The Southwestern College Center for Belarusian Studies will host a symposium titled “Higher Education and Civil Society in Belarus” Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 6 and 7, in Winfield.  The symposium is funded in part by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The two-day event is intended to shed light on the situation surrounding higher education in Belarus and its broader implications for the normalization of civil society in that country.  Leading specialists from both Belarus and North America in the fields of higher education and government will share views among themselves and with invited guests and the general public.  The Center will oversee preparation of a final policy document reflecting the formal papers and informal discussions shared at the symposium. 

“We are honored to have so many internationally recognized people come to Southwestern in order to solve very serious problems,” says Andy Sheppard, vice president for academic affairs at SC.  “It is our hope that at the end of this symposium we will have made substantive policy recommendations for the United States Government, the European Union, and the current administration of Belarus.”

Some of the specialists’ attending include: Stanislau Shushkevich, former head of state, Republic of Belarus; David Swartz, associate executive director of the Center for Belarusian Studies and former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus; Ales Antsipenka, head of the Belarus Collegium; Andy Sheppard, associate executive director of the Center for Belarusian Studies and vice president for academic affairs at Southwestern College; Alyaksander Kazulin, former rector, Belarus State University; and Kenneth Yalowitz, former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus and adjunct professor and director for the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College.

The symposium will begin Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 10 a.m. in Deets Library (if there isn’t enough room, it will be moved to Messenger Auditorium).  Lunch for the speakers will be served at noon.  Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. in Wroten Hall.  There is limited seating available for anyone interested.  The cost for the dinner is $20.  The symposium continues on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 8 a.m. in Darbeth rehearsal hall.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States is an American institution that stimulates the exchange of ideas and promotes cooperation between the United States and Europe in the spirit of the postwar Marshall Plan.

For more information or a complete schedule of events, call (620) 229-6223.