THIS PLANNED PROGRAM HAS BEEN CANCELED. WE REGRET ANY INCONVENIENCE

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The Tennessee World Affairs Council

invites you to the

International Affairs Speaker Series

“U.S. Security Interests in the Middle East”

Major General William Hickman, US Army Retired, and

LCDR Patrick Ryan, US Navy Retired, and

Moderator Dr. Thomas Schwartz, PhD
Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

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March 19, 2020

Belmont University

Frist Lecture Hall (4th Floor), Inman Health Sciences Building

5:30 p.m. Registration / Networking

6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Program

• Current paid TNWAC members: No charge
• Future TNWAC members: $10.00
• Belmont University students and faculty: No charge

Here’s where you can JOIN the World Affairs Council and learn about the benefits of membership. [Link]

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YOU’RE INVITED. The United States national security interests in the Middle East are, to say the least, complicated. The myriad collection of conflicts and competitions among dictatorships, democracies, monarchies, tribes, cultures, religions, foreign powers, economic booms and busts and many more attributes has made advancement of American interests problematic. The U.S. planted its flag in the region after WWII and since 1979 that presence has been marked by military deployments, combat engagements and numerous difficult scenarios.

Join us on March 19th to talk with several specialists who have served in the military and academia, including service in the Middle East and in senior defense positions and in scholarship on U.S. foreign policy. They will explain the current U.S. national security interests and engagements in the region and answer your questions about the U.S.’s continuing immersion in a troubles region that has taken much American blood and treasure.

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Major General William B. Hickman United States Army (Retired)

Maj. Gen. William B. Hickman completed 36 years of service, retiring on 1 Nov 2019.   His last assignment was the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy for the NATO Allied Transformation Command, Norfolk, VA. His prior assignments include serving as the Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Central, Arifjan, Kuwait. Commanding General of Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, Louisiana. Deputy Commanding General (Support and Operations), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Commander 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq. Commander, 1st Battalion 502nd Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell Kentucky and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq. Commander Bravo Company 3rd Battalion 325th Infantry Regiment (Airborne Combat Team), United States Army Southern Europe Task Force, Vicenza, Italy. Hickman earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Vanderbilt University.  He later earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

He is married to Mayme Bennett Hickman and they have one daughter, Elizabeth, a senior at the University of Tennessee.

Lieutenant Commander Patrick W. Ryan, U.S. Navy (Retired)

Patrick Ryan served 26 years in the Navy as an enlisted submariner, Surface Warfare Officer and Intelligence Officer. He has extensive experience in Arabian Peninsula/Gulf military-political affairs starting in 1973 assigned to the Middle East Force Flagship, deployments to the Gulf during the 1980s Iran-Iraq tanker war, senior intelligence positions in the Pentagon, Center for Naval Analyses and U.S. Central Command in the 1990s. After military retirement he founded a newsletter publishing business focused on Middle East affairs. In 2007 he founded the Tennessee World Affairs Council to bring global affairs awareness programs and resources to our community, especially youth. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of South Carolina in International Studies and completed graduate studies at Georgetown University’s National Security Studies Program. [more]

Dr. Thomas Schwartz, PhD

Professor of History; Professor of Political Science; Professor of European Studies; Vanderbilt University.  Thomas Alan Schwartz is a historian of the foreign relations of the United States, with related interests in Modern European history and the history of international relations. Professor Schwartz has held fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, the German Historical Society, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Center for the Study of European Integration. He has served as President of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations. He served on the United States Department of State’s Historical Advisory Committee as the representative of the Organization of American Historians from 2005-2008. [more]

LOCATION/PARKING 

The Inman Health Sciences Building (#6 on the map) is located near the corner of Wedgewood and 15th avenues on the northern front of campus. There is free, lighted, parking in the garage located underneath the building, with elevator access to the 4th floor and our venue. Entrances to parking are located off of Wedgewood Avenue via the alley entrance and 15th Avenue, through both roundabouts. (P1 and P2 on the campus map.)
Belmont Campus Map Link

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