Great Decisions

GREAT DECISIONS
In-Person Presentation/Discussion

Thursdays, Sept 16, 23, 30, and Oct 7
Location: TBD
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
$30 per person


Matt Ball - Global Supply Chains and U.S. National Security (16th)
Katie Wolfe-Burleson - End of Globalization (23rd)
Howard Murphy - WHO response to COVID-19 (30th)
Joyce Wood - China and Africa (7th)


Great Decisions program has flourished over the past 60 years into a multi-dimensional global studies program, adapted to multiple formats, including informal discussion groups, public lectures, and formal secondary and university courses. Published annually by FPA, the Great Decisions briefing book highlights eight of the most thought-provoking foreign policy challenges facing Americans today.

Join your Lifelong Learning friends in lively discussions on foreign policy matters that touch all of our lives. Great Decisions publications, as well as supplemental materials, will support the Zoom discussion as we examine these issues in detail. Notes will be delivered to participants' recorded email addresses.

Course Facilitator Biographies
 

Professor Matt Ball: After a twenty-six-plus-year career at Bosch (half as an executive), Matt Ball retired and joined the faculty at Anderson University’s College of Business.  He teaches courses in Procurement and Supply Chain Management, Business Statistics, Statistical Quality Management, and Global Supply Chain Management. He literally stepped out of the Global Supply Chain and into the Supply Chain Classroom. Matt has Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Industrial Engineering, a Master’s of Arts in Teaching, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Applied Data Analysis. His passion is to bring the real world “nuts and bolts” of Supply Chain management and merge it with the theory of SCM. His students quickly come to the realization that “Business problems are messy!” and “Logic, data and reason” are needed to help clean up the mess. Providing some insight for our LLI family is a delight for him.

Howard Murphy, Ph.D.: Dr. Murphy serves as the Program Coordinator and Associate Professor for Anderson University’s (Anderson, SC) Emergency Services Management and Homeland Security degree programs. He has served as a strategic leader in public health, medical intelligence, and complex medical operations, including work with the World Health Organization (WHO) coordinating U.S. Department of Defense operations countering the West Africa Ebola outbreak. Howard possesses master’s degrees in business administration (healthcare administration) and strategic studies/international relations, and a Ph.D. in Leadership with research focused on emergency management. He has also completed the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and T.H. Chan School of Public Health Executive Education Program in National Preparedness, and a Disaster Science Fellowship with the Academy of Emergency Management.

Katie Wolfe-Burleson, Ph.D.: Dr. Wolfe-Burleson is the Associate Director of the M.S. IDLT program and a Curriculum Strategies Specialist at Anderson University. Her Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction and MA in History from Florida Atlantic University have equipped her to speak authoritatively in diverse academic contexts - all of which AU Lifelong Learners are committed to enjoying. She loves to travel to new places and visit her family in South Florida and Portland Oregon. Katie enjoys leading sessions with LLI and discussing interesting topics. 

Dr. Joyce Wood, Ph.D.:   Dr. Wood is a retired Professor of History at Anderson University.  She is well known throughout the state for her knowledge of history.  She was instrumental in the preparation of the Centennial History for Anderson University 2010-2011.  Dr. Wood has taught many courses for Lifelong Learning.