier international affairs think tank. Dr. Bagger holds a Ph.D. in political science from Munich University and an M.A. in international relations from the University of Maryland at College Park, where he was a Fulbright student in 1989/1990.
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Mr. Sibi George
Political Counselor
Embassy of India
Washington, D.C.
Sibi George, Political Counselor at the Embassy of India in Washington DC, is a career Diplomat. He was born on May 20, 1967. He did his graduation and post graduation in Political Science before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1993. He has served in various capacities at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi and Indian Missions in Egypt, Qatar and Pakistan. During 1995-96, he took a Diploma in Arabic Language and Culture from the American University in Cairo.
During 2001-04, he served as Deputy Secretary at the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, a Division dealing with India's relations with the East Asia region including China, Japan, and the Koreas. Prior to taking up his assignment in Washington DC in February 2007, he served as the Political Counselor in the High Commission of India in Islamabad dealing with India-Pakistan bilateral relations.
He attended various international meetings including the Community of Democracies Ministerial Meeting in Bamako in November of 2007, Fifth International Conference of New or Restored Democracies in Mongolia in September of 2003, G-15 Summit in Cairo in June 2000, and Middle East/North Africa Economic Conference in Cairo in November of 1996.
In the Embassy of India in Washington, D.C., Mr. George is the interlocutor with think-tanks, apart from dealing with the substantial bilateral and political issues ranging from counter-terrorism to climate change. He is married to Joice and the couple have three children.
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Mr. B. Odonjil
Deputy Chief of Mission & Minister Counselor
Embassy of Mongolia
Washington, D.C.
Mr. Odonjil Banzragch is a career diplomat and senior Foreign Service officer, Mr. Odonjil is currently serving as the Minister counselor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Mongolia in Washington, D.C. Immediately prior to this assignment, he was Director of the Department for America, Middle East and Africa of the Ministry of Foreign affairs of Mongolia. Before that he acted as Foreign Ministry's Deputy Director of Department for Europe. He previously served as ahead of Inter-parliamentary relations Department of the Secretariat of Mongolian Parliament.
Mr. Odonjil Banzragch is a constitutional and international lawyer, graduate of the Diplomatic
academy of Vienna on European studies. He has a bachelor's degree in law from Irkutsk University, Russia and also studied a legislative law at the Columbia Law school during 1992-1993. He speaks fluent English, Russian and is married with one child.
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Dr. Andy David
Deputy Consul General
Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest
Chicago, IL
Dr. Andy David began his appointment as Deputy Consul General of Israel to the Midwest in August 2004. Since beginning his diplomatic career in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998, Dr. David has held domestic positions including: Political Coordinator, the Euro-Asia Department, (1999); and Political Counselor, Head of the Euro-Asia section in The Center for International Cooperation. His overseas diplomatic appointments include assignments at the Embassy of Israel in Azerbaijan (1999-2001) and Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong (2001-2002). Dr. David earned three degrees at Jerusalem's Hebrew University: Doctor of Dental Medicine; Master of Science; and Bachelor of Medical Science, magna cum laude. Dr. David spent three years in the Israel Air Force and in RAFAEL, the Ministry of Defense's Armament Development Authority. He is also a graduate of the 2-007 Executive Combating Terrorism program of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. Dr. David was recently awarded Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Diplomat of the Year" award.
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Mr. Kenan Ipek
Consul General
Turkish Consulate
Chicago, IL
Ugur Kenan Ipek is a career diplomat. Since he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Republic of Turkey in 1984, he has served in several Turkish Embassies such as, Moscow, Muscat, London and Washington DC. In addition to working at economic and political departments at the MFA, he has also served as the Director of External Relations of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (Parliament) (1998-2000) and Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the National Security Council (2004-2007).
He completed his degree at the Political Sciences Faculty of Ankara University, Mr. Ipek attended post graduate study on international relations at School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna Center of Johns Hopkins University.
U.Kenan Ipek was appointed as Consul General to Chicago on March 1st, 2007.
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Dr. Joel J. Sokolsky
Royal Military College of Canada
Ontario, CANADA
Dr. Joel J. Sokolsky is Dean of Arts and a Professor of Political Science at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). He is also a Senior Fellow at the Queen's University Centre for International Relations, a member of the Research Board of the Institute for Research on Public Policy and a Research Affiliate at the Strategic Studies Program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his Honors BA from the University of Toronto, and MA from the School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins University, (SAIS), and a PhD in government from Harvard University.
