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Former Ambassador to Africa to Discuss "Waging Peace Amidst Conflict"

BOSTON (September 18, 2009) — Former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Sierra Leone Thomas Hull will discuss conflict in Africa and creating peace during a lecture Sept. 24 at Simmons College in Boston. The event, at 5 p.m. in the Linda K. Paresky Conference Center, 300 The Fenway, is free and open to the public.

The lecture, "Confronting Africa's Anguish: The Challenge of Waging Peace Amidst Conflict," will review the origins and common elements of prolonged conflicts in Africa. It also will explore why global attention has not produced conflict resolutions and examine successful negotiated settlements and how they can prevent recurring conflicts.

Hull served as ambassador to the Republic of Sierra Leone from 2004 to 2007 and is currently the Warburg Chair in International Relations at Simmons College. Throughout his 31-year diplomatic career, which also included assignments in South Africa, Nigeria, and Czechoslovakia, he was involved in issues of conflict and peace, revolution and transformation, and democracy and development. He was director of African Affairs at the U.S. Information Agency before it merged with the Department of State. Hull began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer teacher in Sierra Leone.

Hull received a Presidential Meritorious Service Award from President Clinton and founded the Fulbright Commission for Educational Exchange with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He has received many professional and humanitarian awards as well as recognition in Who's Who in American Politics.

The annual Simmons College Warburg Lecture Series calls upon national and international experts to explore important current issues in international relations. The Warburg Lecture Series was established at Simmons College in the early 1980s by Simmons Emerita Trustee Joan Melber Warburg, a 1945 Simmons graduate. Each year, lecturers are chosen who have made significant contributions to important areas of international relations. Simmons College is a nationally recognized private university located in the heart of Boston.