This ‘In-Conversation’ event features Dr Barbara J. Stephenson, Vice Provost for Global Affairs, UNC-Chapel Hill, and former U.S. Consul in Belfast (2001-2004) and Sir Hugh Orde, former Chief Constable of the PSNI (2002-2009).
Together they bring extensive experience to the theme of ‘Policing and Politics in Divided Societies’.
Dr Barbara J. Stephenson, PhD, (U.S. Ambassador, ret’d), is vice provost for global affairs and chief global officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s oldest public university established in 1789. She is a distinguished diplomat, former U.S. ambassador, international leader and prior dean of the Leadership and Management School at the Foreign Service Institute. She advances a pan-university global strategy to enhance UNC’s global reach, impact and reputation.
Dr Stephenson, a fierce advocate for the role of higher education in addressing complex global challenges, has extensive experience in forging constructive collaboration across societies and geographies.
Her nearly 34-year career as an American diplomat has included postings as the U.S. Ambassador to Panama and the first woman to serve as deputy ambassador and acting ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in London. She also served as the American Consul General in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 2001-2004, when she helped renew support for the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement.
Dr Stephenson holds a PhD, MA, and BA in English literature from the University of Florida.
Sir Hugh Orde was the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland from 2002-2009, and was the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers from 2009-2015.
Sir Hugh was awarded an OBE in 2001 for services to policing, and in 2005 he was knighted for his work. In 2008, he was awarded the annual Leadership Award from the Police Executive Research Forum recognising his work in changing policing in Northern Ireland following the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In 2010 he was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for services to policing.
He has a proven track record of managing and engaging in complex peace processes nationally and internationally, working across government to deliver lasting change, and has extensive experience in crisis management situations at the highest level.
The discussion will be chaired by Dr Peter McLoughlin, a senior lecturer and Director of Internationalisation for the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics. Dr McLoughlin is also a Fellow (Legacy) at The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.
He has published extensively on peacebuilding and post-conflict politics in Northern Ireland and beyond, with his most notable contribution being a study of the Nobel Prize winner, John Hume: John Hume and the Revision of Irish Nationalism (MUP: 2010). He was joint-editor of the Irish Political Studies journal (2019-22), and Fulbright Scholar at Boston College, USA (2019), where he researched the role of the US government and Irish America in the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process.
Refreshments served from 5.45pm; event starts 6.00pm.
Organised by Queen's University Belfast Civic Engagement in partnership with the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice and the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Foundation.
