Carl Wilkens, the only American who chose to stay in Rwanda when the country’s civil war erupted in April 1994, will speak at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 28, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building.

Carl Wilkens

Wilkens is the founder of Spokane, Wash.-based “World Outside My Shoes,” a nonprofit educational and professional development organization that is committed to inspiring and equipping people to enter the world of ‘the other,’” according to its website, www.worldoutsidemyshoes.org.

The former head of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International, Wilkens has received the Dignitas Humana Award from Saint John’s School of Theology Seminary and a 2005 Medal of Valor from the Simon Wiesenthal Center for his work.

He has been interviewed for “The Few Who Stayed: Defying Genocide,” an American Radio Works documentary that aired on National Public Radio; “Ghosts of Rwanda,” a “Frontline” documentary that aired on PBS television; “BBC Newshour”; The Windsor Star and The New York Times, among others.

Wilkens’ address is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the MTSU College of Liberal Arts, the Distinguished Lecture Fund, the MTSU Department of Political Science, the Student Government Association and ROTARACT.

For more information, contact Dr. Karen Petersen at 615-494-8662 or karen.petersen@mtsu.edu.

— Gina K. Logue (Gina.Logue@mtsu.edu)