New Center is First Institution of its Kind in Colorado

DENVER – On Tuesday, February 26, the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies will officially launch its Center for Middle East Studies, the first institution of its kind in Colorado.

To recognize the launch of the Center, the Josef Korbel School will host a ceremony that is free and open to the public.  Members of the media are invited to attend.

WHAT: Launch Event for the University of Denver's Center for Middle East Studies.

WHEN: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 – 5 p.m. Launch Ceremony; 5:45 p.m. Reception

WHERE: University of Denver's Josef Korbel School | SIÉ CHÉOU-KANG Room 150, Ben Cherrington Hall, 2201 S. Gaylord St.

WHO:

• Robert Coombe – Chancellor, University of Denver
• Vali Nasr (Keynote Speaker) – Dean of The Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Member of the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board
• Ambassador Christopher Hill – Dean of the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School
• Nader Hashemi – Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and Assistant Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School

Nasr, Hill and Hashemi will all be available for media interviews.

RSVP: Please RSVP to David Proper at david.proper@du.edu or 303.907.8076

"The work of the Center for Middle East Studies is vital to helping our students, faculty, and the community at large to understand this important region of the world," said Christopher Hill, former ambassador to Iraq and current dean of the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School. "In its short time, the Center has brought a number of world-class experts on the Middle East to the Josef Korbel School and we look forward to hosting many more," said Hill.

"We aspire to make a real impact by producing new scholarship on the Middle East and by providing a forum for debate and discussion about the complex realities of the region and how they affect the United States and the world," said Nader Hashemi, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and an assistant professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School.

Hashemi, a frequent guest on PBS, NPR, CNN, and the BBC, and a highly sought lecturer at universities across the world, is the author of Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies, a book that Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA called a "masterful contribution" that succeeds in "setting a new standard of critical analysis in the field."

Hashemi is also the co-editor, with Center for Middle East Studies Associate Director Danny Postel, of The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran's Future, which Publishers Weekly called "a rich, consistently engaging anthology...that will allow the reader to better understand whatever direction Iran may take in the future."

"It is a huge honor for us to have Dean Vali Nasr as our keynote speaker for the launch," said Hashemi. "Not only is he one of the preeminent scholars of the Middle East but he has been a key participant in shaping US foreign policy."

From 2009 to 2011, Nasr served as special adviser to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the President's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Nasr is best known for his influential book The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future.  His most recent book is The Rise of Islamic Capitalism: Why the New Muslim Middle Class is the Key to Defeating Extremism. His next book is about the future of US foreign policy.

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