His Excellency Dagfinn Hoybraten, Norwegian minister of Labor and Social Affairs, will deliver an Area Focus Lecture Friday, Jan. 14 at 4 p.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium at Brigham Young University.
Hoybraten's topic will be "The Historical Setting for Norway's Independence." Norway unilaterally dissolved its 91-year union with Sweden and became an independent country on June 7, 1905. He has come to Utah for the launch of Norway's centennial celebrations.
A dynamic political leader, Hoybraten is chair of the Norwegian National Christian Democrats political party and previously served as minister of Health. He led the campaign that made Norway a "smoke-free" country. He also established a goal of decreasing youth smoking by 50 percent within the coming five years.
Recently, Hoybraten challenged the Ministry of Education for wording that departs from Christian values.
The lecture will be archived online. For more information on events at the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, see the calendar at kennedy.byu.edu.
Writer: Devin Knighton
