Public lecture addresses Syrian refugee crisis

  Monday, October 12, 2015 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

The Pittsburg State University Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences will host a public lecture on the Syrian Refugee Crisis at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, in 409 Russ Hall on the PSU campus.

Three university professors will share their own unique perspectives on the continuing flood of refugees from war-torn Syria into Europe. Stephen Harmon, associate professor of history at PSU; Lauren Balasco, assistant professor of political science at PSU; and Melinda Kovacs, assistant professor of political science at Missouri Western State University, will lead the discussion.

Stephen Harmon earned both a master of arts degree and Ph.D. in history from UCLA. His areas of specialization include radical Islam, democratization in Africa and French colonial Africa. Harmon has earned two Fulbright Research Fellowships to conduct field research in Senegal and Mali. He has completed a year or more of formal study of seven foreign languages, and has lived and worked on five continents.

Lauren Balasco earned both a master of arts degree and Ph.D. in political science and international relations from the University of Delaware and a bachelor of arts degree in international studies and political science from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. She also earned certificates in public and private international law from The Hague Academy of International Law.

Her areas of interest include human rights, international law and African and Latin American politics.

Melinda Kovacs earned a master of arts degree in political science from the Central European University in Hungary, and both a master of arts degree and a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University. She has conducted research and written extensively on Hungary, central Europe, Iraq and immigration.

For more information on the lecture, contact Darren Botello-Samson, dbotello-samson@pittstate.edu, 620-235-4334.