The year-old St. Ambrose Middle East Institute (MEI) will experience a number of milestone events in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, March 12, Hamideh Sedghi, PhD, will begin her six-week campus stay as the MEI's inaugural scholar in residence.On Friday, April 24, the MEI Spring 2015 Conference will take place in the Gottlieb Conference Room at the Rogalski Center. There, Sedghi will be joined by three leading scholars on trending Middle East issues, presenting on the question: "Crisis Upon Crisis in the Middle East: Is Change Possible?"Sedghi is a recognized expert on the topic of gender politics in her native Iran, a subject she will address in a St. Ambrose class throughout her residency. She also will deliver a public lecture on April 6 on gender issues in the Middle East.
She will present on the topic, "Social Media, Politics and Democracy Movements in Iran and the Middle East" at 1:15 p.m. at the April 24 conference.
Sedghi will be followed at the conference by:
- Joshua Landis, PhD, director of the Center for Middle East Studies and the department of international and area studies at the University of Oklahoma, who will address, "The U.S., ISIS, and Nation-building in the Middle East" at 2:30 p.m
- Susanne Dahlgren, a visiting research associate professor at the National University of Singapore, who will present on the topic "The War on Terror and the Revolution in Yemen" at 3:45.
- Juan Cole, PhD, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, who will address the fallout of the Arab Spring in his discussion of "Youth, Revolution and Democracy in the Middle East and Tunisia" at 5.
"This really culminates the preparatory phase of the Middle East Institute," Ryan Dye, PhD, the institute's coordinator, said of the conference which will begin at 1 p.m. in the Rogalski Center . "Here, we are really going to launch ourselves into the consciousness of the region and the nation."When you bring in the likes of Juan Cole, Josh Landis, Hamideh Sedghi and Sussanne Dahlgren, you are really making a statement that you are serious about addressing key topics related to the Middle East. We feel like we have created a program that is very, very relevant to the conversation."
The MEI was introduced a year ago with the intent of providing context and understanding, at St. Ambrose and throughout the Midwest, to one of the world's most complex geopolitical areas.
Events in the first year included a lecture by former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach, who served for many years on the House Committee on International Relations, and a Middle East Film Festival that spanned 10 days in October, as well as panel and roundtable discussions related to the Middle East.
"The response has been very positive and enthusiastic," Dye said. "We certainly have piqued the interest of the Middle Eastern studies community."
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