The cultural challenges and experiences Latter-day Saint professionals face when doing business, promoting development, encouraging education and practicing law internationally will be the focus of the International Society's 14th annual conference in Provo Sunday and Monday, Aug. 17-18.
The opening fireside for "The Gospel, Professional Ethics and Cross-cultural Experience" will be Sunday evening and will feature Elder Dale E. Miller, a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The fireside is open to the public and will begin at 7 p.m. at the Oak Hills Stake Center, 925 East North Temple Drive (northwest of the Provo Temple).
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, will be Monday's keynote speaker beginning at 8:30 a.m. in Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library auditorium (first level).
The panels and presentations, which are free and open to the public, will include such topics as "Legal and Ethical Considerations in an International Setting," "Ethical Problems in the World Business Community," "Education and Ethics" and "Third World Development and Ethics: Whose Reality Counts?"
"We anticipate an expanding crowd of interested professionals, students and others to consider the intersection of ethics and culture from a global Latter-day Saint perspective," notes Blaine Tueller, a retired U.S. foreign service officer and current president of the society.
Conference participants include W. Cole Durham Jr., Gates University professor of law and director of the BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies; William H. Wingo, attorney at law with Wingo and Rhinehart in Bountiful, Utah; Brett G. Scharffs, professor of law at BYU; W. Steve Albrecht, associate dean of the BYU Marriott School; E. Vance Randall, Educational Leadership and Foundations department chair at BYU; Karen Hyer, adjunct professor of educational leadership and foundations at BYU; A. LeGrand Richards, associate professor of educational leadership and foundations at BYU; Clifford T. Mayes, assistant professor of educational leadership and foundations at BYU; Joan Dixon, BYU's Center for Economic Self-Reliance workshop coordinator; Dave Shuler, International Study Programs' field studies coordinator, BYU; Martha Ethington, director of the Ouelessabougou Utah Alliance; and Lynn Curtis, vice president of international programs at ProLiteracy Worldwide in Syracuse, New York.
Organized in 1989, the International Society is an association of professionals with international interests who are members or friends of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The society is supported by BYU's David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, Marriott School of Management, J. Reuben Clark School of Law, David O. McKay School of Education, and the Alumni Association.
The conference is free and open to the public; however, the award luncheon at noon on Monday is $12 per person and requires reservations. For more information or to RSVP, contact the International Society, 801/422-3377, int-soc@email.byu.edu or 222 HRCB, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. See the full 2003 conference schedule online at http://LDSInternationalSociety.org.
