For decades, the Southeastern World Affairs Institute has provided a gathering to discuss and learn about topics of world peace with university faculty, United Nations officials, Ambassadors of the United States and of other countries, journalists, and business and community leaders.  Recent topics of the Institute have included:

1998  Global Issues Facing the United Nations and You
1999  The Issue of Human Rights
2000  The Role of the United Nations in Ethnic Conflicts
2001  Understanding Globalization

The historic campus of the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly provides comfortable meeting rooms, tennis courts, playgrounds, large pool, hiking trials and beautiful mountain vistas, providing a tranquil location for intellectual discussions.