JMU's Pham Named VP of New Middle East, Africa Study Association

From: Public Affairs

November 5, 2007

HARRISONBURG — Dr. J. Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University, will help lead a new professional academic association, the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa.

Pham is vice president of the association, which is chaired by one of the world's leading authorities on the Middle East, Dr. Bernard Lewis, the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies Emeritus at Princeton University.

Pham, who also holds an academic appointment as an associate professor of justice studies, political science, and Africana studies is the author of two books, "Child Soldiers, Adult Interests: Global Dimensions of the Sierra Leonean Tragedy" and "Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State," and numerous scholarly and opinion articles about contemporary Africa and the continent's importance in U.S. foreign policy. Prior to joining JMU in 2004, Pham served as a diplomat in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

"ASMEA is a response to the mounting interest in these increasingly interrelated fields, and in the absence of any single group addressing them in a comprehensive, multidisciplinary fashion," said Pham.

ASMEA's officers are responsible for running the organization under the direction of the Academic Council. The new organization's inaugural conference in April 2008 will focus on "The Evolution of Islamic Politics in the Middle East and Africa: From Traditional Limits to Modern Extremes."

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

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