Stephen Kinzer Speaks on Iran at Embry-Riddle

NEWS RELEASE

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Lecture on Iranian-American Relations, Display of Artwork Planned at Embry-Riddle

Radio and Television Broadcasts Scheduled

Daytona Beach, Fla., April 4, 2008 -- Award-winning journalist and author Stephen Kinzer will speak on “Iran and America: Future Friends?” at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Thursday, April 17. His lecture is the second in the Ancient Persia ~ Modern Iran Lecture Series, presented by the Iranian American Lecture Series Committee with the goal of increasing the understanding and appreciation of Persian/Iranian history, politics, and culture.

Kinzer’s talk starts at 6:30 p.m. in Embry-Riddle’s Miller Instructional Center auditorium. The evening also includes a reception in the Miller Center atrium at 5:30 p.m. and a display of paintings by internationally known artist Roohee Mirbaha.

As a journalist, Kinzer covered more than 50 countries on five continents. During his 20 years with the New York Times, mostly as a foreign correspondent, he was the bureau chief in Turkey, Nicaragua, West Germany, and Germany. Previously he had been the Latin America correspondent for the Boston Globe. The Washington Post has called Kinzer “among the best in popular foreign policy storytelling,” and Columbia University awarded him its Maria Moors Cabot prize for outstanding coverage of Latin America. Currently he teaches journalism and political science at Northwestern University.

The author of All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, Kinzer believes that Iran’s desire for stability in the Middle East is at least as great as America’s.

“During the last decade, groups of Americans and Iranians have made repeated efforts to improve relations between their two countries,” he writes. “It is now clearer than ever that Iran and the United States have many strategic interests in common, most obviously ensuring the free flow of oil from the Middle East and ending conflicts in the region.”

In addition to his book on Iran, Kinzer is also the author of Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds, Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua, and Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala (co-authored with Stephen Schlesinger). His next book, A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It, will be published in June 2008.

The Iranian American Lecture Series Committee, spearheaded by Forough Hosseini of the Iranian American Society, consists of Drs. Mohamed Camara and Linda Straubel of Embry-Riddle; Dr. Douglas Peterson of Daytona Beach College (DBC); Bruce Dunn of PBS-TV Channel 15 at DBC; Marc Bernier of WNDB 1150 AM Radio; Dr. Hiram Powell of Bethune-Cookman University; and Kevin Miller of the Southeast Museum of Photography. These lectures are produced with support from the Cultural Council of Volusia County and are sponsored in part by Bright House Networks and Sodexho Inc. These events are free and open to the public.

Forough Hosseini, president of the Iranian American Society, notes: “Considering the tense political climate, we believe it is essential and necessary to provide an avenue for our community to learn more about Iran and its rich history and culture. It is the wish of the Iranian American Society and the lecture series partners that, through education and people-to-people dialogue, we can make a positive impact and provide a much-needed avenue of learning for our members, students, and the community at large.”

Kinzer’s lecture will be broadcast live on WNDB with radio host Marc Bernier as moderator for questions from the audience and from audience call-ins. In addition, it will be filmed for May or June broadcast as a 60-minute program on PBS Channel 15.

The display of Roohee Mirbaha’s artwork during the reception preceding Kinzer’s lecture is sponsored by Persian Visions and the Iranian American Society of Daytona Beach. Mirbaha, who has a fine art studio in Sanford, Fla., has exhibited her art extensively in Europe as well as in the United States. Her portfolio is richly diversified, including scenes of ancient Persians and illustrations of the wildflowers of her homeland, Iran. Mirbaha’s botanical illustrations have been published in several books, and she was the lead artist and consulting designer in the Sarasota Ballet of Florida’s production of Zal and Roudabeh.

Her painting of Lake Eola in Orlando, Fla., is currently being displayed in the “Paint the Town Art Exhibition” in downtown Orlando and was published in the March 2008 issue of Orlando Magazine.

Mirbaha has held many important positions in the international art community. For instance, she was the first dean of the College of Art in Iran, a professor of art at the Jordan Institute of Technology, a professor of art at the Vanak Institute of Technology, and the director of the Handcraft Center for Rug Design.

The first event in the Ancient Persia ~ Modern Iran Lecture Series was held Jan. 24 at the DBC Mori Hosseini Center. Titled “The Soul of Iran: Culture, Society, and Politics of One of the World’s Oldest Civilizations,” the panel discussion featured two prominent scholars, Dr. Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, founding director of the Center for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland and author of 19 books; and Afshin Molavi, author of Persian Pilgrimages (titled The Soul of Iran in paperback) and consultant to Reuters, Washington Post, CNN, NPR, and BBC. This discussion, hosted by Marc Bernier with a live audience and phone-in Q & A session, was taped and will be broadcast on PBS Channel 15 on April 13 (8-9 a.m.), April 20 (9-10 a.m.), and April 27 (9-10 a.m.).

For more information, contact Vickie Sims, executive director of the Iranian American Society of Daytona Beach, at (386) 682-1223 or at VSims@IASDB.org.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.