Great Decisions: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East Region at the Crossroads
Paul Beran
February 8, 2010
by Christine Yeres
Members of the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decision Community Discussion Program invite the community to hear Paul Beran, Director of the Outreach Center at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, speak in the library theater at 10:00 a.m. Monday, February 8. The Great Decisions Community Discussion Program is sponsored by the Chappaqua Library
Beran, 38, grew up in North Dakota, not exactly “an on-ramp to Middle East studies,” he admitted. But his 15-year journey through the Middle East, “meeting new people and hearing new questions have kept me interested in it,” he stated. At Monday’s discussion, Beran will speak for 30 to 40 minutes, arguing that the U.S. finds itself at a number of foreign policy crossroads and exploring the benefits and perils of looking in new ways at Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Egypt. Afterwards, he hopes for a robust conversation with the audience.
As Director of the Outreach Center at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Beran runs Harvard’s “Egypt Forum,” a training program for K-12 educators in Middle East region studies and Egypt. As part of their training, teachers visit Egypt and later implement public education projects and programs back in their schools and communities.
Beran is a consultant, writer, researcher and teacher in the field of Middle Eastern politics, education and foreign relations. He holds an M.A. in Political Science and a Ph.D. in International Public Policy, is fluent in Arabic and has lived in Egypt, the Sudan, Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The event is free and open to the public.
Upcoming Great Decisions topics and members who will lead the discussions:
2/8 Speaker: Paul Beran, Director of the Outreach Center at Harvard’s Center for Middle East Studies —Tyler Beebe
2/22 The U.S. and the Persian Gulf—Evelyn Bloom, Julie Sacks
3/8 The Global Financial Crisis—Jim Nash, Tyler Bebee
3/22 Europe’s Far East: the Uncertain Frontier—Krys Mernyk, Linda Conte
4/12 Open topic
4/26 How the Rest of the World Views the U.S.—Khusro Elley, Nick Markoff
5/10 Special Envoys in American Foreign Policy—Khurso Elley, John Sorice
5/24 Open topic
