A group of Coastal Carolina University faculty members and a visiting professor will address "Milestones in Episodes of Global Conflict" during a panel discussion on Thursday, March 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. in Room 248 of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts. A reception will follow the roundtable in room 164. Both events are free and open to the public.

Panelists Mariam Dekanozishvili, Alan Farrell, Christopher Gunn and Philip Whalen will discuss unique aspects and experiences connected to specific episodes of conflict that have had global significance and lasting historical, political and cultural impact, ranging from World War I to the most recent conflicts, including the ISIS attacks on Brussels and Paris.

The roundtable discussion is sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Global Experience Program at CCU.

Dekanozishvili joined CCU's Department of Politics and Geography as an assistant professor in 2014. Her area of teaching and research specialization is European politics, with a particular focus on integration and policymaking. Before coming to the U.S., Dekanozishvili worked for the Ministry of European Integration of Georgia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Farrell is a longtime professor who has taught French and English at Hampden-Sydney College for nearly 25 years and served as dean of faculty at the Virginia Military Institute. He served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970 with the Fifth Special Forces Group and was decorated for valor. Designated by the governor as a Distinguished Foreign Language Professor in Virginia, he won the Virginia Association of Foreign Language Teachers' Distinguished Service Award.  

Gunn is an assistant professor of history at CCU. He earned a bachelor's degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia, a master's degree in political science from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D. in history from Florida State University. He has spent nearly six years living and researching in Budapest, Hungary; Istanbul, Turkey; Ankara, Turkey; and Antalya, Turkey. His current research interests include the Ottoman Empire and its borderlands, particularly the Balkans and Caucasus, the Empire's successor states, transnational political violence and efforts towards reconciliation.

Whalen is a professor in the history department at CCU whose specialty areas include French history, modern European history, colonial history, environmental history and historiography. His research interests include historical geography, world history and critical social theory. He has published numerous academic journal articles, book chapters, book reviews and books.

Tripthi Pillai, assistant professor of English and coordinator of the global experience series, will serve as moderator of the discussion.

For more information, contact Tripthi Pillai, assistant professor of Renaissance literature in CCU's Department of English, at tpillai@coastal.edu or 843-742-3699.