A public lecture on "The Future of Europe" will be presented on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 10 a.m. at the Myrtle Beach Education Center. The event, part of Coastal Carolina University's Great Decisions in Foreign Policy Lecture Series, is free and open to the public. A preceding coffee social begins at 9:30 a.m.

Robert Henry Cox, director of the Walker Institute and professor of political science at the University of South Carolina, and Mariam Dekanozishvili, assistant professor of political science at Coastal Carolina University, will discuss the outcome of the United Kingdom referendum on EU membership. They will explain how the Brexit vote underscores the complexities of integrating a diverse continent and explore what post-Brexit Europe might look like, including its impacts on U.S. foreign policy.

Cox is a specialist on public policy in Europe and has written extensively on the welfare state, exploring the moral foundations of welfare programs.

Dekanozishvili teaches and researches European/EU politics and energy policy; her current research explores EU's renewable energy policy and the European Neighborhood Policy.

Great Decisions is a nationwide world affairs educational program offering discussion and debate on topics related to international affairs, national security and U.S. foreign policy. The Foreign Policy Association (FPA) selects annual topics for the program, and CCU offers four of the eight topics in a lecture series that is co-sponsored by the Dyer Institute for Leadership and Public Policy and American Studies and Community Outreach.

An online course in American Studies is available as a complement to the four-part lecture series, which takes place each Saturday in February.

CCU's Myrtle Beach Education Center is located at 900 79th Ave. N. For more information, contact Jacqueline Kurlowski, director of the Dyer Institute, at jamkurlow@coastal.edu or 843-349-6952, or visit coastal.edu/ilpp.