Alfonso La Porta to Speak at St. Norbert College as Part of Great Decisions Lecture Series

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From St. Norbert College, March 26, 2013
by Stefanie Trinkl, stefanie.trinkl@snc.edu, 920-403-3089

Alfonso La Porta, former United States ambassador, will lecture on "Maritime East and Southeast Asia: Is Conflict with China Inevitable?" as part of the Great Decisions Lecture Series. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Fort Howard Theater of the F. K. Bemis International Center on the St. Norbert College campus.

Before serving in Mongolia for three years, La Porta was president of the American Foreign Service Association and was most recently president of the United States-Indonesia Society. During his 38 years of service in the diplomatic corps, he served overseas in Italy, New Zealand, Indonesia, Turkey and Malaysia. He has also worked in Washington on the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia and the UN specialized agencies, as well as in management.

La Porta will discuss China's expansionist designs on the South China Sea as this nation disputes islands and shoals with Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia, and whether these expansionist threats will lead to military action and force the United States into conflict.

Great Decisions is a nationwide program that brings together local, regional and national experts in an eight-week lecture series discussing international issues of interest to the community.

Topics for the series are selected by the Foreign Policy Association of America and are intended to provide a local forum for discussion on current political and economic issues. The speakers are selected by participating colleges and universities. St. Norbert College is one of three schools in Wisconsin that present the entire series.

Admission to individual sessions is $5 at the door, and briefing books are available for $18. The briefing book includes background information on lecture topics and access to the association's website, http://www.fpa.org, for resources, guides to topics and online discussion forums.

For more information, contact the St. Norbert College Center for International Education at 920-403-4075 or go to http://www.snc.edu/cie/greatdecisions.html.