Midwestern State University will welcome back one of its own when Wichita Falls native Ralph Carter returns to the campus as the Prof. Edwards Discussions in Politics Series speaker. Carter's discussion, "Be Careful Who You Elect to Congress: They Just Might Make Our Foreign Policy," will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Legacy Hall Multipurpose Room.

After graduating from Rider High School, Carter attended MSU and graduated summa cum laude in 1974 with a political science major. He attended The Ohio State University for graduate school and became one of the leading experts on U.S. foreign policy.

Carter is now chair of the Political Science Department at Texas Christian University. In 2012, he was recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the top 300 Professors in the U.S. He was named one of 10 Piper Professors in 2014, an honor bestowed by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation at The University of Texas at Austin. The foundation recognizes ten professors from across Texas for their superior college-level teaching.

He specializes in the study of U.S. foreign policy, Russian foreign policy, and Middle East conflicts. His research agenda focuses on the making of U.S. foreign, trade, and defense policy with an emphasis on the roles played by Congress. He has authored several textbooks, more than 40 journal articles and book chapters, and currently serves on the editorial board of the journals Foreign Policy Analysis and International Studies Perspectives.

In addition to discussing the influence of the current Congress on recent U.S. foreign policy, Carter will talk about how his education at MSU prepared him for his accomplished career.

The Prof. Edwards Discussions in Politics Series continues at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, in the Legacy Hall Multipurpose Room with Greg Sagan's Listening Tour. Sagan, an Amarillo, Texas, resident, was living quietly with his family and enjoying his retirement until today's politics intervened. After serving his country for 14 years in the U.S. Navy, including the Vietnam War, Greg left the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander and worked as a senior consultant in the nuclear power industry. He is currently running for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 13th District. He will bring his Listening Tour to MSU to discuss current political issues with MSU students and the community.

The MSU Political Science Department hosts the Prof. Edwards Discussions in Politics Series in honor of former MSU Political Science Professor Atticus F. æProf' Edwards, who taught at the university from 1923-1958. The roundtable discussions on politics are intended to bring faculty and students together to examine political issues in an informal setting and to build on Edwards' desire to spark interest in the important issues facing the campus, city, state, country, and world today.

Contact Political Science Department Chair Steve Garrison for more information.