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CORVALLIS - Gary Crocker, former senior analyst and adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, will speak on the crisis in Kosovo at Oregon State University on Tuesday, May 11.

Crocker, who recently retired from the U.S. Department of State where he served as a foreign service officer for the past 25 years, is a special guest speaker for OSU's class, "The Kosovo Crisis in Perspective." The five-week course, which began April 27, is held in Gilfillan Auditorium from 7 to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays. All presentations are free and open to the public.

Crocker will lecture on the U.S., NATO and international response to the crisis in the Balkans.

While at the State Department, Crocker supervised an office of regional experts who prepared the morning reading and intelligence reports for the Secretary of State, the White House, and senior U.S. and allied officials. During his career, Crocker briefed five Secretaries of State, innumerable congressional committees, and senior officials from many nations.

During crisis periods, he formed and managed teams who monitored and reported on developments and operations around-the-clock. Crocker is "very familiar" with the conflict in the Balkans, from the inception of the crisis to the present situation.

"We couldn't have attracted a person who understands the crisis better from the political perspective, and yet can still talk openly about the conflict," said Tom Daniels, professor of naval science at OSU. Daniels worked with Crocker to bring him to OSU.

"He is an energetic and knowledgeable speaker," said Kerry Ahearn, associate professor of English and coordinator of the Kosovo course. "He has focused on the Balkans since the Bosnian conflict, and his last Kosovo briefing from the State Department was Thursday of this week."

Crocker has been active in public affairs, participating as a State Department spokesman in numerous press briefings and appearing in a number of television documentaries and talk shows, including "Good Morning America." In the past 10 years, he has lectured thousands of high school and college students on foreign affairs and careers in international relations.

More than 100 people have attended each of the first two sessions of OSU's course on the crisis in Kosovo. The class utilizes OSU history, geosciences and economics faculty with expertise in the region and draws from a number of outside sources, including military experts, faculty in political science, history and anthropology from the University of Oregon, and representatives of various agencies and organizations.