Mission: to bring a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and the residents of the state to promote understanding and encourage debate.
Over the past three decades, the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues has established itself as one of the preeminent speakers series in higher education. Past Thompson Forum events have featured, among many others: Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; Holocaust survivor and peace activist Elie Wiesel; Camelia Sadat, the daughter of Anwar Sadat and founder of the Sadat Peace Institute; Maki Mandela, daughter of the former South African president; the Rev. Peter Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University; Hedrick Smith, journalist and expert on the former Soviet Union; Kennedy Administration Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara; Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa; Derek Chollet from the US Department of Defense; journalist Sonia Shah; and Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define American.
To suggest topics or speakers for future EN Thompson Forums on World Issues, please contact:
Rebecca Baskerville
Coordinator, EN Thompson Forum on World Issues