Town meeting on terrorism to feature U.S. official

The university will hold an electronic “national town meeting” on the war against terrorism Wednesday, Dec. 5, featuring U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman.

The free public event is scheduled 5:30-7 p.m. at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St. Grossman will be linked from Washington, D.C. to about a dozen sites across the country, including several UW System campuses around the state.

Alfred Defago, Switzerland’s past ambassador to the United States, will moderate the session in Madison, and lead a local discussion at 4:45 p.m. preceding Grossman’s presentation. Defago is currently an International Institute visiting professor at the UW–Madison. The video conference will be interactive, with Ambassador Grossman taking questions from audience members at the various sites.

Grossman, who took his current post this past March, has been a foreign service officer since 1976. Before assuming current duties, Grossman served as principal deputy assistant secretary of state for political military affairs. Other overseas assignments include tours as a political officer at the U.S. Mission to NATO and in Islamabad.

Sponsors of the conference include the UW–Madison International Institute, U.S. State Department, World Affairs Councils of America based in Washington, D.C. and the UW System Institute for Global Studies. Participating UW System campuses include UW-Eau Claire, UW-Milwaukee, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Superior.

For more information, call (608) 262-2042.