ITHACA, N.Y. -- When Thomas W. Simons Jr. participated in a Peace Studies Program seminar at Cornell University in 2002, he made such a powerful impression on students and faculty that it was only natural to invite him back to campus again as soon as possible.

Now Simons, former United States Ambassador to Poland and Pakistan, has returned for a two-week visit as the first Provost's Visiting Professor at Cornell, and he will deliver a lecture titled "Islam, 9/11 and Iraq" Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 4:30 p.m. in Alice Statler Auditorium of Statler Hall on campus. The talk is free and open to the public.

"Dr. Simons is an acknowledged expert on Eastern European and former Soviet Union affairs. He also brings a lifelong fascination with Islamic culture, tradition and aspirations to his reflections about the swirling geo-politics of the Middle East, South Asia and interface with Eurasia," said Richard Schuler, professor of economics and civil and environmental engineering and one of several Cornell faulty members who proposed the visit. "As evidenced by his earlier visit to campus, a special talent is Ambassador Simons's ease of engagement with students and faculty, his forthright response to difficult questions and his thoughtful ability to identify threads and themes in the context of apparently chaotic events."

During Simons' Cornell visit, which runs through Wednesday, March 3, he will meet with faculty, student groups and participate in South Asia Program and Peace Studies Program seminars as well as government and economics classes, among other activities.

Simons served as ambassador to Poland (1990-1993) and coordinator of U.S. assistance to the new independent states of the former Soviet Union (1993-1995). In that latter capacity, he visited all the new Central Asian states and conferred with the presidents of the new republics. Simons later served as ambassador to Pakistan (1996-1998). He now is director of the Program on Eurasia in Transition at Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. He also was a consulting professor at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Between 1998 and 2002, Simons served as a consulting professor on 20th-century international history at Stanford. He is current chair of the Advisory Council of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies in Washington, D.C.

Along with former senior officials from China, India, Pakistan and Russia, Simons participates in CISAC's Five-Nation Project on Asian Regional Security and Economic Development, which met most recently in Palo Alto in June 2003 and in St. Petersburg, Russia, in December 2003. He also was among former senior officials who discussed Afghanistan under the auspices of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) in 2000-01.

Simons is the author of some three dozen articles on Central and East European history and on U.S. policy and East-West relations in South Asia, and he has written three books: The End of the Cold War? (1990) and Eastern Europe in the Postwar World (2nd revised edition, 1993), both published by St. Martin's Press, and Islam in a Globalizing World (Stanford University Press, 2003), based on the Payne Distinguished Lectures he delivered at Stanford in spring 2002.

His most recent op-ed pieces have included "The Roots of an Afghan Nation" in The New York Times , Oct. 24, 2001; "A War to End the Terrorist Era," in The Boston Globe , Nov. 11, 2001; "Musharraf Must Seek Nuclear Arms Balance," in The Boston Globe , May 1, 2002; and "Reshaping Politics in Both Countries," in The Boston Globe , June 14, 2002.

Schuler said that Simons' "ability to blend theory and practice provides a wonderful example for students of how to integrate knowledge from various disciplines in solving practical problems. His focus on understanding the diverse perspectives of the multiplicity of interests in these regions -- places and people who are of enormous importance to Americans, yet imperfectly understood by most of us --- should prove enlightening for the entire Cornell community."