Political Science Professor Clark Neher will join the ranks of NIU faculty who have traveled abroad as lecturers when he leaves Nov. 11 for the University of Bonn in West Germany’s capital.

Neher also will visit three other German universities as a scholar-in-residence, delivering a series of presentations in Munich, Heidelberg and Hamburg.

Neher, an expert on Southeast Asian studies, said, “German officials are interested in the directions American foreign policy is taking and are particularly concerned with its being directed away from Europe.”

Neher, who has served as a consultant for the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Overseas Mission, has been teaching at NIU for more than 19 years and recently has written three books on Southeast Asian politics and published several articles. He also has spent a total of seven years living in Southeast Asia serving as a peace corps volunteer in Thailand and the Philippine Islands.

He said he believes the trip will be an excellent opportunity, and hopes it will be beneficial for both him and his students.

“I have an American perspective and, after living in Southeast Asia, I have an Asian perspective of foreign policy and politics. And I hope now, with this trip, I’ll have the European perspective,” Neher said. He also said he hopes to have the opportunity to meet and discuss ideas with a number of European scholars in the German educational system and government.

“I hope that this may be the beginning of an ongoing dialogue with European scholars about policies in Asia,” Neher added.