University to host fourth annual Public Diplomacy Symposium Oct. 27 and 28

Syracuse University’s Public Diplomacy Program and Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars will present the fourth annual Public Diplomacy Symposium “Building Bridges: The Tools of Public Diplomacy” on Oct. 27 and 28 on the SU campus. The event, which will include four panel discussions, is designed to spark dialogue about the use of public diplomacy tools, specifically in the Middle East and North Africa. Follow on Twitter at #supd2011.

The first panel, “Crafting an Image: Fine Arts and the Government,” will be held Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3. Panelists include Frederick Carriere, Pacific Century Institute senior fellow at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs’ Korean Peninsula Affairs Center; Marisa Benson, independent arts consultant and administrator at Princeton University; and J. David Farmer, director of exhibitions at the Dahesh Museum of Art. Moderator is David Rubin, dean emeritus of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. A reception will follow.

Three additional panels will be held on Friday, Oct. 28, in the Public Events Room, 220 Eggers Hall.

“Borrowing a Voice: Domestic Public Relations Firms and Foreign Governments” will be held at 11 a.m. Panelists include Candace Burnham, citizen diplomat-at-large with the British Consulate-General; Guy Golan, associate professor of public relations in the Newhouse School; Aly Ramji, director of Gamit International Corp.; and Greg Loh, managing partner for public relations and public affairs at Eric Mower and Associates. Moderator is Sung-Un Yang, associate professor of public relations in the Newhouse School.

“Covering a Story: International Media and the Government” will be held at 1:30 p.m. Panelists include Robert Reilly, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council; Osamah Khalil, assistant professor of history in the Maxwell School; Edward Dunn, public affairs officer and new media adviser at the Office of International Media Engagement in the U.S. Department of State; and Richard Roth, senior United Nations correspondent with CNN. Moderator is Charlotte Grimes, Knight Chair in Political Reporting in the Newhouse School.

“Lending a Hand: Humanitarian Aid and the Government” will be held at 2:45 p.m. Panelists include Charles Benjamin, president of the Near East Foundation; Nicholas Armstrong, research fellow at the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism in the Maxwell School; Meaghan O’Keefe Douglas, program officer at John Snow Inc.; and Michael Otterman, human rights consultant and author of “American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond” (Pluto Press, 2007) and “Erasing Iraq: The Human Costs of Carnage” (Pluto Press, 2010). Moderator is Renée de Nevers, associate professor of public administration in the Maxwell School.

A launch party for the second edition of Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy will be held at 10 a.m. Friday morning, also in the Public Events Room. Exchange is the only student-run academic journal dedicated to public diplomacy in the United States.

All events are free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots. For more information, contact Terry Carroll at (315) 857-5918 or trcarrol@syr.edu, or Kimberly Giblin at (312) 399-4682 or kgiblin@syr.edu.