Gen. Wesley Clark Joins UCLA's Burkle Center

This article was first published in UCLA Today.

By Judy Lin

HE SERVED as supreme allied commander of NATO during the 1999 Kosovo conflict and ran for U.S. president in 2004. Now Gen. Wesley K. Clark is joining UCLA as a senior fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations in UCLA's International Institute, where he will teach and host an annual conference of government, corporate and opinion leaders from around the world.

"Gen. Clark's involvement with the campus will add a unique and valuable dimension to the Burkle Center's exploration of the contemporary world and the role of the United States in global security and military, political, social and economic affairs," said Patricia O'Brien, executive dean of the College of Letters and Science. "I am especially pleased that our students will benefit from Gen. Clark's extraordinary experience, as well as his dynamic leadership and teaching credentials."

Clark is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated first in his class. He holds a master's degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. For three years he taught economics and political philosophy at West Point.

Gen. Clark will work with UCLA faculty to analyze current events and foreign policy for students and the broader community. Faculty colleagues will include Ronald Rogowski, interim dean and vice provost of the International Institute; Daniel Posner in political science; Amy Zegart in the School of Public Affairs; and Kal Raustiala in the School of Law.

Clark said it was an honor to join the Burkle Center, which, he said, "is offering a vital voice to the international conversation on security and peace."

The first annual conference, slated for this winter, will address the future of the Middle East, in particular the threat posed by Iran, the expanding influence of Islam around the world and the volatile relationship among Israel, Lebanon and Palestine.

Said Clark: "I am hopeful and enthusiastic about the progress to be gained through frank and friendly discussion about the challenges we face to secure peace throughout the world."