Wright State to follow NATO session with Dayton Peace Accords celebration

Wright State will host a panel discussion on “The Dayton Peace Accords: Reflections after 30 Years” and a concert by the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra in the Creative Arts Center on May 27.

The eyes of the world will be on Dayton with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Spring Session, from May 23-26, in large part to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the Bosnian War.

Wright State University will join in the celebration with an on-campus event that will also look to the future.

On Tuesday, May 27, Wright State will host:

• A panel discussion on “The Dayton Peace Accords: Reflections after 30 Years,” in the Stein Galleries in the Creative Arts Center from 5 to 6:15 p.m.
• “Notes of Unity,” a concert by the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra in Schuster Hall in the Creative Arts Center at 6:30 p.m., followed by a reception at 7:15 p.m., hosted by Wright State President Susan Edwards, Ph.D.

“This is an epilogue to the NATO weekend and a prologue to the anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords and the Dayton Peace Prize ceremony,” said Vaughn Shannon, Ph.D., professor of political science and director of Wright State’s graduate program in international and comparative politics.

Wright State, he said, is “committed to promoting international relations and peace, and we have these connections to our community, so it’s a natural – everybody wants to be involved with celebrating Dayton’s role in the peace accords. This is our contribution to that.”

The peace accords, finalized on Nov. 21, 1995, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, ended the war and brought peace to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The international armed conflict, which occurred between 1992 and 1995, claimed more than 200,000 lives and forced 2 million people from their homes.

The accords also gave birth to the Dayton Peace Prize, awarded every five years beginning in 2000. This year’s prize will be awarded in November to R. Nicholas Burns, former U.S. ambassador to China.

Wright State’s panel discussion will be moderated by Donna Schlagheck, Ph.D., professor emerita of political science at Wright State, and feature Garald Robinson, who was wing commander at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base during the negotiations; John McCance, who helped organize the agreement signings; Azra Kaurin, a journalist during the war who fled from Sarajevo to Croatia, then moved to Ohio; and Rikard Larma, an Associated Press photographer during the siege of Sarajevo.

The panel discussion is open to the Wright State community and the public. It is first-come, first-served, and space is limited to about 50 people.

Online registration is required to attend the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra concert.

For more information, contact Vaughn Shannon at vaughn.shannon@wright.edu or Laura Luehrmann at laura.luehrmann@wright.edu.