Thomas Boyatt, former U.S. Ambassador to Chile and current president of the Foreign Affairs Council, will be at Southwestern College Oct. 11-14 as the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. 

Boyatt will deliver a free public lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in Mossman 101 titled “The Hundred Years War of the 20th Century.”  It is a thorough review of U.S. foreign policy during the 20th century and a quick look at the 21st. 
           
“We are delighted that Ambassador Boyatt accepted our invitation to visit SC,” says Andy Sheppard, vice president for academic affairs at Southwestern College  “He will be spending a lot of time with our students while on campus and he will help them to set high standards for themselves.”
           
Boyatt entered the Foreign Service in 1959, serving as vice consul in Antofagasta, Chile; economic officer at the American embassy in Luxembourg; and political counselor at the embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus. In 1969, Ambassador Boyatt received the State Department’s Meritorious Honor Award for risking his life to save passengers and negotiating their release in Syria during the 1969 hijacking of a plane—on which he was a passenger—by Palestinian guerrillas. He also received the William R. Rivkin Award for his leadership in promoting peace on Cyprus, and the Christian A. Herter Award for his contributions to diplomacy.

After retiring from the Service, Ambassador Boyatt became vice president of Sears World Trade, then president of U.S. Defense Systems. He has served as a trustee of Princeton University and on advisory boards at Princeton, Kentucky, and Georgetown. He lectures frequently in the U.S. and abroad. In 2004, Secretary Colin Powell appointed him to the State Department’s Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management.

He is now the CEO of the Foreign Affairs Council, a non-partisan group concerned with U.S. diplomacy, and chairs the Political Action Committee of the American Foreign Service Association.

For more information, call (620) 229-6223.