Appleton Native Returning Home as Lawrence University Scarff Professor

APPLETON, WIS. -- A former senior foreign service officer in the U.S. State Department who grew up in Appleton returns to his hometown this fall as Lawrence University's newest Stephen Edward Scarff Memorial Visiting Professor.

Charles Ahlgren will spend the first two terms of Lawrence's 2001-2002 academic year as a member of the government department. He will teach the course "American Diplomacy: Ethics and the National Interests" during the fall term and "Politics of Globalization" during the winter term. He is expected to arrive in Appleton in early September.

Retired since 1997, Ahlgren enjoyed a 30-year career as a diplomat and educator in the State Department. He has been a faculty member at several military service schools, including the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I., and the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pa., where he taught courses in national security, military and diplomatic history, Asian politics, problems of developing nations and international trade.

In addition to his teaching, Ahlgren, 62, diplomatic service took him to U.S. embassies around the world, including Caracas, Venezuela, Wellington, New Zealand, Pretoria, South Africa and Singapore. From 1986-89, he served as Consul General in Chiang Mai, Thailand, supervising the United States' anti-narcotics efforts in the "Golden Triangle" region of Southeast Asia.

A charter member of the Peace Corps in the program's infancy, Ahlgren taught at the University of Nigeria from 1962-64 before joining the State Department in 1967.

"Charles Ahlgren has had an exemplary and wide-ranging career in the foreign service, and, like several of our former Scarff Professors with similar experiences, will draw on his expertise and experience to inform and enliven our academic program during his appointment," said Lawrence President Richard Warch. "We look forward to welcoming him to our faculty and the community."

Born in Appleton, Ahlgren lived here until he was a teenager, attending Appleton's St. Mary's, St. Theresa's and Roosevelt schools and still has numerous ties to the area.

"Coming back to Appleton is an exciting opportunity for me and one I'm looking forward to," said Ahlgren, who today makes his home in Cranston, R.I. "Lawrence was always a place I looked up to as a child. It was the intellectual and cultural heart of the Fox Valley. I went to a lot of Lawrence football games and plays at Attic Theater. My mother still lives in Wisconsin and my father is buried in Kaukauna. I have a lot of roots in the area."

Ahlgren earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy at Loras College, a master's degree in international affairs at Johns Hopkins School of International Studies and a master's degree in public affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

He's been a recipient of the Army Distinguished Civilian Service Medal and the State Department's Presidential Honor Award.

The Scarff Memorial Visiting Professorship was established in 1989 by Edward and Nancy Scarff in memory of their son, Stephen, a 1975 Lawrence graduate who died in an automobile accident in 1984. It is designed to bring public servants, professional leaders and scholars to Lawrence to provide broad perspectives on the central issues of the day.