The new Oslo Center–U.S. Foundation held its first program in September under the guidance of alum Tom Loftus as the chair of the foundation’s board of directors.
The mission of the Minneapolis-based Oslo Center - U.S. Foundation is to support efforts by the Norway-based Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights to promote peace and human rights. These endeavors focus on governments and making contacts and maintaining dialogues with leaders in the public and private sectors. The foundation will support specific projects and engage Americans in projects related to peace and human rights.
Loftus served as ambassador to Norway when the center's founder, Kjell Magne Bondevik, was prime minister.
“The foundation will work closely with Norwegian diplomats in the United States, including the Honorary Consul General Vice President Walter Mondale,” says Loftus, the former speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly who graduated from the Center for the Study of Public Policy and Administration in 1972. “In August we signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate with the National Democratic Institute.”
The foundation held its first event in Minneapolis at the end of September to around the theme of "Islam and the West," the same topic as the meetings Bondevik held with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
— posted October 23, 2008