His Excellency Petr Kolár, ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States, will give a public lecture as a UW-Madison Distinguished International Visitor. This public lecture “Challenges and Opportunities of the European-American Partnership-a Czech Perspective” will be on Tuesday, October 6 from 4:30-5:30 p.m., at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street.
The Distinguished International Visitor program regularly brings international practitioners to UW-Madison to share their expertise with students, faculty, and the public. Past visitors include Florence Chenowoth, minister of agriculture in Liberia; former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg; former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Stuart Eizenstat; and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Jessica Tuchman Mathews.
The event is sponsored by the Division of International Studies; the International Studies Major; and the Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA).
Learn more about Petr Kolár
Petr Kolár, a native of Ceske Budejovice (Budweis) in the former Czechoslovakia, has a degree in Ethnography from Charles University in Prague. In 1991, he continued his studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C. and in 1992 at the University of London-Institute of Historical Research.
Kolár has held a number of positions both in research and the diplomatic services. He has worked with the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway as a researcher; joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in 1996, serving as an ambassador to Stockholm, Sweden; and from 1998-1999, he became an adviser to Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel. Kolár was named ambassador to the Republic of Ireland in 1999, and in 2003, became the Czech deputy minister of Foreign Affairs for Bilateral Relations.