Northern Ireland is the subject of first event in New Mexico State University's second round of "Global Connections," a series of lectures sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences.

The first lecture of the yearlong series will feature English professors Rus Bradburd and Connie Voisine on Tuesday, Sept. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Creative Media Institute Theatre in Milton Hall.

Voisine, an associate professor of English and her husband Bradburd, an assistant professor of English, recently returned from Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she was a Fulbright Fellow in the School of English at Queen's University. She teaches in the creative writing program at NMSU and also coordinates La Sociedad para las Artes, its outreach organization. Bradburd teaches writing classes in NMSU's MFA program. A Chicago native, he coached basketball at UTEP and New Mexico State for 14 seasons before resigning to pursue a writing career in 2000. He went to Ireland in 2002 to coach and wrote a book based on his experiences.

Voisine and Bradburd will talk about "The Troubles" of Northern Ireland, Belfast as a city, the culture of traditional music in Ireland and contemporary poetry in the North. The presentation will include photos, music and poems about their trip to Ireland, using the myth of the "Red Hand of Ulster" as a central metaphor.

The "Global Connections" series features faculty members' exotic trips around the world. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for members of the campus and surrounding community to listen and ask questions of NMSU professors about the kind of global first-hand experiences they might never otherwise encounter.

The "Global Connections" series begins in September and will be offered on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Creative Media Institute Theatre at Milton Hall. The series will run through April 2. The lectures are free and open to the public.