September 11, 2007
As the United States pauses to reflect on the tragedies of Sept. 11, Texas Tech University
announces a new institute devoted to advancing international reconciliation and documenting
America’s modern conflicts, including the global war on terror.
The university, already home to the largest store of Vietnam-related materials outside
of Washington, D.C., has established the Institute for Modern Conflict, Diplomacy
and Reconciliation.
This archive-based research facility focuses on America’s world involvement since
1950 and will encompass Texas Tech’s aerospace and military science departments, the
existing Vietnam Center and a newly formed Center for War and Diplomacy in the Post-Vietnam
War Era.
"We anticipate that this institute will provide an information base to help steer
the future of American diplomatic actions," said James Reckner, former director of
the Vietnam Center and new executive director of the institute. "The Institute for
Modern Conflict, Diplomacy and Reconciliation builds on 18 years of Vietnam Center
successes and is a logical elaboration of the work underway at Texas Tech."
Founded in 1989, the Vietnam Center has become one of the nation’s most vital war-related
archival and diplomatic instruments, preserving documents and materials for future
study and also spearheading initiatives with Vietnam that have strengthened relations
between the former enemies.
In the past month alone, the center formally agreed to exchange information with the
Vietnamese national archive – the first such commitment in the U.S. – and hosted a
team of U.S. government researchers seeking clues to the whereabouts of MIAs.
This new institute will broaden the scope of international reconciliation efforts
to include countries outside Vietnam. It also will develop new research centers and
archives using the model established by the Vietnam Center, giving equal attention
to all viewpoints, and offer conferences and courses relating to issues of reconciliation.
Institute creators pointed out that while the Vietnam Archive was created approximately
15
years after the end of the Vietnam War, by which time most of its veterans had graduated,
the new institute is established while veterans of current conflicts in places like
Iraq and Afghanistan are returning to school.
"I have seen a significant increase in the number of students in my classes who are
veterans returning from the war of terror," said Ron Milam, interim director of the
Center for War and Diplomacy in the Post-Vietnam War Era, who teaches a course on
the history of the Vietnam War. "They are the new archive donors and we still have
them on campus."
Reckner will oversee the work of the two centers and the Department of Military Science
and the Department of Aerospace Studies. Steve Maxner fills his role as director of
the Vietnam Center.
Those interested in donating to the Institute for Modern Conflict, Diplomacy and Reconciliation
can contact Maxner at (806) 742-9010 or visit one of two Web sites: www.imcdr.ttu.edu
or www.pvwc.ttu.edu.
CONTACT: James R. Reckner, executive director, Institute for Modern Conflict, Diplomacy
and Reconciliation, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3742, or james.reckner@ttu.edu.