Best-Selling Author, National Security Expert Visits Belmont Abbey College

BELMONT, NC —- Global terrorism. International peacemakers. Economic stability in foreign markets.

Just how involved should the U.S. be when it comes to the affairs of other countries?

New York Times best-selling author, Thomas P.M. Barnett will take a look
at the forecast of global conflict and share his thoughts on the history and strategy of the U.S. military when he visits the Abbey as part of the Father Cuthbert Allen Visiting Speakers Program on Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 8:00 PM in the Student Commons at Belmont Abbey College. Admission is free for the public lecture, but reservations are required. For more information, please call 704.825.6728 or email deniseboykin@bac.edu.

Barnett will outline the unique role that America could and should play in establishing international stability, and the significance of U.S. efforts at a crucial and uncertain time in world history. His presentation on American foreign policy will be based on his new best-selling book, The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century.

Barnett, an expert on military transformation and on issues relating to international security and economic globalization, is the latest guest lecturer in the Father Cuthbert Allen Visiting Speakers Program. He joins a long list of other noteworthy newsmakers in the Cuthbert Allen series including Ralph Nader, Rev. Jesse Jackson, William Bennett, Wendy Shalit, Sister Helen Prejean, James Kilpatrick, columnist Tom Oliphant and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Ron Suskind.

A strategic planner, Barnett has worked in national security affairs since the end of the Cold War and has operated his own consulting practice, New Rule Sets Project since 1998. Not only is Barnett a contributing editor for Esquire magazine, but the internationally recognized national security has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor.

The Father Cuthbert Allen Visiting Speakers Program is named after Father Cuthbert Allen who encouraged the Belmont Abbey College community to think about provocative issues of the day. He provided a fund to be used to invite influential leaders and decision-makers from all walks of life, including politics, government, literature and the media.

Ranked one of the best comprehensive colleges in the Southeast by U.S. News and World Report and The Princeton Review, Belmont Abbey College celebrates excellence and virtue steeped in its 129-year Catholic Benedictine heritage. The liberal arts College is home to students from over 34 states and 26 countries and welcomes everyone from any background or tradition committed to this vision of excellence and virtue. The campus consists of the College, the Monastery and the Abbey Basilica, which can be found on its sprawling 650 acres of picturesque landscape.

Just minutes from Charlotte, NC, the nation’s second largest banking center, Belmont Abbey College offers students numerous internship opportunities and career placement.

The College believes in development of the whole person – mind, body and spirit. By offering a wide array of clubs and activities including Division II athletics, theatre, publications, and study abroad, Belmont Abbey College invests in the personal growth of its students.

Founded in 1876, the College celebrates its heritage and is inspired by the Benedictine monastic tradition. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the College and Abbey Basilica greet thousands of visitors each year.

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