Madeleine K. Albright to visit FIU

WHAT:  In honor of Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel’s visit to FIU 10 years ago, Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright will address FIU students, faculty and staff as well as members from the community in a speech entitled “Vaclav Havel’s Legacy of Freedom: Celebrating Vaclav Havel’s Visit to FIU Ten Years Later.”

 A playwright, essayist, poet, dissident, and politician, Havel became a symbol of the civic opposition to the communist government in Czechoslovakia. After the Prague “Velvet Revolution” that toppled the communist regime, Havel became president of Czechoslovakia, and later the first president of the Czech Republic. Ten years ago, Havel came to FIU and delivered remarks about freedom and in support of a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba.

 WHO:  Madeleine K. Albright is Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and Chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. She was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. On May 29, 2012, Albright received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Obama. She received an honorary degree from FIU in 1996. Albright is a professor in the practice of diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

There will be a panel discussion to follow, featuring:

Thomas Dine, President of the American Friends of the Czech Republic
The Honorable Petr Gandalovic, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the U.S.
Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy
Martin Palous, Director, Vaclav Havel Library, SIPA Senior Fellow
Marifeli Perez-Stable, Interim Director, Latin American and Caribbean Center

WHEN:          Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 3 p.m.

WHERE:       FIU Graham Center Ballrooms, 11200 SW 8 street in Southwest Miami-Dade County.