Columbia University Scholar to Address Middle East Conflicts in Lecture

Lisa Anderson, dean of the School of International and Public Affairs and James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations at Columbia University, will lecture on "Middle East Conflicts: Rebellion, Revolution, Resistance or Civil War?" at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. 

The talk is the last in this fall's series of Greenberg Middle East Scholar events sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Special Programs. Admission is free and open to the public.

From 4 to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Anderson will be in the Intercultural Center Lounge meeting informally with students and faculty on the topic of free speech in the classroom, and the irony of a liberal arts education, where, to paraphrase her words, one must be willing to entertain the ideas of others, including and perhaps especially those of the people who wouldn't necessarily agree to entertain your ideas.

Anderson is a professor of political science and, since 1997, has been dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She has taught at Columbia since 1986, serving as director of the Middle East Institute (1990-1993) and chair of the Political Science department (1993-1997). Before Columbia, she taught in the Government and Social Studies departments at Harvard University. She received a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, an M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and both a certificate in Middle East studies and a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.

Her research interests lie at the convergence of international relations and comparative politics, particularly as they illuminate politics in the Middle East and North Africa, and at the intersection of scholarship and public policy around the world. She is working on a book on the fortunes of liberalism in the Middle East as well as developing several projects reflecting on both the rapid globalization of social science and the changing audiences for social science research at the beginning of the 21st century.