Guest lecture: Dr. Manoucher R. Khosrowshahi - Turkey: Islam, Modernity and Secularism

Turkey: Islam, Modernity and Secularism

Friday, October 29th

S1328 at noon

Abstract:

This presentation will create an integrated picture of Turkey by bringing together comparative perspectives on its past, present, and future, and delving into such issues as the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, secularism, religion, democracy, civil-military relations, and the European Union membership.

The issues Dr. Khasrowashahi will address are in the headlines every week. Don’t miss this chance to see an excellent colloquium talk from a guest scholar!  Let your students know!

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Manoucher R. Khosrowshahi (Dr. K.) is the Texas Professor of the year, a Piper Professor of 2010, Fulbright scholar, and the founder and director of the Middle East Center at Tyler Junior College.    He has been selected as “the Texas Professor of the Year 2008” by the Carnegie Foundation at Washington D.C.  He serves as a board member and web master at the Middle East Outreach Council (Nationwide network of Middle East centers).  He is also an adjunct faculty at the University of Texas at Tyler.

His fellow instructors, the administration, and his students regard him with the highest respect and admiration, as evidenced by his selection for the "Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence" and "the Mattie Alice Scroggin Baker Excellence in Teaching Award."   The city of Tyler awarded him the "Dr. Martin Luther King's Award for Non-Violent Social Change" in 2009.  Dr. Khosrowshahi has been recognized eight times as "Master Teacher" by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) of the University of Texas at Austin.  He has received “Excellence on Education” award twice from the student senate.

Dr. K. is an Internet veteran of 16 years and an e-learning expert.  He has been offering the online courses since 1995 via cyber-learning.  As a technology consultant, he has given many convocation speeches, conducted technology training sessions for faculty and students around the country.

Dr. K. is a selected speaker for the National Endowments for Humanities affiliate: Texas Council for the Humanities.   As a global education expert, he has extensive field work and travel experience in the Middle East, Far East and Near East.  Partnering with the University of Texas at Tyler, Johnson County Community College (Kansas), Dallas Community College, Normandale Community College (Minnesota),  and Sam Houston University, he has lunched travel/study programs in Turkey.    Hundreds of students, faculty and community members have participated in the program since 1998.  He has been a consultant to the State Department, the National Security Educational Program of Defense Department and Department of Education.  As part of his research in international education, he has traveled to Turkey (since 1998 twenty two times), England, Japan, Thailand, Iran, Germany, Canada, and Mexico.  He is fluent in English, Azeri Turkish, Turkey Turkish (Modern), Farsi, and Arabic.

Manoucher Khosrowshahi has received his Ph.D. from the University of North Texas at Denton and received three post doctoral fellowships from The University of Texas at Austin, Rice University and The United States Institute of peace.

There will be a lecture and orientation session for the trip to Turkey on Saturday, October 30 from 8:30-11:00 a.m (Room C2003).