To the Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service,

University Club, 3100 Tower Blvd. 17th Floor, Durham, NC 27707

Members of the Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service and their guests are invited to the upcoming CFFS Lunch at 11:30am on Thursday, April 11, 2024. The venue for this lunch is the University Club located off US 15/501 just north of the overpass connecting US 15/501 to I-85.  As usual, we will gather for the social period at 11:30, moving to our table around noon. 

Speaker Bio and Topic: The presenter will be Warner Passanisi, Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he is currently teaching environmental crisis management and project management and implementation.

Warner has over 33 years of experience as senior relief/development manager supporting government institutions and leading humanitarian/development programs in over 50 countries, incl.: food security, public health, WASH, protection, gender, refugee/IDP camp management, democracy, environment, early recovery, and local governance. As Country Director for large international non-governmental organizations, he has led large humanitarian and development operations in complex emergencies such as Liberia, Ukraine, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, the Balkans, and many more. 

Warner is a dual English and Australian passport holder, but has been based in NC (Chapel Hill and Ocracoke) for the past 25 years. His linkedin profile is at (https://www.linkedin.com/in/warnerpassanisi).

The topic of his presentation is:  Humanitarianism in 2024: let's have an honest discussion

The cost of the lunch is $35, which includes coffee or tea, a green salad, entree and dessert.  A cash bar is also available.

Salad:   Mixed Greens with Tomato, Carrot, Cucumbers, and Croutons Goosenecks of Ranch & Champagne  Vinaigrette

Lunch Entree Choices:

1.  Creamy Mushroom and Spinach Gnocchi with Parmesan Cream and Toasted Panko 

2.  Pan Seared Salmon with Broccolini, Red Bliss Potato Salad, and Roasted Baby Carrots 

3.  Chicken Paillard with Roasted Vegetables, Wild Rice, and Apricot Relish

Dessert:  Caramelized Pear Tart with Whipped Cream and Caramel Sauce

Please indicate your entrée choice(s) when you make your reservation. Please make checks payable to the Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service and mail them to:

Joyce Namde

5210 Kemmont Drive

Durham, NC 27713

You may also submit your payment using PayPal (www.paypal.com) by clicking the link below.

Pay Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service using PayPal.Me paypal.me

Reservation and payment must be received no later than Friday, April 5.

Upcoming Events in Krasno Series

This event may be of interest to CFFS members.

"AMERICA in the WORLD:
PAST & PRESENT"

Robert Zoellick 
in conversation with
Klaus Larres

Robert Zoellick is the former President of the World Bank & previously was Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, US Deputy Secretary of State, US Trade Representative, White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
Bob Zoellick is the author of America in the World: A History of US Diplomacy and Foreign Policy (2020).

Klaus Larres is presently a Global Europe & Kissinger China Institute Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC & the Richard M Krasno Distinguished Professor of History & Internat. Affairs, UNC-Chapel Hill. He is the author of Uncertain Allies: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Threat of a United Europe (Yale UP, 2022).


Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023 -
2.00pm (US east coast time)
(London: 7.00pm; Berlin: 8.00pm; Kiev: 9.00pm; Tel Aviv: 9.00pm)

Online zoom event - no registration or RSVP required
just click the link below & join us on Oct. 31, 2.00pm

ZOOM LINK for accessing the event:
https://zoom.us/j/98072415115

LUNCHEON INVITATION

Members of the Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service and their guests are invited to the upcoming CFFS Lunch at 11:30am on Thursday, October 19, 2023. The venue for this lunch is the University Club, 3100 Tower Blvd. 17th Floor, Durham, North Carolina 27707. It is located off US 15/501 just north of the overpass connecting US 15/501 to I-85. As usual, we will gather for the social period at 11:30, moving to our tables at noon. 

Speaker BIO and Topic: The presenter for this lunch will be Claire Williams Bridgwater, Ph.D.

Dr. Williams is a research professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at The American University, Washington, DC.  She has a doctorate in forestry with a minor in genetics from North Carolina State University in 1986.  In 2021, she completed a MA degree in Global Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill where her focus was environmental peacebuilding in postSoviet Central Asia. As a tenured full professor at Texas A&M Faculty of Genetics, she has been visiting professor at Duke and other universities. Claire has also worked in federal government, corporate R&D and international consulting. Her favorite job has been as a AAAS Fellow in Science Diplomacy and science advisor in environment and energy at U.S. Dept of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. This led to a 2019 Fulbright Faculty Scholar award to Russia’s Sukachev Institute of Forest in Krasnoyarsk Siberia. Other research projects were funded by the John Simon Guggenheim award, the German Academic Service (DAAD), Bullard Fellow at Harvard, Fulbright Commissions among others. She has written over 100 papers and authored three books in ecology, evolution and science policy. Current projects are atmospheric bioaerosols in northern Europe and the Arabian Peninsula. The topic of her presentation is:  Science Diplomacy and its Role in Environmental Peacebuilding

The cost of the lunch is $35, which includes coffee or tea, a green salad, entree and dessert.  A cash bar is also available.

Salad:  Mixed Greens with Tomato, Carrot, Cucumbers, and croutons.  Dressing:  Goosenecks of Ranch  & Champagne Vinaigrette

Lunch Entree Choices:

1.  Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa, Mushrooms, and Caramelized Onion Puree

2.  Pan Seared Salmon with Broccolini, Red Bliss Potato Salad, and Roasted Baby Carrots

3.  Chicken Paillard with Roasted Vegetables, Wild Rice, and Apricot Relish

Dessert:  Caramelized Pear Tart with Whipped Cream and Caramel Sauce

Please indicate your entrée choice(s) when you make your reservation. Please make checks payable to the Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service and mail them to:

Joyce Namde

5210 Kemmont Drive

Durham, NC 27713

You may also submit your payment using PayPal (www.paypal.com) by clicking the link below.

https://paypal.me/treasurercffs?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US

Reservation must be received no later than Friday, October 13.

June 2023 Potluck Photos

 A good time was had by all at our Potluck Social on 3 June 2023.