Thursdays, January 4 through February 29, 2024
Connestee Conference Room
10:00 am to 11:30 am

UPDATE: Registration is full and we are taking a waiting list.

Registration for the seminar series opens Wednesday, December 6 at 9:00 am by contacting Lisa Sheffield at the Library via email – [email protected].  Registration is first come, first served and is limited to ten participants. For questions contact the Library at 828-884-3151, ext. 1805.

Are you interested in American foreign policy? Join retired United States Ambassadors Peter Chaveas and Marshall McCallie as they lead a weekly discussion seminar at the Transylvania County Library this winter addressing US foreign policy in a troubled world.  Participation will be limited to ten members. All participants will be asked to fully participate in the series by attending each session and by reading a range of selected articles from “Foreign Affairs” magazine in preparation for the week’s lively discussions. Articles will be provided. The seminar will search for pragmatic solutions to international challenges without regard for ideology or partisan politics.  The seminar will meet at the Library on Thursdays from January 4 through February 29 in the Connestee Room from 10:00-11:30 am.

Both Chaveas and McCallie have Foreign Service experience in multiple Democratic and Republican administrations. Peter Chaveas served for almost 40 years in the U.S. government, first as a Peace Corps volunteer and then for 34 years as a State Department Foreign Service Officer with assignments including ambassador to Malawi, political adviser to the commander of U.S. Forces in Europe, and ambassador to Sierra Leone. Following retirement from the Foreign Service he joined the Defense Department’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies and retired as the Center’s Director in 2008.  Marshall McCallie served the State Department from 1975 to 2002 in five of Africa’s 54 countries: Zaire political officer, Liberia political counselor, second in command at both Zambia and South Africa and Ambassador to Namibia. His one post outside Africa was as an economic officer in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. He retired in 2002 after serving for three years as Deputy Commandant for International Affairs at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Questions? Email Lisa Sheffield at the Library