Events

Disclaimer: The events listed below are announced and/or sponsored by individual CERIS member institutions, and are not necessarily approved by all CERIS member institutions.

Thursday, February 16	3:30 am- 4:45
Posvar 4217
Lecture/Forum--U.S. Policy and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Legacies and Challenges Sponsored by: University of Pittsburgh Lecturer: Professor Husam Mohamad is Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Oklahoma at Edmond. This lecture critically examines the US approach to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It highlights the consistency between the Bush and Obama Administration's handling of the peace process. The fight against Islamists, the rhetoric on democracy promotion and the call for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel represent the essential goals of Bush's policy in the post-September 11th era. These same goals have also shaped the Obama Administration's perspective on the Middle East. Assessing opportunities and challenges facing the Obama Administration, following the start of the Arab Spring era, reveals a persistent US credibility predicament that may have already hindered Obama's ability to effectively manage the pro-democracy revolutions in the Arab world and the pursuit of a just and lasting peace in the region.
Monday, February 27	6:00 pm- 7:30 pm
Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh
Lecture/Forum--Literary Evenings Monday Night Lecture Series http://www.worldpittsburgh.org Sponsored by: World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh For more information, contact 412-281-7970 welcome@worldpittsburgh.org. The World Affairs Council has partnered with Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures to welcome award-winning journalist and best-selling author Sebastian Junger to the Literary Evenings podium, where he’ll discuss WAR, a powerful on-the-ground account of combat, fear, and survival in the trenches of Afghanistan. Mr. Junger’s lecture will be followed by an audience Q&A as well as a book signing in the Carnegie Music Hall Foyer. Private World Affairs Council Reception with Author: 6:00-7:00 p.m. Lecture: 7:30 p.m. Please visit www.worldpittsburgh.org to register.
Thursday, March 22	8:00 pm
Kulas Musical Arts Building, 96 Front St.
Lecture/Forum--Reza Aslan Announced by: University of Pittsburgh, Baldwin-Wallace College A powerful speaker who represents a generation of Muslims ready to usher in a new era of Islamic democracy, Dr. Reza Aslan is the Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside. An author and entrepreneur who speaks with authority, wit and optimism, he is committed to showing Americans the true face of Islam today. He believes that extremism is winding down despite the media's claims. His international bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam has been named by Blackwell Publishers as one of the 100 most important books of the last decade.
Friday, March 23	7:00 pm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Gartner Auditorium
Lecture/Forum--Home and Homelands: An evening with Anthony Shadid in conversation with David Giffels Announced by: University of Pittsburgh Anthony Shadid is a foreign correspondent for the New York Times covering the Middle East. Over a 15-year career, he has reported from most countries in the Middle East and in 2004 and again in 2010 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Iraq and the US invasion. Shadid is the author of two books, Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Democrats and the New Politics of Islam, and Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War. His forthcoming book entitled, House of Stone, tells the story of his two-year effort to restore a decaying estate built by his great-grandfather in South Lebanon.