Dr. Sokolsky has taught at the Canadian Studies Center at SAIS, Dalhousie University, Duke University and Bridgewater State College. His areas of interest and teaching include Canadian foreign and defense policy, contemporary maritime strategy, international security relations and American foreign and defense policy. He has been the recipient of several scholarships and awards including two NATO Fellowships and two Fulbright Scholarships. In 1995, he was named to the Teaching Excellence Honors List at RMC and in 2005 won the Research Excellence Award at RMC. In 2003 he was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal.
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Rami Khouri
Rami Khouri knows the Middle East like no other journalist. A widely respected, internationally syndicated, political columnist, he provides a clear understanding of the global influence of the Middle East, its economy, culture, politics, and religion.
A Palestinian-Jordanian, educated in both the Middle East and the US, Khouri provides an accurate and fresh perspective on this highly influential region of the world as the Editor - at -Large of The Daily Star, the largest English language newspaper. He pens the twice-weekly "A View from the Arab World," exploring the issues of his native land, offering an analysis that is accurate thought provoking, and always dynamic.
Khouri clearly articulates the hot button topics of today that will change the scope of all enterprise, culture, politics, and security tomorrow.
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Sangeeta Ray
Dr. Sangeeta Ray is Associate Professor of English at the University of Maryland. Dr. Ray's primary research and teaching interests include postcolonial theory, Indian, African, and Caribbean literature; feminist theory; cultural studies, and contemporary literature. She helped organize and was the first director of the UM Asian American Studies Certificate Program. Dr. Ray was also part of the group that helped form the Postcolonial discussion group for the Modern Language Association. She was awarded a Lily teaching grant and membership grant for an NEH summer seminar. She won a university wide teaching award in 1992 and was named UM Woman of Color of the Year in 1997-98. Dr. Ray is a co-organizer of the first Cultural Studies Association Conference. Currently, she is the president of the Cultural Studies Association.
In her talk, "Transnational Feminism," Dr. Ray will foreground the history of feminism in India and its transformation over the years. She will also highlight the impact of postcolonial feminism in its various engagements with Western feminism. How do Western feminists approach "Third- World" feminisms? Is feminism confined to the culture of white, Western, and middle-class women? Dr. Ray's talk will attempt to answer these questions. Dr. Ray's endeavor to address the issues delineated above in her talk, "Transnational Feminisms," will broaden the cultural, geographic, and political horizons of our students.
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Please mark your calendars for the James E. Smith Midwest Conference of World Affairs to be held on April 12th at 10:30. Kearney native Peter G. Peterson will deliver a keynote address at 10:30 that you shouldn't miss! The Ponderosa Room in the Nebraskan will be the site of both Mr. Peterson's speech and the conferral of an Honorary Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
After graduating from Kearney High in 1942, Peter G. Peterson graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University in 1947 and received his MBA from the University of Chicago and then went on to serve as Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs under Richard M. Nixon. He was named as Secretary of Commerce by Nixon in 1972. He also assumed the chairmanship of Nixon's National Commission on Productivity and was appointed by Nixon as the U.S. Chairman of the U.S. - Soviet Commercial Commission. Major positions that Peter Peterson has held include:
Chairman and Co-founder of the Blackstone Group;
Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York;
Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR);
Founding Chairman of the Institute for International Economics (IIE);
Founding President of the Concord Coalition;
Former Chair/CEO of Lehman Brothers;
Former Chair of the Bell and Howell Corporation;
Member of the Board of 3M;
Member of the Board of Black and Decker;
Member of the Board of Federated Department Stores;
Member of the Board of General Foods;
Member of the Board of RCA; and
Member of the Board of Sony.
He is the recipient of Honorary Ph.D. degrees from Colgate, University, Georgetown University, George Washington University... and on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 will be bestowed with an Honorary Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Kearney following his keynote address. Please join us in the celebration of this Kearney native!!!
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Location and Office Hours
Welch Hall
2504 19th Avenue
Kearney, NE 68849-4911
Office open: 8 am - 5 pm
Phone Hours: 8 am - 5 pm
Walk-in Advising hours: 8 am - 4:30 pm
Telephone: (308) 865-8953 Fax:( 308) 865-8947
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