WFU guest lecturers to discuss foreign policy, presidential election

The free, public lecture, sponsored by Wake Forest’s political science department, is the first of two talks planned this year to focus on issues related to the 2004 election. The events are funded through an endowment created by C.H. Richards, founder of Wake Forest’s political science department.

“These speakers will discuss the pressing foreign policy issues that the U.S. will face in the next four years and the main differences between the two candidates on these issues,” said John Dinan, Zachary T. Smith Associate Professor of Political Science at Wake Forest. “We hope to educate students and the Winston-Salem community about foreign policy issues that might not have been touched on in the first presidential debate.”

Teresita Shaffer, former U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka (1992-1995), is director of the South Asia Program at The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. During her 30-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service, she worked throughout South Asia, serving as one of the State Department’s principal experts on the region.

From 1989 to 1992, she served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia, at that time the senior South Asia position in the department. She also served as director of the Foreign Service Institute from 1995 to 1997.

Howard Shaffer, former U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh (1984-1987), is director of studies and deputy director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. He spent much of his 36-year career dealing with U.S. relations with South Asia.

In addition to serving as ambassador to Bangladesh, he was political counselor in Pakistan from 1974 to 1977 and in India from 1977 to 1979. He twice served as deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for South Asian affairs. He is the author of two biographies of American diplomats, “Chester Bowles: New Dealer in the Cold War” and “Ellsworth Bunker: Global Troubleshooter, Vietnam Hawk.”