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NEWS RELEASE

10-21-03

Contacts:
Pat Miller, Lectures Program, (515) 294-9935
Annette Hacker, News Service, (515) 294-3720

AL JAZEERA REPORTER KICKS OFF WORLD AFFAIRS LECTURE SERIES

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University's Institute on World Affairs lecture series, "Outside Looking In: International Perspectives on U.S. Foreign Policy," begins with a Thursday, Oct. 23 presentation by Omar al-Issawi, reporter and producer for Al Jazeera.

Omar al-Issawi helped to create the satellite news operation that serves the Arab world. His talk will be held at 7 p.m. in the Sun Room, Memorial Union, on the Iowa State campus. It is free and open to the public.

al-Issawi previously worked for the BBC and has covered news events in Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Croatia and elsewhere. In addition to his reporting duties, al-Issawi also produces documentaries for Al Jazeera, including a 15-part series on the war in Lebanon. Born in Kuwait to Lebanese parents, the English-speaking al-Issawi attended college in Iowa and Virginia.

Upcoming speakers in the Institute on World Affairs lecture series include:

Nov. 1 -- 10 a.m.
"The War in Iraq: A Forum"
Sen. Tom Harkin and Professor Shibley Telhami
Location: Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, Music Building (parking is available in the Memorial Union parking ramp)

Sen. Harkin will address the impact of the war in Iraq. Professor Telhami will speak about Middle East politics, the political forces driving terrorism, and the impact of U.S. foreign policy.

Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution. While a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow, he served as advisor to the United States delegation to the United Nations during the Iraq-Kuwait crisis, and was on the staff of Congressman Lee Hamilton. He is the author of a report on Persian Gulf security for the Council on Foreign Relations, and the co-drafter of another council report on the Arab-Israeli peace process. He received his doctorate in political science from University of California at Berkeley.

Nov. 3 -- 8 p.m.
Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science
"The Global Economy"
Luis Ernesto Derbez
Location: Great Hall, Memorial Union

Luis Ernesto Derbez, who received a doctorate in economics from Iowa State University, is foreign minister of Mexico. Before assuming his current position, he was Mexico's economic minister, and worked for the World Bank for 14 years. He also was an independent consultant for World Bank's Mexico City office and for the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. Derbez developed economic recovery programs for Honduras and Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch destroyed a substantial part of their territory and economy. He was a professor in the Graduate School of Business Management of ITESM in Monterrey, Nuevo Len; a guest professor at Johns Hopkins University School of International Studies; director of the ITESM Econometric Studies Unit and Economics Department in Monterrey; and Academic Vice Rector of the University of the Americas in Cholula, Puebla.

Nov. 4 -- 8 p.m.
Panel: "Writing from the Outside"
Kim Young-Ha and Paddy Woodworth
Location: Great Hall, Memorial Union

Kim Young-Ha is from Seoul, South Korea, and has written seven books as well as a number of essays and film reviews. He is the host of a daily radio show about books and authors. Young-Ha published his debut novel, "Nanen nareul pagiohal gweolliga itda" ("I Have a Right to Destroy Myself") in 1996, and in 1999 won the Contemporary Literature Prize for his novel "Dangsine Namu" ("Your Tree").

Paddy Woodworth is the author of "Dirty War Clean Hands," which illuminates the complex struggle between Spain's democratic government and the Basque separatist group, the ETA. Woodworth has covered Spanish affairs for The Irish Times since 1978 and is now a freelance writer in Dublin. A distinguished journalist, he has contributed to numerous publications and media outlets including The Sunday Times, the BBC, and Spanish national television and radio.

Nov. 5 -- 8 p.m.
"American Foreign Policy after 9/11"
John C. Hulsman
Location: Sun Room, Memorial Union

John C. Hulsman is a research fellow with the Heritage Foundation Davis Institute for International Policy Studies, where he examines European security and NATO affairs, the European Union, U.S.-European trade and economic relations, and the war on terror. He was a fellow in European studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and taught world politics and U.S. foreign policy at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. His books include "A Paradigm for the New World Order" and "The World Turned Rightside Up: A New Trading Agenda for the Age of Globalization." Hulsman makes regular appearances on ABC, FOX News, CNN, CNNfn, MSNBC, PBS and the BBC. He earned a doctorate and master's degrees in modern history and international relations from the University of St. Andrews.

Nov. 10 -- 8 p.m.
"U.S. Diplomacy in the Middle East"
Janine Zacharia
Location: Great Hall, Memorial Union

Janine Zacharia is Washington bureau chief for The Jerusalem Post, Israel's English-language daily newspaper, covering the Middle East from a U.S. perspective. Zacharia also writes regularly on U.S. Middle East policy for The New Republic magazine, and is a diplomatic analyst for MSNBC. She spent the month of March on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Mediterranean Sea as one of 600 reporters embedded with the U.S. military. Prior to taking her post in Washington, Zacharia worked for five years in Israel as a journalist, first for the bi-weekly magazine, The Jerusalem Report, and then for the Reuters news agency.

Nov. 11 -- 8 p.m.
"The War in Iraq: A View from Europe"
Henning Lohse
Location: Great Hall, Memorial Union
Henning Lohse is correspondent and head of the Paris bureau for a major German newspaper and magazine consortium. He previously worked as a journalist in Hungary and Austria, and for the U.S. nonprofit organization Central American Solidarity Association.

Nov. 17 -- 8 p.m.
"Global Environmental Justice, Native Peoples and Women"
Winona Laduke
Location: Great Hall, Memorial Union

Winona Laduke is the board co-chair for the Indigenous Women's Network, and works in a national capacity as program director for Honor the Earth Fund, providing leadership for the organization's re-granting program and strategic initiatives. A graduate of Harvard, she lives on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota and works to restore the local land base and culture. She is author of several books, including "Last Standing Woman" and "All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life."

Nov. 19 -- 7 p.m.
"A View from Bethlehem: Is Peace Possible?"
Sandra Olewine
Location: Sun Room, Memorial Union

Sandra Olewine works with Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and the International Center, an outreach ministry of that church. She has served through the General Board of Global Ministries as the United Methodists' liaison to Jerusalem since December 1996, communicating concerns of the churches of Jerusalem and Palestine/Israel to the UMC worldwide. Through the UMC visits program and the joint Justice Education Program, in partnership with Catholic Relief Services and the Presbyterian Church, she has accompanied hundreds of pilgrims and others on tours and engaged people of the three religions. She has written extensively on the current situation and published numerous articles.

Jan. 29, 2004 -- 8 p.m.
"Israel's Quest for Peace - Fighting Against Terror"
Moshe Ram
Location: Sun Room, Memorial Union

Consul General Moshe Ram is with the Israel Consulate in Chicago. A member of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1975, he served as the Foreign Ministry's director of the Economic Division for Asian, Pacific and Latin American Affairs. He also served as Consul General of Israel in Shanghai; Deputy Consul General to the Southwestern United States in Los Angeles; First Secretary at the Embassy of Israel in Manila, Philippines; and Second Secretary at the Embassy of Israel in Katmandu, Nepal. He was born in Haifa, Israel and earned a bachelor of arts in political science and Middle Eastern studies from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

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