Diverse speakers scheduled for Fireside Chats at SNC

The spring line up of Fireside Chats at Sierra Nevada College hosted by Andy Whyman includes a list of topics from global citizenry, to national security, and environmental preservation.

SNC’s Laura Brunel-Canale, a senior lecturer in the Humanities Department, tops the schedule with “Escaping Ethnocentrism Through Study Abroad” — a discussion about her decadelong research into the benefits of cultural immersion programs in places such as the Yucatan Peninsula and El Salvador. This community dialogue will be Feb. 17 at 7pm in Sierra Nevada College’s Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, rooms 139/141. Refreshments will be served.

March 24 is Keith Hansen, former National Intelligence Council official. Hansen served for more than three decades with the government in military and civilian assignments. As an expert on strategic nuclear force issues, he was deeply involved in negotiations on the disarmament of nuclear weapons. Hansen will address the balance between national security and the public’s right to know. A timely subject given the recent Wikileaks, Hansen will discuss this topic from a policy and intelligence perspective.

On April 28 is Joanne Marchetta, TRPA executive director. Marchetta oversees all aspects of the organization which is charged with regional planning, development and redevelopment oversight, regulatory enforcement and environmental protection and restoration programs for the region.

For more information on the events, contact Shelia Leijon at (775) 832.1310, or shelia_leijon@ivgid.org.