DEAN RUSK CENTER KICKS OFF 25TH ANNIVERSARY LECTURE SERIES WITH PRESENTATION ON THE NATURE OF STATES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Thursday, September 19, 2002 WRITER: Kristine Fortunato, 706/542-5172 CONTACT: Gabriel Wilner, 706/542-5238, wilner@uga.edu DEAN RUSK CENTER KICKS OFF 25TH ANNIVERSARY LECTURE SERIES WITH PRESENTATION ON THE NATURE OF STATES IN THE 21ST CENTURY ATHENS, Ga. -- The Dean Rusk Lectures, a four-part lecture series commemorating the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Dean Rusk Center -- International, Comparative and Graduate Legal Studies, kicks off on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2002, with a lecture titled Democracy Beyond Nation State: World Trade Organizations and European Union given by Hessel E. Yntema Professor Emeritus of Law Eric Stein of the University of Michigan. The lecture will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the law school\u27s Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom. Stein is currently counselor of the American Society of International Law. He has served in the U.S. Department of State and was adviser to the U.S. delegation to the U.N. General Assembly and to the U.S. representatives at the U.N. Security Council and the International Court of Justice. He holds doctor of law degrees from the University of Michigan and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as honorary doctorates from both Free Universities of Brussels and from the West-Bohemian University in Pilsen, Czech Republic. Executive Director of the Dean Rusk Center and Kirbo Professor of International Law Gabriel Wilner says this 25th celebration is very much a celebration of Dean Rusk and the university\u27s good fortune of being associated with him. He was a highly articulate man. It is appropriate that one part of our celebration is to bring four eminent experts to speak on the nature of states in the 21st Century, human rights, the United Nations and U.S./European relations in the era of the European Union. These were subjects of great interest and concern to Rusk and remain as timely as they were when he spoke of them here on campus to students and colleagues over 30 years ago, he said. The Rusk Center was established in 1977 and merged with International and Graduate Legal Studies in 1999 to bring research, teaching and service at the University of Georgia School of Law into the evolving international dimensions of law. A former Secretary of State, the late Dean Rusk was the inspiration behind the center\u27s creation. It was his profound belief that through education, international cooperation could be a conduit of maintaining peace, building democratic institutions and raising standards of living throughout the world. The other three lectures in the series include: Constitutional Rights and Human Rights by Professor Louis Henkin of Columbia University School of Law on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 3:30 p.m. in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom at the School of Law. The United Nations and Peacebuilding by Abiodun Williams, the director of strategic planning in the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002, at 3:30 p.m. in the Larry Walker Room at the Dean Rusk Center. Political Change and the Use of Law by Manuel Medina Ortega, a member of the European Parliament, on Monday, Oct. 28, 2002, at 3:30 p.m. in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom at the School of Law. For more information regarding the lectures or the other events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Dean Rusk Center, please contact Hala Khuri at (706) 542-5211. #