Iraqi University President To Visit Baylor April 21-22
l to r: Dr. Asmat, president of Dohuk University; Professor Bill Baker; Dr. Mark Long; Dr. Bill Mitchell; and Dr. Dick Hurst.
Dr. Asmat M. Khalid, president of Dohuk University in northern Iraq, will make his second visit to Baylor University April 21-22.
Asmat will meet with about 30 students in Dr. Bill Mitchell's class on "Ethnopolitical Conflicts" at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 21. Photographers are invited to take photos and video during the first 10 minutes of Asmat's visit, which will be in room 201-B on the second floor of the Poage Legislative Library. Poage Library is located across the street from Castellaw Communications Center in Baylor's library complex.
Asmat will give a public lecture on "Higher Education in Iraq: Looking to the Future" at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 21, in room 116 of the Draper Academic Building. His lecture will be part of the Global Issues Lecture Series, sponsored by the Council for International Education.
Asmat will be available at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 22, for some brief remarks and one-on-one interviews with reporters. The media availability will be held at Baylor's Center for International Education on the second floor of the Poage Library.
Asmat first visited Baylor in 1996, when Dohuk became one of the first Iraqi universities to sign an exchange agreement with a U.S. institution. No exchange opportunities with Baylor were able to be realized, though, because of the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein.
Last August, Baylor professors Bill Mitchell, Mark Long and Bill Baker, along with Dr. Dick Hurst, a medical doctor and Baylor graduate from Tyler, conducted a needs-assessment mission to two Iraqi universities - Dohuk and Mosul University, about 50 miles southeast of Dohuk. The professors' visit laid the foundation for a two-day academic workshop held at Dohuk in December, conducted by a contingent of more than 20 Baylor faculty members who made the long journey to northern Iraq. (Interestingly enough, the group left for the Middle East the day of Saddam's capture by U.S. troops.)
The professors led sessions on topics ranging from microbiology, physics and environmental science to social work, nursing and contemporary political theory. The Baylor workshops averaged 55-150 attendees, including Iraqi university presidents, academics, politicians, military officials, and business and community leaders.
For more information, contact Lori Scott Fogleman, director of media relations, at (254) 710-6275 or mobile (254) 709-5959.