A former U.S. Ambassador will discuss issues related to the Middle East including oil, Islam, and terrorism as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow at Southwestern College.

David Dunford, a Middle East expert, will speak at Southwestern College on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. in the Beech Science Center room 104.  Dunford will

speak about President Obama’s foreign policy in the Middle East.  There is no admission charge.  A question and answer opportunity will follow his speech. 

Dunford’s 29 years in the U.S. Foreign Service included three years as U.S. Ambassador to Oman and four years as Deputy Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the 1990-91 Gulf War.  He worked for General Garner and Ambassador Bremer in Iraq in 2003 as the senior official in charge of reorganizing Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  His other assignments included Economic Minister-Counselor in Cairo, Director of Egyptian Affairs in Washington, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President, and coordinator of the multinational team tasked with setting up MENABANK, a proposed regional multilateral development bank in Cairo. 

Ambassador Dunford teaches courses on the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Middle East Business Environment at the University of Arizona and consults for government and the private sector on Middle East issues.  He is a former chairman and active board member of AIPT, a non-profit organization specializing in international exchanges.

His visit is underwritten by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, a group that engages leaders from a range of professions to spend weeklong residencies at small liberal arts colleges, helping connect their work to the world. Now more than 35 years old, the program recently came under the administration of the Council of Independent Colleges.