Heather Wilson, SD Mines President, to Join President Bush, Other World Leaders Commemorating Fall of Berlin Wall
RAPID CITY, S.D. – (PRWEB) November 07, 2014 -- Heather Wilson, president of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, will join President George H.W. Bush, former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, former U.S. National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and European leaders in a conference commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago.
President Bush will be presented the European People’s Party prestigious Robert Schuman Medal, recognizing public figures who have advanced the cause of peace, at the “25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Liberation of Eastern Europe” conference. The Monday, Nov. 10, conference will be hosted by the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
Wilson, former Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council staff, is among a select group invited to participate in the conference, which will include panel discussions and a keynote luncheon interview with former Secretary of State Baker and former National Security Advisor Scowcroft.
“Twenty-five years ago, I was serving as a member of the National Security Council staff for President George H.W. Bush when the Berlin Wall came down and the Warsaw Pact collapsed. While we all believed in freedom, we never expected the Soviet Union would allow Europe to be whole and free. I look forward to reflecting on those events with some of those involved from Europe and the United States and honoring President Bush for his leadership at that pivotal moment in history,” Wilson said.
Wilson, Ambassador Robert Hutchings and Ambassador Larry Napper will comprise the “U.S. Practitioner Panel.” Hutchings, former Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council staff, is Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas. Napper, former Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania, is Ambassador in Residence at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University.
Another panel will be the European Practitioner’s Panel, comprised of Elmar Brok, European Parliament member and current head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr. Sebastian Huluban, former Romanian Secretary of Defense and Security Policy, and Dr. Horst Teltschik, former Security Advisor to Chancellor Kohl.
Wilson served in the U.S. Congress from 1998-2009, representing the state of New Mexico. While in Congress she chaired the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence and served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee as well as the House Armed Services Committee. She has been President of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology since June 2013.
Recordings of the panel discussions will be made available at http://bush.tamu.edu/scowcroft/events/fallofthewall/.
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About SDSM&T
Founded in 1885, the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a science and engineering research university located in Rapid City, S.D., offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. The university enrolls 2,798 students from 45 states and 39 foreign countries, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 14:1. The SD School of Mines placement rate is 98 percent, with an average early career salary for graduates of $65,600, according to the 2014-2015 PayScale report. Find us online at http://www.sdsmt.edu, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sdsmt and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sdsmt.
Fran LeFort, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, http://www.sdsmt.edu, +1 (605) 394-6082, [email protected]
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