WASHINGTON, PA (Nov. 10, 2014) – Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow David Dunford, former U.S. ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman, will be in residence at Washington & Jefferson College (W&J) from Nov. 10 to 14.
Dunford will present “Making Sense of Today’s Middle East” at a lecture Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Howard J. Burnett Center’s Yost Auditorium at Washington & Jefferson College. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Dunford’s presentation is part of the College’s Walter K. Levy Lecture Series, dedicated to the memory and spirit of Walter K. Levy, 1952 graduate and former trustee of Washington Jefferson College.
He will conduct classes and lectures throughout the week to share his practical knowledge of the Middle East with faculty and students of the College.
“We are excited to welcome Ambassador Dunford to Washington & Jefferson College. The opportunity for our students to learn from someone with his knowledge and understanding of the Middle East is invaluable, and will promote in them a responsible global citizenship that will enable them to contribute substantially to the world in which they live,” said Dr. Tori Haring-Smith, president of the College.
Dunford served in the Foreign Service until 1995. His roles included Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman; Deputy and Acting Ambassador in Saudi Arabia from 1988-92 (during the Gulf War); Director of Egyptian Affairs in the Department of State in Washington, DC; Chief of the American Embassy Economic Section in Cairo, Egypt; and Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President. Early in his career he also served in Helsinki, Finland and Quito, Ecuador.
In 2003, from April to June, he worked as the Coalition Provisional Authority in Bagh-dad as Senior Ministerial Liaison to Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During 1997-98, Dunford was the Coordinator of the Transition Team for the Establishment of the Bank for Economic Cooperation and Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENABANK), a proposed regional multilateral development bank in Cairo.
Dunford currently consults for government and the private sector on Middle East Issues and is an adjunct instructor at the University of Arizona, teaching courses on the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Middle East Business Environment. He recently co-authored, with former Iraqi Ambassador Ghassan Muhsin Hussein, Talking to Strangers: The Struggle to Rebuild Iraqi's Foreign Ministry.
The Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program, which is administered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) in Washington, DC, brings prominent artists, diplomats, journalists, business leaders, and other professionals to campuses across the United States for a week-long residential program of classes, seminars, workshops, lectures, and informal discussions. For over 35 years, Visiting Fellows have been introducing students and faculty members at liberal arts colleges to a wide range of perspectives on life, society, community, and achievement. The Visiting Fellows program is available to all four-year colleges and universities.
About Washington & Jefferson College
Washington & Jefferson College, located in Washington, Pa., is a selective liberal arts college founded in 1781. Committed to providing each of its students with the highest-quality undergraduate education available, W&J offers a traditional arts and sciences curriculum emphasizing interdisciplinary study and independent study work.
The Council of Independent Colleges is an association of approximately 630 nonprofit independent colleges and universities and 90 higher education organizations that has worked since 1956 to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance public understanding of private higher education’s contributions to society. CIC is the major national organization that focuses on providing services to leaders of independent colleges and universities as well as conferences, seminars, and other programs that help institutions to improve the quality of education, administrative and financial performance, and institutional visibility. CIC also provides support to state fundraising associations that organize programs and generate contributions for private colleges and universities. CIC is headquartered at One Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.cic.edu.
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