Ambassador Dennis Ross is The Washington Institute's counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow. For more than twelve years, Ambassador Ross played a leading role in shaping
U.S.
involvement in the
Middle East
peace process and dealing directly with the parties in negotiations. A highly skilled diplomat, Ambassador Ross was
U.S.
point man on the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He was instrumental in assisting Israelis and Palestinians to reach the 1995 Interim Agreement; he also successfully brokered the 1997 Hebron Accord, facilitated the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and intensively worked to bring
Israel
and
Syria
together.
A scholar and diplomat with more than two decades of experience in Soviet and
Middle East
policy, Ambassador Ross worked closely with Secretaries of State James Baker, Warren Christopher, and Madeleine Albright. Prior to his service as special
Middle East
coordinator under President Clinton, Ambassador Ross served as director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff in the first Bush administration. In that capacity, he played a prominent role in
U.S.
policy toward the former Soviet Union, the unification of
Germany
and its integration into NATO, arms control negotiations, and the 1991 Gulf War coalition.
The New York Times called his new book, Statecraft, And How to Restore America's Standing in the World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2007), "important and illuminating."
The Holland Lecture Series
The Holland Lectures address a variety of important ethical and global issues by bringing internationally recognized speakers to Omaha. These thought-provoking lectures provide a forum for the open discussion of sometimes controversial, but always provocative, ideas that might not otherwise be given voice in Nebraska. In the end, the lecture series aspires to challenge and broaden the listeners' understanding of ethics, philosophy, religion, and science as they relate to current national and world concerns.
First Unitarian Church has a long history of encouraging free and open discussion of controversial topics. For 10 years, between 1954 and 1964, the church was the home of the Frank R. Hoagland Lectures. As a young man, Dick Holland attended many of those lectures and discussed new ideas and ways of thinking that shaped his world perspective. His current desire to resurrect a speaker series and bring distinguished speakers to Omaha is rooted in his memories of attending those earlier presentations. Dick and Mary Holland believed that the Hoagland Lectures, which also brought well-known national figures to speak in Omaha, was an appropriate model for the new Holland Lecture Series that they established. In June 2006,
First
Unitarian
Church
and the Omaha
community
lost a very good friend with the passing of Mary Holland.
Future Holland Lecture speakers:
Spring 2008 - Ambassador Dennis Ross, Author of Statecraft, And How to Restore America's Standing in the World
Previous Holland Lecture speakers:
June 15, 2005 - "The Changing Ethics of Life and Death". Dr. Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University.
November 10, 2005 - "Stem Cells Meet Politics and Religion". Dr. Irving Weissman, Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology, Stanford University
May 10, 2006 - "Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing". Rev. Debra Haffner, Director of The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, Community Minister, The Unitarian Church in Westport Westport, Ct.
October 5, 2006 - "Nuclear Terrorism: A Preventable Catastrophe". Dr. Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government and Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
May 3, 2007 - "Earth's Changing Climate: What is in Store for the Future?". Dr. Henry Pollack, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan.
November 1, 2007 - "Universal Health Coverage: Not If But When!". Henry J. Aaron, Ph.D., Brookings Institution.
Announcing our seventh speaker