KINGSTON, R.I. – October 22, 2010 – Romano Prodi, President of the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping panel and former Prime Minister of Italy, will speak about “The European Union in the Global Community” at the University of Rhode Island Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 4:30 p.m.

The event, free and open to the public, will be held in Swan Hall Auditorium, 60 Upper College Road, Kingston, with opening remarks from President David M. Dooley.

“Prodi will speak about the political and economic role of the European Union in the global community, as well as touch upon some of the economic problems that plague certain European countries,” said Michelangelo La Luna, URI associate professor of Italian. “With his experience as Prime Minister, President of the European Commission and now President of the UN peacekeeping panel, Prodi has valuable knowledge to offer URI community.”

Along with his role in the European political scene, in 2009 Prodi was appointed as a Professor-at-Large with the Watson Institute for International Studies of Brown University. As part of his 5-year term, he spends several weeks throughout the year at Brown working with students in the classroom, delivering lectures, and participating in discussion.

Following the lecture, a reception will be held in the atrium of Swan Hall. The event is sponsored by the Dean’s Excellence Fund, URI College of Arts and Science, URI Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures and the URI Italian program. For more information, contact Michelangelo La Luna at 401.874.5968 or laluna@uri.edu.