Former Dean of Columbia University to Talk about the U.S. Role in the Middle East

WORCESTER, Mass. – Lisa Anderson, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations and former dean of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, will give a talk about the role of the U.S. in the Middle East, titled, "Shock and Awe: The Legacy of the Bush Administration in the Middle East" on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.

Anderson was the sixth dean to lead the School of International and Public Affairs, established in 1946. She has been on the faculty of Columbia since 1986 and just prior to her appointment, served as chair of the political science department at Columbia. Anderson also served as director of Columbia's Middle East Institute from 1990-93.

One of the nation’s most eminent scholars of the Middle East and North Africa, Anderson's academic specialty is state formation and regime change. She is the author of Pursuing Truth, Exercising Power: Social Science and Public Policy in the Twenty-first Century (Columbia 2003); The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830–1980 (Princeton 1986); editor of Transitions to Democracy (Columbia 1999); and co-editor of The Origins of Arab Nationalism (Columbia 1991). She has also written more than 50 scholarly articles. She has testified before the Foreign Relations committees of both the House and the Senate, published commentary in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, and appeared as an expert on the news programs of the major television and radio networks.

In addition to her responsibilities at Columbia, Anderson is the past president of the Middle East Studies Association and chair of the board of directors of the Social Science Research Council. She is a member of the council of the American Political Science Association and serves on the board of the Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs. She is member emerita of the board of Human Rights Watch, where she served as co-chair of Human Rights Watch/Middle East. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Anderson received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, her M.A. in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and her Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, where she also received a certificate from the Middle East Institute. She was awarded an honorary doctor of laws from Monmouth University in 2002. From 1981-86, she was an assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University.

About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.