By Raegan Faught

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. –– Join The Middle Tennessee State University Middle East Center in welcoming guest speakers Robert S. Ford and Ahmad Jeddeeni at two exciting events on April 2 and 3. 

MTSU has invited Ford, former U.S. ambassador to Algeria and Syria and Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute, to speak at two events on campus, both free and open to the public.

Ford will meet with students from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, in Room S260, in the Business and Aerospace Building, 1642 MTSU Blvd., to discuss the careers they can explore with degrees in Middle Eastern studies, international relations, and political science. Free lunch will be provided for attendees on a first-come, first-served basis.

The MTSU Middle East Center encourages students to take advantage of this special chance to converse with Ford, who has decades long diplomatic experience.

“Having a free-flow conversation with a person with such a rich experience will be a precious opportunity for our students to learn the best ways of orienting their education toward similar career paths,” organizers said.

Students from all academic programs are welcome to the occasion to learn about finding successful careers pertaining to the Middle East.

“The increasingly burgeoning economy of several countries in the Middle East has come with career opportunities for people in all disciplines. From economics to communication studies, from philosophy to music, from tourism management to journalism, there is no academic discipline that cannot find relevant job openings in the Middle East,” according to the center.

Following the lunch and conversation, Ford will also speak on a panel with Ahmad Jeddeeni, MTSU alumnus and visiting assistant professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in Room S-328 in the Business and Aerospace Building.

The panel, moderated by Sean Foley, MTSU professor of history and Middle East expert, will include two lectures, “Syria: A Diplomat’s View” by Ford and “Even the Light Bulbs Have Ears: Explaining the Syrian Revolution and the Fall of the Assad Government” by Jeddeeni. Both discussions will provide the campus community with the guests’ informed views about the context and prospect of recent developments in Syria.

“Ambassador Ford’s contribution to the panel will address both the political and diplomatic aspects of what has been going on in Syria over the past few decades and what courses of development may be expected,” according to the MTSU Middle East Center. “In addition, we will hear a bottom-up account of life as a social activist and a student from the very heart of the nation in Dr. Jeddeeni’s remarks.”

The Middle East Center believes this panel will be engaging for patrons with varying knowledge of developments from the region and emphasizes the importance of global sociopolitical awareness.

“Hearing the informed, experience-based, and contextualized accounts of experts like our guests will help our community attain a much more reliable image of what has been happening in Syria and more broadly in the Middle East and what is and what is not reasonable to expect to happen in the foreseeable future.”

Both events are sponsored by the Office of the Provost, College of Liberal Arts, Middle East Center, Department of Political and Global Affairs, Department of History, Office of International Affairs, MT Engage, and the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

Off-campus visitors attending the events will need a $2 temporary parking pass. More details on purchasing a pass online, pay by plate or in person as well as a parking map can be found on MTSU’s website https://parking.mtsu.edu/.

For more information about the MTSU Middle East Center, visit https://middle-east-center.mtsu.edu/.

— Raegan Faught is a senior journalism major in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media. Contact her at news@mtsu.edu.