Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Some 30 scholars of military and diplomatic history and international relations will gather at Mississippi State this weekend.
The university's first regional International Security and Internal Safety Conference is focusing on a variety of issues from the 19th century to the present.
Maj. Gen. Harold Cross, adjutant general of Mississippi, will discuss the Mississippi National Guard's responsibilities during a Saturday [March 24] program. His keynote address begins at 9 a.m.
Randall B. Woods, a University of Arkansas history professor, will deliver the closing address, "The Politics of the Personal: LBJ and the Dominican Republic," at 10:45 a.m. Sunday [the 25th]. He has written numerous books, including a prize-winning biography of longtime Arkansas senator J. William Fulbright and "LBJ: Architect of American Ambition" (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
The public programs featuring Cross and Woods will take place in the Rogers Auditorium of McCool Hall.
The conference brings together historians and political scientists from throughout the Southeast to present research papers on topics that include the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Cuba, the Cold War, the 1950s, and the current global war on terror.
The MSU history department is sponsoring the conference in concert with two professional organizations, the Center for Historical Studies and Society for Military History.
Over recent years, MSU's history department has sought to emphasize security and international safety issues, which served as a catalyst for the conference.
"In light of recent developments, the field of international security studies is perhaps more important than ever," said assistant professor and conference organizer Mary Kathryn Barbier. "Consequently, this meeting will facilitate a continuing discussion of pertinent contemporary issues from a historical perspective."
A panel discussion that includes National Guard soldiers who have returned from active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan will be another special event on the conference schedule. Also open to the public, this session begins at 1 p.m. Saturday in 111 McCool Hall.
For more information, contact MSU associate history professor Richard Damms at 662-325-8821 or rdamms@history.msstate.edu.