DANBURY, CONN. — Veteran U.S. diplomat and international affairs consultant Frank G. Wisner, whose 36-year career in the State Department included service as U.S. ambassador to Egypt, will deliver a public lecture at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, 2012, at Western Connecticut State University.

Wisner will offer “Perspectives on Israel and Palestine“ in the lecture and discussion in Science Building Room 125 on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. Admission will be free and the public is invited to attend. The talk will be presented by the WCSU Honors Program.

A career diplomat with extensive experience in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Wisner served as U.S. ambassador to Egypt from 1986 to 1991. His experience in dealing with the regime of President Hosni Mubarak and other political and business leaders in Egypt led the Obama administration to request Wisner to visit Cairo during popular protests in early 2011 to convey White House views on the crisis directly to Mubarak.

In addition to his Egypt posting, Wisner represented the United States in ambassadorial assignments to Zambia from 1979 to 1982, the Philippines from 1991 to 1992, and India from 1994 to 1997. During a career that spanned eight presidencies before his retirement in 1997, he held various government positions including deputy executive secretary in the State Department in 1977, senior deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1982 to 1986, undersecretary of state for international security affairs from 1992 to 1993, and undersecretary of defense for policy from 1993 to 1994. In December 2005, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appointed Wisner as her special representative to the Kosovo Status Talks.

A graduate of Princeton University, Wisner joined the State Department as a foreign service officer in 1961. His early postings included service at the U.S. embassies in Algiers immediately after Algeria gained independence, and in Saigon at the height of the Vietnam War. He held senior diplomatic posts in Tunisia and Bangladesh before returning to Washington to become director of plans and management in the Bureau of Public Affairs. He also served as deputy director of an interagency task force that planned the evacuation and settlement of Southeast Asian refugees following the end of the Vietnam War, and as director of the Office of Southern African Affairs during U.S. diplomatic negotiations with Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Wisner has been widely sought since his retirement from government service as a director and consultant on international affairs for businesses, professional groups and nonprofit organizations. He has served as an international affairs adviser for Patton Boggs LLP and Kissinger Associates, and as a director for Refugees International, EOG Resources, Ethan Allen Interiors, Pangea3 LLC, American International Group, Commercial International Bank, and American Life Insurance Company. He has been a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, vice chairman of the Business Council on International Understanding, and a board member of the U.S. India Business Council.

For more information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.