Friday, July 29, 2011

Week of 8/1 Events

Mon 8/1 (1pm)- Conversation Hour on the killings in Norway

Tue 8/2 (1pm)- Film Segment 1 from "L'Islam aux Etats-Unis" followed by discussion

Wed 8/3 (1pm)- Presentation on Oregon, the 33rd state of the United States

Thurs 8/4 (1pm)- Kristof Reader: Meet up to discuss Nicholas Kristof's latest column and brainstorm how to change the world

Fri 8/5 (1pm)- Film Screening: "Babel" + Discussion

Friday, July 22, 2011

Week of 7/25 Events

Mon 7/25 - AC Closed for Tunisian Republic Day

Tue 7/26 (1 PM) - Cultures of America: Chinese Americans Presentation by Jessica Li

Wed 7/27 (1 PM) - Goodbye Party for Ravi Kaneriya, American Corner Coordinator

Come say goodbye to your good friend and AC Coordinator extraordinaire. He will be greatly missed by AC patrons and AMIDEAST staff.

Thurs 7/28 (1 PM) - Conversation Hour with Amana Organization against sexual harassment

Fri 7/29 (1 PM) - Film Screening: Aladdin and the King of Thieves

Friday, July 15, 2011

Week of 7/18 Schedule

Mon 7/18 (12PM) - Catch-Up Call with Shannon Zimmerman on Skype

Mon 7/18 (1:30PM) - AC Tunis-AC Cairo Virtual Chat on Role of Religion in Politics After the Revolutions

Tues 7/19 (1PM) - World Peace Game Simulation


The World Peace Game is a political science simulation developed in America by John Hunter. The game involves teams of students who run countries on a shared planet and have to solve challenges related to the complexities of governing a state. At the AC, we have developed a simplified version of this game, and we will allow AC visitors the chance to sample this shorter, simpler simulation based on the concept of the World Peace Game.

Wed 7/20 (1PM) - Cultures of America: Scandinavian-Americans by Colin Soderberg-Chase

Wed 7/20 (3PM) - AC Beach Outing to Sidi Bou Said or Carthage (meet at AC at 3PM to go to the beach with AC friends)

Thurs 7/21 (1PM) - Presentation on Arab-American Author Ameen Rihani by Ameni Mathlouthi

Fri 7/22 (12:30PM) - Documentary + Discussion: "Promises" (about children in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict)

Fri 7/22 (3PM) - Guest Speaker: Randa Fahmy Hudome on Arab-Americans, Citizen Diplomacy, and Engagement between the USA and Tunisian Youth


Her bio here & below:

An internationally recognized expert in global markets and the energy sector, Randa Fahmy Hudome has more than twenty-five years of legal and public policy experience, including service in the executive branch of the United States Government as the Associate Deputy Secretary of Energy.

Presently, Randa is President of Fahmy Hudome International (FHI), a strategic consulting firm, which provides critical advice and counsel to Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments, media organizations, and private sector entities with an interest in energy policy and international business transactions.

Prior to founding FHI, Ms. Fahmy Hudome was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the Associate Deputy Secretary of Energy. Working with the White House and the Departments of State and Commerce, she developed and implemented international energy policy. Her keen diplomatic skills became a critical factor when dealing with both producer and consumer nations as she exercised the Administration’s quiet diplomacy strategy in the petroleum market. Also during her tenure at Department of Energy, Randa was credited with gaining and solidifying U.S. Government support for the Permanent Secretariat of the International Energy Forum based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She was Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham’s personal representative to the Paris based International Energy Agency where she helped coordinate strategy for international oil emergencies amongst the 26-member country organization. Randa was also the point person at the Department of Energy for increased advocacy on behalf of American energy companies seeking business around the globe.

From 1995-2001, Randa served as Counselor to United States Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI). During the six years she spent in the legislative branch, she was credited with shaping many pieces of legislation that affected U.S. interests abroad. Her legislative contributions included securing increased appropriations for U.S. allies in the Middle East; drafting and securing passage for the first resolution on tolerance towards Islam in America; and orchestrating a legislative strategy to remove the U.S. travel ban on Lebanon. She also served as a key policy advisor to the Senator during his tenure on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, focusing on immigration and terrorism legislation.

Prior to her government service, Randa practiced law with Willkie, Farr and Gallagher, where she specialized in the areas of communications, international trade, and corporate litigation. She maintains bar memberships in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the United States Court of International Trade.

Randa’s expertise in international energy and trade policy has been sought by the U.S. Secretary of State, who appointed her to serve on the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, and by the Secretary of Energy who appointed her to serve on the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. She presently serves on the Board of Directors of SWAPSOL, a privately held energy company that discovered a breakthrough in hydrocarbon refining and CO2 mitigation.

Ms. Fahmy Hudome’s opinions on international diplomacy have been published in the Wall Street Journal, and she appears frequently as an expert analyst on energy and national security issues on NBC’s Today Show, MSNBC, CNN, and Al-Jazeera.

Randa received her juris doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she held the post of Administrative Editor of The Georgetown Journal of International Law. Her B.A. in political science and international relations was awarded summa cum laude by Wilkes University.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Week of 7/11 Events

Mon 7/11 - Islam Quiz & Conversation Hour (1 pm)

Tue 7/12 - Islam & Human Rights by Mourad Brahmi (1 pm)

Wed 7/13 - Guest Speaker Reza Aslan on Islam & Modernity (4 pm)

Dr. Reza Aslan, an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions, is the founder of AslanMedia.com, an online journal for news and entertainment about the Middle East and the world. Reza Aslan has degrees in Religions from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves on the board of directors of the Ploughshares Fund, which gives grants for peace and security issues; Abraham's Vision, an educational, conflict transformation organization for Israeli and Palestinian youths; PEN USA, which champions the rights of writers under siege around the world; and the Levantine Cultural Center, which builds bridges between Americans and the Arab/Muslim world through the arts.

Aslan's first book is the International Bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages, and named one of the 100 most important books of the last decade. He is also the author of How to Win a Cosmic War (published in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in a Globalized Age), as well as editor of two volumes: Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East, and Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalties, Contentions, and Complexities.

Reza Aslan is Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of BoomGen Studios, the premier entertainment brand for creative content from and about the Greater Middle East and President of AppOvation Labs, a mobile applications company. Born in Iran, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife (author and entrepreneur Jessica Jackley) where he is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.

Thursday 7/14 - Guest Speaker, Doug Penhallegon on Comparison and Contrast of the Arab Spring and Eastern European Revolutions (12 pm)

Doug Penhallegon teaches in the History Department at Duquesne University in addition to the School of Leadership and Professional Advancement. He has two Master's degrees from Duquesne, in History and in Liberal Studies. His fields of expertise include contemporary Islamic-Western relations, Middle East politics, and peacebuilding. Doug is the 2010-2011 Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, where he offers public lectures on the debate over the supposed "clash of civilizations" between the Muslim and Western worlds. He also earned a Certificate in National Security and Intelligence Studies from Point Park University. He has taught history everywhere from below the flightdeck of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf to a halfway house in Harlem, NY. In the fall of 2011 he will begin a PhD in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations at Kent State University.

Thursday 7/14 - Qur'an Analysis in English (1 pm)

Friday 7/15 - Film Screening: "Witness: Islam & America"