International affairs advisor and former senior diplomat Frank G. Wisner was joined by Utah Valley University national security studies students and faculty during the National Security Speaker Series on Feb 16 on UVU’s Orem Campus. UVU President Astrid S. Tuminez, longtime friend and mentee of Ambassador Wisner, was in attendance at the event.

Wisner spoke on foreign policy, the changing political landscape, the issues at the Russian-Ukrainian border, the necessity of diplomacy, and the need for nations to adjust to reality of today, not dreams of our past.

“We need new policies to deal with the realities of a multipolar world, and a new sense of priority for diplomacy,” Wisner said. “And as Lord Salisbury — British Prime Minister at the end of the 19th century — said, ‘You can't build new approaches on the cadavers of old policies.’ We need to think anew; we have to change.”

Ambassador Wisner is an international affairs advisor at Squire Patton Boggs LLP. He is a career diplomat with the personal rank of career ambassador. He previously served as ambassador to India from 1994 to 1997. Additionally, he held ambassador positions to Zambia, Egypt, and the Philippines. Wisner has served in a number of positions in the U.S. government, including Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs, Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, and deputy executive secretary for the Department of State.