Delegates from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be on campus Wednesday to discuss their organization’s role in the world.
The delegates are special guests of MSU’s R dvanyi Chair in International Security Studies and the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Business and Industry.
Janos R dvanyi, endowed chair holder, said NATO’s role today is different from how it was perceived in the past. NATO, once viewed as a deterrent, is much more of a peacekeeper now, he said.
Ambassadors Ginte B. Damusis and Robert Serry will lead a seminar for faculty and students. The seminar is titled, “NATO’s Mission in the Post-Cold War Era.” The seminar is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in McCool Hall. While on campus, they will also tour several defense-related research units.
Damusis was the first female ambassador to take a seat on the council since NATO was established in 1949. Damusis, the head of mission of the Republic of Lithuania, was appointed by President V. Adamkus and assumed her post in Brussels, Belgium on Jan. 29, 2001. NATO headquarters is located in Brussels.
Serry, the deputy assistant secretary general for crisis management and operations, is responsible for managing NATO’s Crisis Response Operation, from current commitments in the Balkans and in Afghanistan, to preparing new operations elsewhere-if decided by the North Atlantic Council.
Tan Chapman, research associate at State, said the community and MSU students will benefit from the seminar.
“Students will have the opportunity to ask questions regarding the current war situation and have those questions answered,” Chapman said. “If Americans are guarded with the information regarding the events of the war, they would be less afraid.”
Damusis and Serry will will present “The New, Enlarged NATO” and “NATO’s Peacekeeping Role in the World” at the University Club for Jackson’s Executive Lecture Forum at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Prior to the luncheon in Jackson the diplomats are scheduled to meet with Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck; Maj. Gen. Harold Cross, adjutant general of the Mississippi National Guard and Leland Speed, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority.