NPR counterterrorism correspondent to give talk

KALAMAZOO—Western Michigan University is again partnering to present a timely talk on international issues in conjunction with the 2013 Great Decisions Discussion Series organized by the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan.

The discussion series is one of the largest foreign policy lecture programs in the nation and the state's only lecture series devoted to American foreign policy issues.

Locally, WMU will be offering a live lecture by National Public Radio correspondent Dina Temple-Raston at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 4, in the Fetzer Center's Putney Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Temple-Raston will speak on "The New Threat Assessment: Defending America on a Budget" and address the nation's new and emerging challenges in dealing with terrorism and counterinsurgency.

Questions about Temple-Raston's talk at WMU should be directed to Dr. Michelle Metro-Roland in the University's Haenicke Institute for Global Education at @email or (269) 387-5890.

Dina Temple-Raston

A Belgian-born American journalist, Temple-Raston joined the NPR staff in 2007, fresh from a two-year sabbatical in which she completed two books, learned Arabic and earned a master's degree from Columbia University. She reports on counterterrorism at home and abroad.

Before joining NPR, Temple-Raston was a longtime foreign correspondent for Bloomberg News in Asia. She opened Bloomberg's Shanghai and Hong Kong offices, working for both Bloomberg's financial wire and radio operations, and is well known for her work as a White House correspondent for Bloomberg during President Bill Clinton's two terms. She also has covered financial markets and economics for both USA Today and CNNfn.

Temple-Raston is an award-winning author whose first book, 2001's "A Death in Texas," examines the murder of James Byrd Jr. by three white men and delves into race in America. Her other books are "The Jihad Next Door," which is about the Lackawanna Six, America's first so-called "sleeper cell," and the issues that face Muslims in America; "In Defense of Our America," which looks at civil liberties in post-9/11 America and was written with Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union; and "Justice on the Grass," which looks at the role Radio Mille Collines played in fomenting the Rwandan genocide.

Great Decisions Discussion Series

This year, the Great Decisions Discussion Series will feature eight lectures in Grand Rapids, Mich., where the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan is based.

All eight are scheduled for 6 to 7:15 p.m. over eight consecutive Mondays from Feb. 4 through March 25. They will be held in the Performing Arts Center at Aquinas College, near the corner of Plymouth Avenue and Robinson Road.

Students and employees at WMU, and at the World Affairs Council's other partner institutions, may attend the Grand Rapids lectures free of charge by showing their institution's ID at the door (for WMU, the Bronco Card).

The cost for others is $10 per lecture for World Affairs Council members and $15 for World Affairs Council nonmembers. Package-ticket deals are available for members and nonmembers of the council, and there is free parking close to Aquinas' Performing Arts Center.

The dates and names of the eight planned talks, along with their presenters, are as follows. Visit worldmi.org for details about these talks and the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan.

• Feb. 4—"The New Threat Assessment: Defending America on a Budget," NPR's Dina Temple-Raston (repeat of WMU lecture earlier in the day).
• Feb. 11—"Brothers, Sisters and Soldiers: Egypt's Transition to Democracy," Dr. Annie Dandavati, 2012 visiting professor at the American University in Cairo.
• Feb. 18—"Global Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Always? Everywhere?," Dr. George Lopez, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame.
• Feb. 25—"NATO's New Security Challenges: Outlook from Turkey," Fatih Yildiz, consul general of the Republic of Turkey, Chicago, Ill.
• March 4—"Red Line: Iran, Israel and the Bomb," Reza Marashi, National Iranian American Council, Washington, D.C.
• March 11—"The Road to a New Myanmar: Where Could It Lead?," Karen Coates and Jerry Redfern, print and photojournalist team reporting on Southeast Asia.
• March 18—"Feeding the Dragon: China in Africa," panel discussion.
• March 25—"Imperfect Union: The Eurozone in Crisis," Dr. John McCormick, professor of European Union politics at Indiana University, and Dr. John Pottow, professor of law at the University of Michigan.