Reza Aslan: Iranian-American Writer, Professor of Creative Writing

Reza Aslan

Document Type

Metadata Only

Date

3-29-2007

Venue

Mills Godwin Jr. Building - Auditorium

Lecture Series

President's Lecture Series

Description

Reza Aslan, one of the nation's most respected experts on Islam and the Middle East is a research associate at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy. He serves as a Middle East commentator for National Public Radio's "Marketplace" and Muslim affairs analyst for CBS News.

The author of the internationally acclaimed "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam," Aslan received critical acclaim from The New York Times, which described the work as a "grippingly narrated and thoughtfully examined ... literate, accessible introduction to Islam."

Aslan has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times , Slate, Boston Globe, Washington Post and The Nation, and has appeared on "Meet the Press," "Hardball," "The Daily Show," "Real Time with Bill Maher" and "Nightline."

Aslan's career began in 1998 when was elected president of Harvard's chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP), a United Nations organization committed to the cause of global understanding. After consecutive nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, the WCRP, under Aslan's leadership, brought the ambassadors of the two countries to Harvard in order to discuss for the first time their shared nuclear future.

Aslan's work with the WCRP led to a position as legislative assistant for the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington, D.C., where he served as a liaison to Congress on issues of arms control and the Middle East.

He holds a bachelor's degree in religion from Santa Clara University, a master's in theological studies from Harvard and a master of fine arts degree in fiction from the University of Iowa. He is currently a doctoral candidate in history of religions at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Media Type

DVD

Comments

A DVD of this lecture is available in the Special Collections & University Archives Department of Old Dominion University Perry Library. Call #: LD4331.A57 2007

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