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Media Relations
Kansas State University
9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6415
media@k-state.edu

Information provided by K-State Media Relations, K-State's news service, may be reproduced without permission. The marks and names of Kansas State University are protected trademarks and may not be used in any commercial or private endeavor without the approval of the university.

Sources: Krista Leben, 785-317-0985, krista@k-state.edu;
and Phuong Vu, vup@k-state.edu
Note to editor: Phuong Vu is a graduate of Salina South High School.
News release prepared by: Megan Wilson, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Friday, April 18, 2008

K-STATE POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENTS ATTEND SELECT ASSEMBLY ON FIGHTING TERRORISM

MANHATTAN -- Two Kansas State University students recently attended a select assembly that focused on terrorism.

K-State's Phuong Vu, Manhattan, and Krista Leben, Loveland, Colo., both seniors in political science, were among the 200 undergraduate students and 20 international graduate students selected to attend the 50th annual U.S. Air Force Academy Assembly. This year's assembly, Feb. 5-8 at the academy near Colorado Springs, Colo., was "Dismantling Terrorism: Developing Actionable Solutions for Today's Plague of Violence."

The assembly includes lectures by guest speakers and small roundtable discussions by participants. Guest speakers included prominent military officials, terrorism experts and three former Palestinian Liberation Organization members. After each presentation, Leben and Phuong said participants would break into small groups of 12-15 to discuss terrorism-related topics. The goal of the discussions was to create policy solutions and suggestions for the government to use. Each group created its own policy, with policies from all the groups combined at the end of the assembly to create a report to be submitted to government and military officials.

Both Phuong and Leben said they found the assembly to be a valuable experience.

"I think that often our view of different issues gets narrowed since we're around those we are comfortable with," Phuong said. "In this kind of environment, our views are broadened as we look at new ideas from people who may have a completely different background or completely different ideas."

"The academy experience was a valuable and informative experience for me," Leben said. "I learned a great deal and was able to develop my ideas on domestic and foreign policy. I came away with a renewed sense of direction in my educational and career goals. "I also was highly impressed with the caliber of undergraduate students who joined me at the conference. The knowledge, expertise and insight that my fellow students from across the nation held was extremely impressive. It bestowed upon me a great hope for the future of our country and our world. I have such great faith in my generation after seeing the caliber of my fellow students and their interest in improving the world around them."