Please join us for a conversation between the University of Rhode Island President, Marc Parlange, French Consul General, Arnaud Mentré, and former U.S. acting ambassador to the Czech Republic, Mary Thompson-Jones on the role of the ‘West’ in the war in Ukraine.
There is no bigger, confounding event at present for Americans and Europeans–the so-called ‘West’–than the war in Ukraine. In this conversation, Consul General Mentré, representing both France and its presidency of the Council of the European Union, and former ambassador Thompson-Jones will help us make sense of the diplomatic manoeuvring of European nations and the United States in this conflict. President Parlange, speaking with Mentré and Thompson-Jones, will help us better understand the role academic communities can play during this unprecedented and terrifying time.
This event is sponsored by the International Studies & Diplomacy Program, a joint program with the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, and the College of Arts & Sciences. The International Studies & Diplomacy Program at URI is committed to providing students and the larger Rhode Island community expert perspectives on global events from the vantage points of international politics, economics, cultures and languages.
March 30, 2022 at 11am
Virtual event
Free and open to the public
The event is limited to 300 participants, so please register early.
Register
Arnaud Mentré joined the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006 in the Bureau of strategic affairs, international security and disarmament. From 2009-2011, he served as counsellor at the French Embassy in Moscow, and then became advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for Russian, Eastern European, and defense and security issues (2011-2012). He teaches global affairs at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) – Sciences Po.
Marc B. Parlange became the University of Rhode Island’s 12th president in August 2021. Over the course of his professional higher education career spanning more than 30 years, he has held academic leadership, research, and faculty positions at Monash University, Australia’s largest university; the University of British Columbia; the prestigious Swiss public research institute École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; and stateside, at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, Davis.
Mary Thompson-Jones spent most of her 23-year career as a foreign service officer in leadership roles in the Czech Republic, Canada, Guatemala, Spain, and Washington, D.C. She retired with the rank of Minister-Counselor and is the recipient of several Superior and Meritorious Honor awards. Her most recent book about her experience and lessons of diplomacy is titled, To the Secretary: Leaked Embassy Cables and America’s Foreign Policy Disconnect.