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Top State Department official visits Kalamazoo

Nov. 3, 2005

KALAMAZOO--A high-level official from the U.S. Department of State will be in Kalamazoo Monday, Nov. 14, to kick off the observance of International Education Week, a national celebration that runs through Friday, Nov. 18.

Richard T. Miller, deputy assistant secretary of state for economic and global issues, will give a free talk on the United Nations from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Room 3301 Friedmann Hall on the Western Michigan University campus, then reprise the talk at 6 p.m. at Kalamazoo College.

Earlier in the day from noon to 2:30 p.m., Miller will participate in a forum on "The United Nations at the Crossroads: What is Michigan's Interest?" The event, the second annual global issues forum sponsored by the Michigan and the World Coalition, will be held at the Park Club in downtown Kalamazoo. The cost to attend is $25 or, if registering after Nov. 8, $35.

Miller was invited to Kalamazoo by Colleagues International, a Kalamazoo-based organization that is helping to sponsor the forum. The focus of the event will be to examine the current phase of reforms at the United Nations and its potential impact on Michigan citizens in the areas of the environment, international trade and security.

Also participating in the forum will be Ronald R. Kitchens, chief executive officer of Southwest Michigan First, and Lynn Jondahl, executive director of Michigan Prospect, who will serve as moderator.

Miller is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and previously was executive assistant to the under secretary for arms control and international security. Prior to that, he served as director of the State Department's Office of Economic and Development Affairs; director of the offices of Agricultural and Textile Trade Affairs and Democracy, Human Rights and Social Affairs; deputy director of the Office of Maritime and Land Transportation; and deputy coordinator for the original Summit of the Americas.

Overseas, Miller has served most recently as deputy chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand. From 1990 to 1992, he was counselor for political and economic affairs at the U.S. Embassy to the Eastern Caribbean in Bridgetown, Barbados.

From 1986 to 1990, he headed the U.S. Observer Mission to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO. Prior to that, he served as an advisor on economic and budgetary affairs at the U.S. Mission to the UN in New York and held positions as the state department's desk officer for the UN Economic and Social Council and as vice counsel and commercial officer at the American Consulate General in Milan, Italy.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Miller taught economics at the University of Texas at Austin, where he did both his undergraduate and graduate studies.

For more information about Miller's visit to WMU, contact Dr. Gunther Hega, professor of political science, at gunther.hega@wmich.edu or (269) 387-5885.

For more information about Miller's other appearances or to register for the forum, contact Jennifer Lang, executive director of Colleagues International, at jlang@colleaguesinternational.com or (269) 341-9494.

Colleagues International is a non-profit organization that has been hosting and providing training in southwest Michigan for international visitors since 1971. The organization has hosted more than 600 professionals from more than 100 countries around the world. It seeks to further global understanding by reducing fears and improving relations with people of different cultures.

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WMU celebrates International Education Week

Media contact: Jeanne Baron, (269) 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu

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