Purdue News
Purdue News
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March 23, 2004 Nobel prize winner discusses post-9/11 concerns at Sears LectureWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The 2004 Sears Lecture Series at Purdue University will feature three speakers, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, who will share their perspectives on the post-9/11 global role of the United States. The series, The Role of the United States in the Post-9/11 International System, begins on March 31 and is free and open to the public. "This year's Louis Martin Sears Lecture Series offers the opportunity to hear three distinguished speakers – an activist, an academic and a labor economist – address the U.S. role in the world today," says Harry Targ, professor of political science and chairperson of the series committee for 2004. "Given our national debates on U.S. power and purpose in the world, these speakers could not be more timely." Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1997, will present "U.S. Foreign Policy, Land Mines, and the Post-9/11 International System" at 8 p.m. on March 31 in Stewart Center's Loeb Playhouse. Williams is an international organizer and activist who played a critical role in the establishment of the international treaty to ban land mines. She is currently the American ambassador for the international campaign to ban land mines. Stephen Walt, academic dean at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, will present "The Global Response to American Primacy" at 8 p.m. on April 7 in Loeb Playhouse. Walt is a leader in the field of international security and a winner of the Mershon Center's Furniss Book Award for his first book, "Origins of Alliances." Thea Lee, assistant director for international economics at the Public Policy Department of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, will present "U.S. Leadership in the Global Economy: Time for a New Direction?" at 8 p.m. on April 21 in Stewart Center, Room 214. Lee co-authored "A Field Guide to the Global Economy." She has been a frequent radio and television commentator on global economic issues and their effects on workers and has testified on these issues before congressional committees. The Sears Lecture Series has a 22-year tradition of bringing informative and distinguished speakers to the West Lafayette campus. Previous presenters have included Gen. William C. Westmoreland, Sens. George McGovern and Frank Church, Pulitzer Prize-winning "New York Times" journalist Thomas Friedman, and Leonard Woodcock, the first U.S. ambassador to the People's Republic of China. The biennial series is named for the late Purdue historian Louis Martin Sears, who was a faculty member in the then joint Department of History and Political Science from 1920 until his retirement in 1956. Sears specialized in diplomatic history and biography and was the author of numerous books. The lecture series bearing his name is alternately sponsored by the departments of History and Political Science. Purdue Convocations also is supporting this year's series. There will be a public reception after each lecture. For more information, contact the Department of Political Science at (765) 494-4169. Writer: Amy Patterson-Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu Source: Harry Targ, (765) 494-4169, targ@polsci.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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