MacArthur Foundation’s International Specialist Will Discuss U. S. Foreign Policy, Human Rights

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Barry Lowenkron, the MacArthur Foundation’s vice president of international programs, will talk about human rights issues around the globe when he lectures at Washington College on Thursday, March 24, at 4:30 p.m.

The talk—“Is There a Place for Human Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy?”—will take place in Hynson Lounge, which is located inside Hodson Hall on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. It is free and open to the public. Lowenkron will offer a brief history of human rights in U.S foreign policy and discuss today’s global challenges.

Lowenkron’s career in foreign policy spans five U.S. Administrations, with posts in the Pentagon, the CIA and the State Department and projects in countries that include Russia, China, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia and Sudan. He was the principal drafter of the landmark National Intelligence Publication, Global Trends 2010, which studied how demographics, food and water, and environment impact traditional national security interests. He has led high-level human-rights and democracy dialogues in key countries and was one of the architects of the Middle East initiative “Forum for the Future,” a multilateral effort to nurture indigenous reforms in economics, politics, education, and women’s rights.

Before joining the MacArthur Foundation in 2007, Lowenkron was Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, where he spearheaded the establishment of a global human-rights defenders fund and created core principles for the protection of non-governmental organizations.

Other past positions include Director of European Security Affairs at the White House National Security Council; Civilian Special Assistant to Gen. Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence; and senior member of the State Department’s Policy Planning staff under Secretaries Shultz, Powell, and Rice. He has also lectured at Johns Hopkins University’s Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, where he earned a master’s degree.

Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences. For more information, visit www.washcoll.edu.