Dr. Christopher Herrick, Political Science professor emeritus of Muhlenberg College, will kick off the 2023 Great Decisions Lecture Series with a discussion of the United State’s current precarious relationship with China, focusing on recent Chinese aggression toward Taiwan in the South China Sea. This season is the lecture series 49th year in the Lehigh Valley.

This event, scheduled for Feb. 1 at 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., is the first of eight presentations arranged by the Great Decisions Lecture Series Committee, to be held at Kirkland Village, a Bethlehem retirement community. Lectures are every Wednesday in February and the first four Wednesdays in March at the same time.

Parking is available in the lot at the rear of the First Presbyterian Church at 2344 Center Street, Bethlehem. Kirkland building access is via the main entrance and the program will be held in the second floor auditorium. Masks are required.

The entire lecture series can be purchased by check from the YWCA Bethlehem, 3895 Adler Place, Building A, Suite 180, Bethlehem. The program includes a briefing book with eight essays by national experts in foreign policy and international relations which the YWCA will mail to the recipient, if ordered in time. There is a cost involved. For details, contact Karen Berry at 610-866-2655 or norberry@fast.net.

The Great Decisions program is a product of the Foreign Policy Association in New York City which is a private, non-partisan think tank. With its roots in the League of Nations, the association has been dedicated for 107 years to developing informed opinions among Americans through discussions of U.S foreign policy and global issues. Noel V. Lateef, president and CEO of the association, notes that civic and civil dialogue is especially important today with a polarized America.

“Civil society also has a role to play in shoring up a consensus on the important of civil discourse to a vibrant democracy,” he notes in the forward.