The Holland Lecture Series

Sponsored by the First Unitarian Church of Omaha

Established by Mary and Richard Holland

Ambassador Dennis Ross,

Former Middle East Envoy

Ambassador Ross is The Washington Institute's counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow. For more than twelve years, he played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process and dealing directly with the parties in negotiations. A highly skilled diplomat, Ambassador Ross was U.S. point man on the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He was instrumental in assisting Israelis and Palestinians to reach the 1995 Interim Agreement; he also successfully brokered the 1997 Hebron Accord, facilitated the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and intensively worked to bring Israel and Syria together.

A scholar and diplomat with more than two decades of experience in Soviet and Middle East policy, Ambassador Ross worked closely with Secretaries of State James Baker, Warren Christopher, and Madeleine Albright. Prior to his service as special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, Ambassador Ross served as director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff in the first Bush administration. In that capacity, he played a prominent role in U.S. policy toward the former Soviet Union, the unification of Germany and its integration into NATO, arms control negotiations, and the 1991 Gulf War coalition.

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The New York Times called his new book, Statecraft, And How to Restore America's Standing in the World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2007), "important and illuminating."

The Holland Lecture Series

The Holland Lectures address a variety of important ethical and global issues by bringing internationally recognized speakers to Omaha. These thought-provoking lectures provide a forum for the open discussion of sometimes controversial, but always provocative, ideas that might not otherwise be given voice in Nebraska. In the end, the lecture series aspires to challenge and broaden the listeners' understanding of ethics, philosophy, religion, and science as they relate to current national and world concerns.

First Unitarian Church has a long history of encouraging free and open discussion of controversial topics. For 10 years, between 1954 and 1964, the church was the home of the Frank R. Hoagland Lectures. As a young man, Dick Holland attended many of those lectures and discussed new ideas and ways of thinking that shaped his world perspective. His current desire to resurrect a speaker series and bring distinguished speakers to Omaha is rooted in his memories of attending those earlier presentations. Dick and Mary Holland believed that the Hoagland Lectures, which also brought well-known national figures to speak in Omaha, was an appropriate model for the new Holland Lecture Series that they established. In June 2006, First Unitarian Church and the Omaha community lost a very good friend with the passing of Mary Holland. 

Updated 2/17/2008  wfr