Great Decisions Discussion Series

Great Decisions Program to be Offered This Spring

     Do you want to know more about ISIS?  Migration issues?  Climate change?  The Koreas? Cuba?  We’ve got the answer(s) for you. Members of the Alabama World Affairs Council (AWAC) can participate in the 2016 Great Decisions Program, a new initiative of AWAC that has been offered nationally for over 50 years through a series of discussions held in hundreds of local communities across the country.  Sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association of America, it is the nation’s largest discussion program on world affairs. 

    There will be eight classes, each led by professors and held at Auburn University Montgomery’s downtown facility at 400 South Union Street from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. There is ample parking available.  Classes will be held on consecutive Wednesdays beginning Jan. 27. The topics for this year and the dates for the class and discussion are as follows:

      Middle East Alliances (Jan. 27); The Rise of ISIS (Feb. 3); The Future of Kurdistan (Feb. 10); Migration (Feb. 17); The Koreas (Feb. 24); The United Nations (March 2); Climate Change (March 9); and Cuba and the U.S. (March 16).  The instructors are all Ph.D.s who are active or retired professors from area universities and colleges.

     The program is supported by a study booklet, a PBS television series on each topic, and a national opinion ballot at the end of the program.  The Great Decisions Program not only provides a wealth of information to participants but also provides those in government and the media a sense of how the informed public views these issues through the questionnaires on the issues which are compiled at the end of the series from hundreds of programs across the country.

       The cost of the program is only $20 to cover the cost of the study booklet for classroom use.       AWAC members and others interested in signing up for the course should phone the AWAC office at 244-3337.  Space is limited!