ASU Welcomes James N. Purcell Jr for Foreign Affairs Speakers Program

James N. Purcell Jr. of the U.S. Association for International Migration (USAIM) will be the featured speaker for Angelo State University’s E. James Holland-Roy A. Harrell Jr. Foreign Affairs Speakers Program, said a press release Friday. This program will take place February 1 and 2 in the Houston Harte University Center, 1910 Rosemont Drive.

Purcell will present “21^st Century Migration Dynamics: How Migrants Are Shaping Tomorrow’s World” at 7:30 p.m. February 1. He will then speak on “21^st Century’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis: Escaping Syria” at 2:30 p.m. February 2. Both presentations will be in the University Center’s C.J. Davidson Conference Center and are free and open to the public. Purcell will also speak to ASU classes both days.

With a public affairs career spanning every U.S. administration since President John F. Kennedy, Purcell has been active in humanitarian relief work in every region of the world. He is known as “the architect of America’s refugee organizations” for his work beginning in 1979 to create the U.S. Refugee Program based in the U.S. State Department.

The Nashville native also served as the assistant secretary of state of the State Department’s Bureau for Refugee Programs and as the director general of the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration. Currently, serving as chairman of the board of USAIM, he also served as its president in 2010 through 2012.

Purcell is a resident of Columbia, Maryland, and has been honored for his work by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, World Relief International, and the nations of Italy, Armenia, Hungary and Greece.

The E. James Holland-Roy A. Harrell Jr. Foreign Affairs Speakers Program is dedicated to providing ASU students and the community with a broader worldview and exposing students to potential career opportunities in the Foreign Service. The program is sponsored by the ASU College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information, call the College of Arts and Sciences at 325-942-2162.