Centre College: Expert to speak on the relationship of the U.S. and the United Nations

Expert to speak on the relationship of the U.S. and the United Nations

RELEASED: Jan. 5, 2006

DANVILLE, KY—Roger A. Coate, Director of the Richard L. Walker Institute of International Studies and professor of international studies at the University of South Carolina, will speak on the "U.S./U.N. Crisis of Legitimacy" at a convocation Tuesday, Jan. 10. The free event is open to all and will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Vahlkamp Theater in Crounse Hall.

Says Andrei Maximenko, visiting assistant professor of international studies at Centre College: "With increasing concerns about terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation, global poverty, and environmental degradation, the question that looms large is: what can the United States and the international community do? Dr. Coate is a leading expert on the UN and multilateral institutions who has basically devoted his entire professional life to finding the answer."

Professor Coate's research and teaching interests focus on multilateralism, international organization, and global governance. His specific areas of expertise include international organization reform, the role of civil society in global governance, and U.S. multilateral foreign policy. He is currently directing a new project, the "Transforming Global Governance for the 21st Century: Creating Effective Partnerships with Civil Society Project," which is a large-scale transnational collaborative research and training program in cooperation with the Academic Council on the United Nations System and the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Prior to this new undertaking, he and his research associates had been awarded over $500,000 in external funding for their collaborative projects.

Since 1993, he has been coeditor of the journal Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations. In 1997 the Association of American Publishers selected Global Governance as "Best New Journal in the United States in 1996 in Business, the Social Sciences, and the Humanities." Dr. Coate has also been the recipient of a Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award.

Coates has been President of the International Organization Section of the International Studies Association and as National President of Sigma Iota Rho, The International Studies Honor Society. He has also served as a staff member in the United Nations Centre for Human Rights; a member of the United Nations habitat ii Secretary-General's Advisory Panel on Housing Rights; a consultant to the U.S. Secretary of State's Monitoring Panel on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); an adviser to both the Bureau of International Organization Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and the Director-General of UNESCO; and a consultant to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/