For Immediate Release —Oct. 8, 2008
Contact:
David
Irwin
Media Relations Officer
(585) 245-5516
irwin@geneseo.edu
Panel at SUNY Geneseo to Examine Current Political Situation in Iraq
GENESEO,
N.Y. – A panel of four experts, including the person who planned and managed
the initial series of Iraqi elections, will address the current political
situation in Iraq during a conference Oct. 15 at the State University of New
York at Geneseo.
The conference will include the college’s annual Roemer Lecture, which
also will focus on Middle Eastern politics.
All sessions will be in the MacVittie Union
ballroom.
“Our
panel participants will bring a fresh perspective on the present and future of
Iraq because of their breadth of knowledge and experience,” said Jeff Koch,
chair of political science at SUNY Geneseo. “The war in Iraq has important ramifications
for the Middle East. We are fortunate to
have people joining us who have first-hand knowledge of the country’s history, political
development and current situation.”
Participating
in the panel discussion on Iraq from 1:30 to 3:30 will be:
- Juan Cole, professor of history at
the University of Michigan and a leading scholar on Middle Eastern
politics, history and religion. He
has published extensively on Iraq, Egypt, Iran, and South Asia and
continues to write about contemporary Islamic mainstream and radical
movements. Cole also will present
the Roemer Lecture at 4 p.m. titled:
“Iraq, Iran and the Shi’ite
Crescent: Myth or Reality.”
- Isaiah Wilson,
a
lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and professor of political science at
the U.S. Military Academy. In Iraq,
Wilson was Chief of Plans in the 101st Airborne Division in
Mosul. He also served as historian,
field interviewer and writer for the U.S. Army chief of staff’s Operation
Iraqi Freedom Study Group.
- Jeff Fischer, who has provided election
assistance in more than 50 countries and planned and managed the initial
series of Iraqi elections. He has served as the founder and
director for the Center for Transitional and Post-Conflict Governance at
the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. He also has held appointed posts in
post-conflict transitions including Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor and Iraq.
- Feisal Istrabadi,
who has been the ambassador for the Iraqi Ministry for Foreign Affairs and
the deputy permanent representative of the Iraqi Mission to the United
Nations. He has worked on the State
Department’s Future of Iraq Project on post-war planning for Iraq and has
been the legal adviser to the Iraqi Governing Council’s delegation to the
U.N. Security Council.
SUNY Geneseo's Kenneth Roemer Lecture on World Affairs is a
memorial to Roemer's longstanding interest in global issues. The series was
endowed by his brother, the late Spencer J. Roemer, emeritus director of
admissions at Geneseo and member of the Geneseo Foundation Board of Directors. The event is also supported by contributions
from political science and international relations department alumni and Geneseo’s Contemporary Forum.
