Galveston College will present “A World on the Move,” a lecture featuring Georgetown University professor Dr. Elizabeth Ferris, on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Abe and Annie Seibel Foundation Wing at Galveston College, 4015 Avenue Q, Galveston, Texas.
Dr. Ferris is a research professor with the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She is also a non-resident senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.
Her presentation will feature a global overview of migration and refugees and is part of college’s 2018-19 lecture series, “Our World and Beyond: The Integration of Modern Technology and the Humanities.”
“It is very exciting to have Dr. Ferris to give a lecture at Galveston College about her extensive experience and first-hand knowledge about UN missions around the world,” said Dr. Laimutis Bytautas, chair of the Faculty Professional Development Committee at Galveston College. “This is a unique opportunity for people in our community to learn about humanitarian issues that are of high importance in the world today.”
From January to September 2016, Dr. Ferris served as senior adviser to the UN General Assembly’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York. From 2006 to 2015, she was a senior fellow and co-director of the Brookings-London School of Economics Project on Internal Displacement where she worked to support understanding and protection of internally displaced persons.
Prior to joining Brookings, she spent 20 years working in the field of humanitarian assistance, most recently in Geneva, Switzerland, at the World Council of Churches. She has also served as the director of the Church World Service’s Immigration and Refugee Program, as research director for the Life & Peace Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, and as a Fulbright professor at the Universidad Autónoma de México.
Dr. Ferris’ teaching experience has included positions at Lafayette College, Miami University and Pembroke State University. She has written extensively on refugee, migration and humanitarian issues, including “The Politics of Protection: The Limits of Humanitarian Action” (Brookings Institution Press, 2011) and most recently, “Consequences of Chaos: Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis and the Failure to Protect,” with Kemal Kirsici (Brookings Institution Press, 2016).
She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University and her Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Florida.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.