Worldwide Threats to Peace and Security
To be Detailed by Experts in Talks at UTD

Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Lecture Series Open to Public

RICHARDSON, Texas (April 1, 2004) – Worldwide threats to peace and security, including arms proliferation, human rights abuses and the aftermath of war, will be detailed and discussed by a group of high-level experts at the 2004 edition of the Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Lecture Series, to be held at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) on April 29-30.

The event, titled “21st Century Challenges: International Security, Non-Proliferation, Democracy and Human Rights,” is sponsored by the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society on the UTD campus. It will be free and open to the public.

Scheduled to speak at the event are:

• Patricia Lewis, director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva and former director of the London-based Verification Technologies Information Center.
• Joseph Cirincione, senior associate and director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., and author of the book Deadly Arsenals: Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction.
• Marie Chevrier, associate professor of political economy in UTD’s School of Social Sciences and former associate director of the Harvard Sussex Program on Chemical and Biological Warfare.
• Robert Jordan, who served as the United States ambassador to Saudi Arabia from October 2001 to December 2003.
• Joe W. “Chip” Pitts III, an international businessman and lawyer who serves on the board of director of Amnesty International U.S.A.

The event was organized by Chevrier, who less than a month ago was appointed by the International Committee of the Red Cross to a select group of experts whose mission is to help halt the development and spread of biotechnology weapons.

The series of lectures will kick off at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 29, with a keynote address by Lewis titled “Disarmament and Security Challenges Today and Tomorrow.” At 9:30 a.m. the next day, Cirincione will discuss “How to End Proliferation Threats Through Diplomacy and Cooperation;” that will be followed by a talk at 11 a.m. by Chevrier on “Reconstructing Peaceful Society: Bosnia After Dayton.”

The luncheon speaker will be Jordan, who beginning at 12:30 p.m. will discuss “Achieving Democracy in the Middle East: Prospects and Challenges.” The event will conclude with a lecture by Pitts at 2:30 p.m. on “Human Rights Challenges of the 21st Century.”

All of the activities will be held at the UTD Conference Center on the university’s campus in Richardson. For additional information about the event, or to make required reservations for the lunch on April 30, please contact Janie Jury at the Green Center, 972-883-2555 or jjury@utdallas.edu.

About the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society

Created in 1992, the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society promotes more effective use of science and technology in understanding and remediating problems that threaten the global future. The center provides an institutional setting in which experts can engage in focused cross-disciplinary research and analysis. Center research programs and invited speakers reflect the center’s commitment to a multidisciplinary approach to achieving solutions to society’s most pressing problems. This exchange of ideas across disciplines and types of organizations has been a driving force behind many of the philanthropic activities of Cecil Green, a founder of The University of Texas at Dallas, and his late wife, Ida.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 13,700 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.