Feb. 19, 2008 — The University of Utah 2007-2008 Middle East Lecture Series continues with a lecture from Amr Hamzaway, senior associate for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Hamzaway will present a lecture titled Patterns and Challenges of Islamist Participation in Arab Politics. The event will take place Thursday, Feb. 21 at 3:30 p.m. in the Hinckley Caucus Room, Orson Spencer Hall 255, on the University of Utah campus. The Middle East Lecture Series are free and open to the public.

Noted Egyptian political scientist, Hamzaway taught at Cairo University and the Free University of Berlin. He has deep knowledge of Middle East politics and specific expertise on the reform process in the region.

Hamzaway’s research interests include the changing dynamics of political participation in the Arab world, the role of Islamist opposition groups in Arab politics with special attention both to Egypt and the Gulf countries. His studies at Cairo University focused on civil society and democratization in the Arab world, Islamism and the cultural impacts of globalization in Muslim majority societies. He received his Ph.D. from the Free University of Berlin, where he worked as an assistant professor at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

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 upcoming lectures or on the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, contact Shari Lindsey, 801-581-6181 or shari.lindsey@hum.utah.edu.