Loftis to Speak at Kelman Seminar
Robert Loftis, professor of the practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, has been invited to speak at the Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution.
The topic of the seminar is, “What Happens to Media Coverage of Conflicts After Everyone Leaves?” The conference will be held Feb. 9 at 4:30 p.m. at the Tsai Auditorium, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge.
The Kelman series is sponsored by the Program on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and Boston area members of the Alliance for Peacebuilding. The theme for this year’s Kelman Seminar is “Negotiation, Conflict and the News Media.”
Joining Loftis will be Farnaz Fassihi, senior Middle East correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and 2015 Nieman fellow at Harvard. She has lived overseas since 2002, covering wars and uprisings from Afghanistan to Iraq in the region. She served as the Journal’s Baghdad bureau chief and deputy Middle East Bureau Chief based in Beirut.
Loftis served in the State Department and Foreign Service from 1980 to 2012, where he held a wide variety of assignments, including Acting Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (2010-2012), Special Representative for Avian and Pandemic Influenza (2009), Senior Adviser for Security Negotiations and Agreements (2004-2007), Ambassador to Lesotho (2001-2004) and Deputy Chief of Mission in Mozambique (1999-2001). He was most recently an Inter-agency Professional in Residence at the United States Institute of Peace (2012). From 2007-2009, he was the Deputy Commandant and Senior Adviser for International Affairs of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at the National Defense University, where he also taught Strategic Leadership.
In early 2008, Loftis was the lead negotiator for a status of forces agreement with Iraq. He was also the Deputy Executive Director of the Implementation Planning Team for the creation of the Department of Defense’s new Africa Command (AFRICOM).
For more information, contact Donna Hicks at dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu.