Welcome to the World Affairs Council of Hilton Head

Our mission, like that of the World Affairs Councils of America, is to empower citizens to participate in the national debate on world affairs, build citizen support for American engagement in the world, stimulate communities to interact effectively in the global economy, help people relate their local concerns to global issues, improve international education locally, nationally, and internationally, foster international interests in America's young people, build alliances with counterpart organizations locally, nationally, and internationally and to increase council professionalism by disseminating best practices.  

Following a very well received 2007-2008 program year, our Council has filled the 2008-2009 calendar with excellent speakers through out the fall and into the winter of 2009. Please see the Speaker Meeting Page on www.wachh.org for details.

Inevitably focused on the upcoming election, our fall program will be launched with a talk on the presidential nominees and their vision for U.S. foreign policy. Immediately after the election, our guest speaker will address foreign policy challenges facing the new administration. 

At the completion of the 2007-08 program year, we are pleased to have posted all our lectures on the Audio Archives page of our web site. To access the Audio files, click on http://wachh.org/index.php?contentID=1588. This page also contains the 2007-2008 Speakers' names and topics.

As we move into the next fiscal year (aka program year) the Council is pleased to announce the addition of three new Directors: Donald Snow, Ian Murray, and Harold Hauer.  Please see Director’s Bios (click here ) to learn more about them and their roles in moving the work of the Council forward.

We are pleased to announce that forty membership applicants will be coming on board as new members this fall. Proof positive, that it’s worthwhile to keep the names of your friends and neighbors on the waiting list. Orientation for New Members will be held at 9:00 AM on October 3 prior to the Coffee Social at 9:30. Established members who would like to sit in are welcome to do so.

In Tom Brokaw’s book BOOM! about the 60’s generation, he describes a sea change in the behavior and expectations of so called Baby Boomers who came to dominate that era. It is nothing less than an anthology of sociological proportions with ramifications that did not end there.  

So where are the Boomers now? In Kent Harrington’s latest article in the Moore School’s Business and Economic Review, he offers an interesting perspective on how South Carolina might harvest the resources of those same Boomers to enhance the economic development of our state.

 His article “Mapping South Carolina’s Intellectual Capital,” can be found in the July-August-September 2008 issue of the journal of the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.  Capitalizing on its talent, including the soon-to-arrive Baby Boomers, will be increasingly important to South Carolina.  If you’d like to explore the issue and its implications for the state’s competitiveness, Kent’s article offers some provocative thoughts.  It can be found by clicking on the link below. 

http://mooreschool.sc.edu/moore/research/Publications/BandE/bande54/54n4/mapping.html

Be sure to read our Summer Edition of News & Notes here on this Web site. One feature in the Summer 2008 issue is a mini-tutorial on how to get the most out of the Council’s Web site.

As we look forward to an all-star line up of speakers in the fall, the Council wishes each and everyone a most enjoyable summer.