Former U.S. Ambassador Dennis B. Ross, who for more than 12 years played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process, will deliver this year's Bank of America Lecture in Judaic Studies. His talk, entitled "The Missing Peace - The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace," is presented by the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies of the College of Arts and Sciences at Fairfield University on Tuesday, October 3 at 8 p.m., in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

Ambassador Dennis Ross is The Washington Institute's counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow. A highly skilled diplomat, Ambassador Ross was the U.S. point man on the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He was instrumental in assisting Israelis and Palestinians to reach the 1995 Interim Agreement; he also successfully brokered the 1997 Hebron Accord, facilitated the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and intensively worked to bring Israel and Syria together.

"The struggle for peace in the Middle East is one of the defining legacies of our time and Ambassador Ross has played a significant role in the journey," said Ellen Umansky, Ph.D., director of the Judaic Studies Program at Fairfield University and the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies. "It is an honor to bring him to Fairfield University to offer his thoughts on the road that we have traveled and that which still lies ahead."

A scholar and diplomat with more than two decades of experience in Soviet and Middle East policy, Ambassador Ross worked closely with Secretaries of State James Baker, Warren Christopher, and Madeleine Albright. Prior to his service as special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, Ambassador Ross served as director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff in the first Bush administration.

In that capacity, he played a prominent role in U.S. policy toward the former Soviet Union, the unification of Germany and its integration into NATO, arms control negotiations, and the 1991 Gulf War coalition.

During the Reagan administration, he served as director of Near East and South Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff and deputy director of the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment. Ambassador Ross was awarded the Presidential Medal for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service by President Clinton, and Secretaries Baker and Albright presented him with the State Department's highest award.

A 1970 graduate of UCLA, Ambassador Ross wrote his doctoral dissertation on Soviet decision-making, and from 1984 to 1986 served as executive director of the Berkeley-Stanford program on Soviet International Behavior. He received UCLA's highest medal and has been named UCLA alumnus of the year. He has also received honorary doctorates from Amherst College, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Syracuse University.

Ambassador Ross has published extensively on the former Soviet Union, arms control, and the greater Middle East, contributing numerous chapters to anthologies. In the 1970s and 1980s, his articles appeared in World Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Orbis, International Security, Survival, and Journal of Strategic Studies.

Since leaving government in 2001, he has published in Foreign Policy, National Interest, Washington Quarterly, and Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Ross is also a frequent contributor to the Financial Times, Washington Post, and U.S. News and World Report, as well as a foreign affairs analyst for the Fox News Channel. His book "The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace" (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, August 2004) offers personal insight into the Middle East peace process.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll-free at 1-877-ARTS-396. For information on a private reception with Ambassador Ross in support of the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies, call the Office of Special Events at (203) 254-4000, ext. 2660. For information about other opportunities to support Judaic Studies, please contact the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at (203) 254-4000 ext. 2066.

Posted On: 09-05-2006 10:09 AM

Volume: 39 Number: 23