Odd Einar Dørum, a former leading member of Norway's parliament (Storting), will visit the University of North Dakota September 28 – October 2 to lecture and meet with campus leaders and students who are active with educational exchanges in Norway.

Dørum will give a public lecture at 5 p.m. Tuesday, September 29, in Gamble Hall Lecture Bowl 1 in the UND College of Business and Public Administration. The title of his lecture is "Polar Policy"; Dørum will talk about how climate change is reshaping the Arctic, global security, oil and gas exploration, and more. The lecture is sponsored by Nordic Initiative and is free and open to the public.

While at UND, Dørum will visit with Nordic Initiative, the Association of Norwegian Students Abroad (ANSA), the Center for Innovation, the UND Aerospace Foundation, and several key leaders in charge of educational exchanges in Norway.  

Dørum will be accompanied by Steinar Opstad, founder of the American College of Norway in Moss and recipient of an honorary UND degree in 2008; Krista Lauritzen, president of the American College of Norway; and Siri Blindheim, chair of the American College of Norway and head of a large program in Norway called "Female Future" which helps well-educated women to achieve public and private sector executive and board positions.

Two artists are also with the Norwegian delegation—Helge Skånlund, who has an exhibit at the Chester Fritz Library next week; and Kai Robert Johanssen and daughter Camillam who will be performing  in the Grand Forks Public School system all week.

Dørum is one of the most respected politicians in Norway. He was elected a Member of Parliament from Trondheim—one of Norway’s biggest cities, located in the northern part of the country—for Venstre (Liberal Party), the oldest political party in Norway.

Dørum was Minister of Transport and Communications from 1997 to 1999 and Minister of Justice until 2000. He was Minister of Justice in the second government of Kjell Magne Bondevik from 2001 to 2005. He completed his fourth four-year term as an elected member of the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) (1977—2009) but did not seek re-election in the recent election in Norway. He remains active in Norwegian public life. In addition to a generally broad involvement in current Norwegian politics has he been a strong supporter of innovation and small business politics.

Dørum, unlike most politicians his age, he does not take himself too seriously. For decades he has been a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings books and made headlines when he showed up for the premiere of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" wearing a hobbit's robe, much to the amusement of its star Viggo Mortensen. He later donned the same outfit at an outdoor Lord of the Rings concert in Frognerparken in Oslo in 2005.

Dørum is a social worker with a Master’s Degree in Social Science and a Bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Trondheim. He has also studied teaching (pedagogy) and . He was a professor in social science at the University of Trondheim.

Dørum, who lives in Oslo, is married to Randi Øverland and they have two children.

The UND Nordic Initiative has a history of being the nation's leader in innovative and successful programming and exchanges with Norway.  UND has been a top destination for Norwegian college students in the United States for more than a decade. The 45-member volunteer group in Nordic Initiative has supported numerous educational exchanges in Norway including in medicine, law, business, communications, engineering, air traffic control and other areas.

Contact:
Bruce Gjovig, Director
Center for Innovation
(701) 777-3134
(701) 739-3132
Bruce@innovators.net

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