Local Experts Discuss 'The World is Flat'

Four Santa Barbara college professors will participate in a panel discussion on Thomas Friedman’s book, “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century,” as part of Westmont Downtown: Conversations About Things that Matter. The event is free and open to the public, Thursday, Feb. 15, at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St., at 5:30 p.m. Seating is limited.

Deborah Dunn, Westmont associate professor of communication studies, will moderate the lively discussion of Friedman’s best-selling book, which raises provocative issues and focuses on the new technologies that have transformed communication worldwide and promoted globalization. How clearly does Friedman see the future? Just how flat has the world become? Critics have hailed the work, which spent nearly a year and-a-half on the New York Times Bestsellers List, as lucid, insightful and exciting.

The panel will include Chandra Mallampalli, Westmont assistant professor of history, Susan Penksa, Westmont associate professor of political science, and Cynthia Stohl, UC Santa Barbara professor of communication.

Dunn is an expert in organizational communication as well as conflict and reconciliation, especially in Northern Ireland. Penksa has studied security and defense issues, particularly in the European Union and the Balkans, as well as gender and economic development. She recently returned from a 10-day consulting trip in Pakistan. Mallampalli's scholarly work focuses on colonial history, and he travels to India regularly to conduct research. Stohl has expertise in communication networks, organizations, and technology.

The event is tied to Westmont’s sold-out President’s Breakfast where Friedman himself will speak. The Westmont Foundation sponsors both the breakfast and the lecture series to reach out and engage the larger Santa Barbara and Montecito communities.