Former diplomat talks about ‘global village’

Former ambassador Dan Phillips, who served in Europe, Africa and Asia, will talk about "Divisions in Our Global Village" as part of WSU’s Distinguished Alumni Speaker Breakfast Series at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, April 18, at the Olive Tree Banquet Hall, 2949 N. Rock Road. The cost is $15.

Phillips retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1994 after a 33-year diplomatic career. Through his Arlingon, Va., firm Dan Phillips and Associates, he now consults with governmental, non-governmental and corporate organizations on environmental concerns.

Often taking active roles on environmental issues, Phillips counts among his professional highlights shepherding the tri-country negotiations that led to the establishment of Ndoki Forest Reserves, parts of which lie in Congo, Central African Republic and Cameroon, and working with Jane Goodall and others to establish chimpanzee sanctuaries in Burundi and Congo.

While in the U.S. Foreign Service, he was principal adviser to U.S. delegations to U.N. conferences in Copenhagen, Mexico City, Tashkent, Vienna and Nairobi, and served as a foreign service inspector in Vietnam in 1970.

His diplomatic forays to nearly every corner of the globe have led this critical social thinker to view our world as a "global village" — but, sadly, to also experience its deep-seated ethnic divisions.

For reservations or additional information about the WSU Distinguished Alumni Speaker Breakfast Series, contact Nikki Epley at 978-3834 or nikki.epley@wichita.edu.