When former diplomat Molly Williamson reflects on her career, she’s quick to note that none of it went according to plan. “I had no intention of being a diplomat. Planning has been a useful exercise, but none of what I ever planned actually came to reality. Once you plan, life happens.”

That blend of humility and perspective now shapes her popular Oasis lectures on the Middle East, sessions she describes as both unpredictable and deeply human. “Every presentation is different, but the title could always be ‘Chaos in the Middle East,’ because there’s always chaos in the Middle East,” she explains. “What I want to convey is that so much of that chaos comes from events no one can control; accidents of timing and circumstance, and from the presence, or absence, of leadership. And then there’s communication: how easy it is for us to simply not understand each other.”

Her road to teaching at Oasis was, fittingly, another happy accident. “I was speaking somewhere else, and someone in the audience said, ‘Do you know about Oasis?’ I didn’t. They put me in touch, and here I am,” she says. Since retiring from the Foreign Service, she’s spoken to everyone from graduate students to business leaders to lifelong learners. What she has discovered is a community of people deeply engaged in staying curious.

“I’m a firm believer in lifelong learning, not just as intellectual enrichment, but as something that keeps our social fabric alive and vibrant. It enriches families, communities, and dinner table conversations with the grandkids,” she says.

That spirit has drawn her into a growing national movement of learning networks and lecture programs, from Oasis in Maryland to the Sarasota Institute for Lifetime Learning, and the storied Chautauqua Institution. “There’s a whole new industry forming,” she notes. “It’s not competitive. It’s mutually reinforcing. People are curious everywhere, and they connect others who are, too. It’s a rising tide, and I’m glad to be part of it.”

Join Molly Williamson for her upcoming lecture at Oasis:

Middle East Chaos: Context and Consequences

Thursday, November 13

10:30am – 3:00pm (there will be a 1hr lunch break)

At Oasis and Online