Hafez Al-Mirazi to Give a Lecture at Pitt

PITTSBURGH—Hafez Al-Mirazi, producer of From Washington on Al Jazeera Television and former Washington bureau chief for Al Jazeera TV, will give a lecture at Pitt at 4 p.m. April 7. This free public lecture will take place in Room 1700, Posvar Hall, 230 Bouquet St., Oakland.

The lecture, titled "Shooting the Messenger: Al Jazeera's Rocky Relationship with Governments," is part of the Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies' (CERIS) Undergraduate Research Symposium, which provides students at CERIS-member institutions an opportunity to present research papers on the contemporary influences of Islam on society and culture.

Al-Mirazi holds a master's degree in world politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and earned a bachelor's degree in political science at Cairo University. His weekly talk show on Al Jazeera, From Washington, highlights issues related to U.S.-Arab relations by interviewing senior U.S. officials, including Secretaries Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld. He has been a correspondent for the BBC Arabic/World Service and a talk show host for the Arab News Network and Voice of America in Washington, D.C.

CERIS is a collaboration of 28 institutions in Southwestern Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio and includes private and public four-year colleges, research institutions, and community colleges, as well as community organizations. Its primary objectives are to share resources on, and foster a greater understanding about, Islamic studies.

Al-Mirazi's lecture is cosponsored by CERIS, the University Center for International Studies, the International Business Center, the Center for International Legal Education, Center for West European Studies, and the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh.

For more information, visit www.cerisnet.org.

###

3/30/06/blg