Distinguished Guests from Thailand Due on Campus for The Jay Nathan, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar Lecture Series

Mar 30, 2016
Panelists will discuss “Thailand: Tradition vs. Modernization” at the third annual Jay Nathan, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar Lecture Series of The University of Scranton’s Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library at 5:30 p.m. April 26 at the Moskovitz Theater of the DeNaples Center. Panelists are: Jay Nathan, Ph.D., The Honorable Pornpong Kanittanon, the Royal Thai Consul General; Korbsiri Iamsuri, director of the Thailand Board of Investment,  Napadol Thongmee, consul at the Thai Trade Center; and Srimala Waraphaskul, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Panelists will discuss “Thailand: Tradition vs. Modernization” at the third annual Jay Nathan, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar Lecture Series of The University of Scranton’s Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library at 5:30 p.m. April 26 at the Moskovitz Theater of the DeNaples Center. Panelists are: Jay Nathan, Ph.D., The Honorable Pornpong Kanittanon, the Royal Thai Consul General; Korbsiri Iamsuri, director of the Thailand Board of Investment, Napadol Thongmee, consul at the Thai Trade Center; and Srimala Waraphaskul, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand.

A member of the Royal Thai Consulate General and a consul at the Thai Trade Center will join the director of the Thailand Board of Investment and the director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand as part of the third annual Jay Nathan, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar Lecture Series of The University of Scranton’s Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library.

The four distinguished guests, all traveling from their offices in New York City, will join Dr. Nathan as panelists for a discussion titled “Thailand: Tradition vs. Modernization” at the Moskovitz Theater of the DeNaples Center on April 26.

The free event, which also will include a showcase of Thai art and culture, entertainment and a reception offering Thai delicacies, is all made possible through the generosity of Dr. Nathan, who divides his time between Scranton and New York, where he is a tenured full professor of management at St. John’s University in Queens. He was previously a tenured professor in the University’s Kania School of Management.

Dr. Nathan received the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to Thailand in the 1991-92 academic year and taught at the Prince of Sonkla, Chulalongkhorn and Thommasat universities. He also lectured at the NIDA institute for business executives in Bangkok and was invited to Bangkok in 2010 for the 60th anniversary of the Thailand-United States Educational Foundation.

“It changed my life. I have been transformed by the experience. We can all learn from each other, and when we do we are better off,” said Dr. Nathan, who also has been a distinguished Fulbright Scholar in Mongolia, Poland and Kazakhstan.

Dr. Nathan also served as editor of the Journal of Global Awareness and as president of the Global Awareness Society International. He is a lifetime member of the Fulbright Association.

The honored guests, with similarly distinguished backgrounds, will bring a perspective to campus that is unique to emerging democracies and will highlight their own research while discussing timely topics of interest to students, faculty and the community at large.

In addition to Dr. Nathan, the panelists are:

▪ The Honorable Pornpong Kanittanon, the Royal Thai Consul General, who previously held multiple Secretary positions in the departments of Protocol, Political Affairs, East Asian Affairs and Information and worked in the Royal Thai Embassies in Indonesia, Japan and the Republic of Korea;

▪ Napadol Thongmee, consul of the Thai Trade Center, who also has held top positions in several Royal Thai Embassies across the globe and has spent 28 years in government service, representing Thai interests in Milan, Italy, Mexico City, Mexico, and Tehran, Iran;

▪ Srimala Waraphaskul, a 22-plus-year executive with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, or TAT, who is responsible for integrated marketing communications, advertising and trade outreach and promotional campaigns to increase arrivals to Thailand from the United States’ Eastern Seaboard;

▪ Korbsiri Iamsuri, director of the Thailand Board of Investment, who promotes North American investment in Thailand as part of the Thailand Board of Investment in New York City.

The lecture series, which featured distinguished representatives from Kazakhstan and Mongolia in its first two years, is designed to bring to campus “not only government officials, but scholars to enlighten people about issues around the world,” said Charles Kratz, dean of the library and information fluency at the University.

Dean Kratz noted that an important component of the University’s strategic plan is centered on global learning, and that the panelists and honored guests also will meet informally with attendees, students and faculty.

The free lecture will begin at 5:30 p.m. on April 26. For additional information, call the Weinberg Memorial Library at 570-941-7816.

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