March 13, 2008

Terrorism expert will conclude the 2008 Sears Lecture series

Robert Pape
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An expert on suicide terrorism will speak at Purdue University on March 26 as part of the Sears Lecture Series.

Robert Pape, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism" will present "What's Wrong with the War on Terrorism" at 8 p.m. in Fowler Hall. Pape is the final speaker for the 2007-08 Sears Lecture series, which focused on "U.S. Security in an Insecure World." Pape's talk is free and open to the public.

Pape also is director of the International Security Policy program at the University of Chicago. His work on the origins of suicide terrorism has been widely reported in the media, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times, as well as on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, National Public Radio and CNN.

Purdue's 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 history and political science departments alternately sponsor the lecture series bearing his name.

The 2007-08 series also featured talks by R. James Woolsey, former CIA director; Shibley Telhami, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institute's Saban Center for Middle East Policy; and Tom Ricks, Washington Post military correspondent. This year's Sears Series is sponsored by the Department of Political Science.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Louis René Beres, (765) 494-4189, lberes@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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