North American integration topic of University of St. Thomas events

A lecture series this month at the University of St. Thomas will explore the study of North American economic and political integration.

Journalists’ panel: The first event in the series is a panel discussion titled “Perspectives on North America: Politics and

Economics in Canada, Mexico and the United States,” from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17, in the auditorium of O’Shaughnessy Educational Center on St. Thomas’ campus in St. Paul.

The discussion, to be moderated by Kerri Miller of Minnesota Public Radio’s “Midmorning,” is free and open to the public.

Panelists include:

• Anthony DePalma, a staff reporter for The New York Times who was its first foreign correspondent to serve as bureau chief in both Mexico and Canada. He is author of Here: A Biography of the New American Continent (Public Affairs, 2001) and The Man Who Invented Fidel: Castro, Cuba, and Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times (PublicAffairs, 2007).
• Jeffrey Simpson, award-winning national affairs columnist for the The Globe and Mail, Canada’s nationally distributed newspaper based in Toronto. He is a co-author of Hot Air: Meeting Canada’s Climate Change Challenge (Douglas Gibson Books, 2007) and a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
• Rossana Fuentes Berain, Mexican journalist who is a professor of international studies at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico and founder and chair of the advisory committee for the journal Foreign Affairs en Español.
• Froma Harrop, a member of The Providence (R.I.) Journal editorial board and a syndicated columnist. She began her career as a financial writer for Reuters, was a business editor at The New York Times and has won national awards for her work.

The “North American Idea”: Dr. Robert Pastor, who directs the Center for North American Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., will present the series’ second lecture, “The North American Idea: Why the Candidates Don’t Get It, But (Most of) the People Do,” from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in 3M Auditorium of Owens Science Hall on St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus. It is free and open to the public.

Pastor says that no two countries are more important to the United States than are its bordering neighbors, Canada and Mexico. He also says that the greatest challenge facing the next U.S. president is to restore the nation’s prestige, but that won’t happen until the United States treats its neighbors with respect and recognizes that they are essential partners in a global economy.

Pastor, vice president of international relations at American University, was national security adviser for Latin America (1977-81) and has been a consultant to the U. S. Departments of State and Defense. From 1985 until arriving at AU in 2002, Pastor was Goodrich C. White Professor of Political Science at Emory University, and he was a fellow and founding director of the Carter Center’s Latin American and Caribbean Program and the Democracy and China Election Projects.  He is author of 16 books; his most recent is Toward a North American Community: Lessons From the Old World for the New (Peterson Institute, 2001). He is currently writing a book on The North American Idea.

Pastor also will keynote a dinner gathering of community leaders and guests of the university April 25 at St. Thomas.

The discussion and lectures are supported by a gift to the university’s College of Arts and Sciences from Donald B. Regan, a North St. Paul businessman who is founder and chairman of Premier Bank system in Minnesota.  The Donald B. Regan Distinguished Lecture Series will continue at St. Thomas for the next six years.

For further information on Donald B. Regan Distinguished Lecture Series, call Dr. Robert Riley, professor of economics and director of the university’s International Studies Program, (651) 962-5687.