PRINCESS ANNE, MD - (Oct. 15, 2014) – Curtis A. Ward, former Jamaican ambassador to the United Nations, will be the next speaker Nov. 6 for the UMES Presidential Lecture Series.  The hour-long lecture will be held at 11 a.m. in the Richard F. Hazel Hall, room 1020.

Ward, an attorney and consultant, will speak on the topic, “International Engagement.”  He has travelled throughout the world for meetings with high-level government officials and specializes in national and international security law and policy, counter-terrorism legal and operational capacity assessments and solutions, international sanctions, rule of law and governance, geopolitical strategy analyses, international business transactions and international governmental relations.

“Ambassador Ward has served on the Security Council of the United Nations and is tremendously informed about international and regional security issues including counter-terrorism,” said Dr. Jennifer Keane-Dawes, dean of the School of Graduate Studies and chair of the cultural affairs committee.  “Attendees will hear about strategies that countries have adopted to deal with these issues and can confer with Ambassador Ward about solutions to threats facing the United States. We hope faculty, staff, students and members of the community will attend this significant event.”

Ward’s background is storied having served as a resource facilitator of the Geneva Games at the Geneva (Switzerland) Center for Security Policy (2007-2010), two years on the U.N. Security Council, a counter terrorism expert participant in the International Peace Institute’s task forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity (2008) and its retreat to examine Peace and Security Threats to Latin America and the Caribbean (2009) among others.

He holds a Master of Laws in international law from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a juris doctorate in business and international law from Howard University School of Law.

Gail Stephens, Assistant Director, UMES Office of Public Relations