Palestinian-American Scholar-Journalist to Kick Off JMU Lecture Series

From: Public Affairs

September 12, 2007

HARRISONBURG — Rami G. Khouri, a Palestinian-American scholar and journalist, will present "From Beirut to Baghdad: An Arab View of America's Troubled Role in the Middle East" Monday, Sept. 17, as part of the Guardian Lecture Series at James Madison University.

Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut and editor-at-large of the Beirut-based "Daily Star," will inaugurate the 2007-08 lecture series that is sponsored by the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at JMU.

"At a time when concerns about the direction of United States policy in the Middle East is very much in the forefront of national policy discussions, we are extraordinarily pleased that a distinguished scholar and journalist like Mr. Khouri will be speaking at JMU," said Dr. J. Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute. "I expect that his keen insights will help us to put the issues into historical and political perspective."

Admission to Khouri's lecture is free and open to the public. The presentation, which is co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences' Visiting Scholars Program, also qualifies as a Wellness Passport event for JMU students.

DATE: Monday, Sept. 17, 2007
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Room 2301, Health and Human Services Building

About Rami G. Khouri:
Khouri was editor-in-chief of the "Jordan Times" for seven years and general manager of Al Kutba Publishers in Amman, Jordan, for 18 years. During that time, he also served as a consultant to the Jordanian tourism ministry on biblical archaeological sites, authoring several books on antiquities. In addition to his current work with the American University in Beirut and the "Daily Star," Khouri is an internationally syndicated political columnist. He is also a nonresident senior fellow of both the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Dubai School of Government. In November 2006, he shared the Pax Christi International Peace Prize with Ogarit Younan, the founder of the Lebanese Association for Civil Rights. The award is made annually by the international peace movement to a contemporary figure who is working against violence and injustice, usually at the grassroots level.

JMU Public Affairs contact: Janet Smith, 540-568-8008 or smithjl@jmu.edu.

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