Middle East expert Shibley Telhami to deliver next installment of University Lectures

Middle East expert Shibley Telhami to deliver next installment of University LecturesOctober 31, 2002Patrick Farrellpmfarrel@syr.edu

Editors’ Note: Dr. Telhami will be available for interviews prior to his lecture. Please call SU News Services to schedule an appointment. Information about the University Lectures can be found at http://provost.syr.edu/lectures/future.asp.

Dr. Shibley Telhami, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, will share his insights on the forces shaping events in the Middle East in the next installment of the University Lectures. “Understanding the Challenge in the Middle East” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 5th at Hendricks Chapel. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The war on terrorism, the situation with Iraq, tension between Israel and Palestine. Each day, the politics of the Middle East become increasingly complicated. To explain these developments, the media-including NPR and MSNBC- repeatedly turn to Dr. Telhami, who has earned a reputation for presenting a balanced picture of the issues behind the conflicts rocking the Middle East.

Dr. Telhami has been active in the foreign policy arena and has been a contributor to the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. While a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow, he served as advisor to the United States delegation to the United Nations during the Iraq-Kuwait crisis, and was on the staff of Congressman Lee Hamilton. He is the author of a report on Persian Gulf security for the Council on Foreign Relations, and the co-drafter of another Council report on the Arab-Israeli peace process. In addition, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the advisory committee of Human Rights Watch/Middle East. He has been a member of the American delegation of the Trilateral American/Israeli/Palestinian Anti-Incitement Committee mandated by the Wye River Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. He also has a weekly radio commentary that broadcasts all over the Middle East. He was appointed by the White House to the Board of the United States Institute of Peace.

Before coming to the University of Maryland, Telhami was Associate Professor of Government and Director of the Near Eastern Studies Program at Cornell University and a Visiting Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center. He has taught at several universities, including Ohio State University, the University of Southern California, Princeton University, Columbia University, Swarthmore College, and the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his doctorate in political science.

Among his publications are Power and Leadership in International Bargaining: The Path to the Camp David Accords (Columbia University Press, 1990); International Organizations and Ethnic Conflict, ed. with Milton Esman (Cornell University Press, 1995); and Identity and Foreign Policy in the Middle East, ed. with Michael Barnett (Cornell University Press, 2002); and numerous articles on international politics and Middle Eastern affairs.

At Maryland, Telhami continues to bridge the academic and policy worlds, noting in his investiture acceptance remarks, “I have always believed that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential for public policy.” He continues, “it is possible to affect public policy without being an advocate; to be passionate about peace without losing analytical rigor; to be moved by what is just while conceding that no one has a monopoly on justice. This, I shall strive to do as the best way to be faithful to the title I now carry.”

The University Lectures is a cross-disciplinary lecture series that brings to the University individuals of exceptional accomplishment in the areas of architecture and design; the humanities and the sciences; and public policy, management and communications. The series is generously supported by the University’s Trustees, alumni and friends.