John Kelly has served as Ambassador-in-Residence at CISTP of The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech since 1999. Upon leaving government service in 1994, Ambassador Kelly founded his own consulting firm to assist firms with overseas strategies and marketing. Kelly was U.S. Ambassador in Beirut from 1986 to 1988 during the war years.

He was Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and South Asia from 1989 to 1991, during the Gulf War and up to the Madrid Middle East Peace Conference. He served as American Ambassador in Helsinki, Finland, from 1991 to 1994.

A career diplomat, Kelly was four times a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and also served in the Department of Defense as well as on overseas assignments in Turkey, Thailand, France, Lebanon, and Finland. He writes and lectures widely.

Leslie Callahan, for whom the memorial endowment is named, enjoyed a long and distinguished military career, serving in both the Philippines and Korea. Before his retirement from the US Army as a Colonel with 25 years of service, he had completed overseas and academic tours and held command and staff assignments related to technological development of air defense, guided missiles, avionics, and telecommunication systems.

A 1944 graduate of the US Military Academy, he earned his master's degree (1951) and Ph.D. (1961) in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the GT faculty in 1969 and taught many undergraduate and graduate Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE) courses for the next 16 years. He also played a major role in developing graduate Military Operations Research programs for DoD personnel. He established the Callahan Endowment in 1993.

Lunch is free and open to the public. Seating is limited. Reservation is required.

Please RSVP to Angie Levin by Friday, 22 August 2008.