Sophie Lagueny, IFES chief of party in Haiti, will give a lecture at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on Thursday, April 29. Ms. Lagueny will speak about the electoral landscape in Haiti before and after the devastating earthquake that took place this past January. Interim Dean Frank G. Houdek said the law school is pleased Ms. Lagueny will present the lecture.

Ms. Lagueny "will speak about her role in advising the Haiti Provision Electoral Council, as well as provide a first-hand account of living in Haiti, both before and after the devastating earthquake which struck the island republic in January," says Dean Houdek.

Ms. Lagueny has over 15 years of experience in electoral management, starting with her first mission to Cambodia in 1992. She has held key positions in technical assistance teams in several capacity building initiatives such as financial operations, electoral staff training, civic education, local governance, and monitoring and evaluation. Ms. Lagueny has worked in roughly 20 different assignments through the European Commission, OSCE, USAID and a number of UN missions. She was the former Director of the OSCE office in Brcko, Bosnia Herzegovina, and an advisor to all stakeholders involved in the reform of the electoral process in Chad.