ATLANTA (February 6, 2004) -- Nine distinguished guests representing Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Haiti, Lithuania, Mauritius, Morocco, Serbia-Montenegro/Kosovo, and the West Bank will be in Atlanta February 11-15, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. The delegates are either professors of American Studies or university administrators in their respective countries. They are looking to continue their academic exploration of the discipline of American Studies, while analyzing the critical roles that diversity issues and the civil rights movement have played both in Atlanta and in the United States as a whole.

While in Atlanta, our guests will meet with faculty of the English Department at Georgia State University to learn about the literary culture of the American South. They will also visit the Southern Center for International Studies to gain an understanding on how U.S. citizens are taught foreign affairs issues. Then, they will visit the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition regional office to explore diversity and the civil rights movement and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center to further investigate civil rights in the South. The group will visit with staff from the Georgia Tech Office of Diversity Programs, to see how schools are incorporating diversity issues into their curricula. Finally, the visitors will complete their stay in Atlanta with tours at both the Margaret Mitchell House and the Atlanta History Center.

About GCIV

GCIV is a community-based nonprofit organization founded in 1962 to promote relationships between Georgians and citizens of other nations. A member of the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV), GCIV arranges professional programs, cultural orientations and home hospitality for hundreds of distinguished international leaders who travel to Georgia every year as part of the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor and Community Connections programs.