Feb. 28, 2006 — The next speaker in the Middle East lecture series at the University of Utah will be Shahram Chubin, director of studies at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, speaking on Iranian perspectives concerning regional issues and U.S. Policies this Thursday, March 2. The lecture will begin at 3 p.m., in the Hinckley Institute of Politics Caucus room, 255 Orson Spencer Hall (OSH), on the University campus. The lecture series is free and open to the public.

“This series combines analytic and policy dimensions in a manner marked by diversity of perspectives and reaching out for the University community and the community at large,” notes Ibrahim Karawan, director of the Middle East Center.

Born in Iran and educated in Britain and the United States, Chubin has served as director of Regional Security Studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), in London, and as a fellow of the Wilson Center, in Washington, D.C. He has published in journals such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Affairs and Daedalus and Survival, and in monographs covering issues on Iran and nuclear weapons, Iran-Saudi Arabia relations, Iran’s strategic predicaments and national security in Iran. His present works include Arms Control in the Persian Gulf and Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime and New Security Issues.

On Tuesday, Apr. 4, from 3-4:30 p.m., Ahmed S. Khalidi, senior associate member of St. Anthony College, Oxford University, will present “Palestinian Perspectives,” in room 255 of OSH. This lecture is also free and open to the public.

Khalidi has written extensively on Middle Eastern political and security affairs for more than 30 years. He is a former Palestinian negotiator and a sometimes advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Middle East lecture series is organized by the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, in collaboration with the Office of the President, the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Vice President for University Relations, the College of the Humanities, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Department of Political Science and the Hinckley Institute of Politics. For more information on the upcoming lectures or on the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, contact Shari Lindsey, 801-581-6181.