Akbar Ganji Visits Stanford Akbar Ganji, Iran's leading dissident and investigative journalist, is welcomed to Kresge Auditorium at Stanford University on Sunday, August 13 with a standing novation of 600+ visitors who came to listen to his talk, Transition to Democracy in Iran: Three Paradigms. The event was well attended and ended with a second standing ovation. The crowd followed Ganji as he exited the auditorium. Ganji, recently released from prison in Iran in March after six years, is on tour at various universities in London and the US. Ganji is expected to participate in a weekend conference of Modern Iran during the academic year, which will also be sponsored by the Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies within the Division of International Comparative & Area Studies at Stanford.

Comings & Goings

Article in the Stanford Report, August 9, 2006

The Department of Religious Studies has hired a scholar with expertise in Islamic studies to teach in the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies. Behnam Sadeki received his doctorate in May in Near Eastern studies (Islamic religion) at Princeton University and has been hired as an assistant professor of religious studies within the Abbasi program.

"All who came to know Dr. Behnam Sadeki in the course of last year's wide search for a first-rate scholar of Islam are delighted that he has accepted a position in the Religious Studies Department, confident that his research and teaching will figure importantly in the multi-departmental Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies within the School of Humanities and Sciences," said Robert Gregg, professor of religious studies and acting director of the Abbasi program. "An expert in Islam's first two centuries—the history and literature and thought of this early and formative period—Sadeki's presence not only strengthens the study of religions at Stanford but also contributes to Stanford's range of academic research and course offerings concerning Muslim societies, past and present."

Sadeki will teach courses on classical Islamic theology and classical Islamic law in the fall quarter and a course on the Qur'an in the winter quarter for the department. He also will co-teach a course with Gregg called Approaching Religion: Tradition, Transformation and the Challenge of the Present. Sadeki will arrive on campus later this month. The university received $9 million in September 2003 to endow the Abbasi program and professorship in Islamic studies to help increase knowledge of the Muslim world. More than one-quarter of the world's population is Muslim and yet there is little understanding of Islam in the country, President John Hennessy said when he announced the endowment. The program, which does not grant degrees, is organized to provide students with a wide geopolitical lens and a multidisciplinary perspective encompassing literature, history, politics, religion, law, sociology and anthropology. The Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies is a constituent of the Division of International Comparative & Area Studies in the School of Humanities & Sciences at Stanford University.

Faculty unveil International Initiative

BY LI TAO, Friday, October 28, 2005

Standing Committee Co-chairs Chip Blacker, director of the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, and Elisabeth Pate-Cornell, a senior fellow at the Institute, unveiled details for the new University-wide International Initiative at the Faculty Senate meeting yesterday afternoon.

The Initiative is designed to respond to the challenges of pursuing peace in an insecure world, reforming and improving governance at all levels and advancing human health and wellbeing, Pate-Cornell said. It is intended to encourage a systematic, interdisciplinary, international approach to these challenges.

An example case in which such an interdisciplinary approach would be useful is an early warning system for natural disasters, epidemics and homeland security. Blacker noted that in addition to analyzing and interpreting signals, it is important to be able to “organize an effective response, which requires knowledge of sociological, legal, political and organizational cultural concerns.”

Other examples Blacker cited were the successful establishment of stable institutions in developing countries and the analysis of cultural and social aspects of developed and developing societies.

Among the programs to be created by the Initiative are the President’s Fund for Innovation in International Studies, a research grant for Stanford faculty involved in international studies, and the Distinguished Visitors and Scholars Program designed to allow international scholars to spend time at Stanford.

For students, the International Internship program will be expanded, providing more funding for undergraduate students pursuing internships abroad. Funds will also go toward expanding the number of graduate students in interdisciplinary and international studies and could possibly work toward need-blind admissions policy for undergraduate international students.

Encina Hall, currently used to house a variety of offices, will be restored and refurbished into a center for these and other international programs. Meanwhile, Crothers and Crothers Memorial Halls may possibly be converted into international-themed dorms.

The initiative was designed to “jumpstart collaborative studies” led by faculty members and increase Stanford’s involvement in the world community. This goal is already being independently achieved by Stanford faculty, Blacker said.

Also at the Faculty Senate meeting, the governing body approved a motion to revive the master’s degree program for the Interdisciplinary Program in Latin American Studies, which was suspended in June 2001. Director Herbert Klein said that the program was designed to give recent graduates a “broad perspective on the region” before going on to specialize in fields such as sociology, economics or anthropology.

The Committee on Undergraduate Standards and Policy also discussed possible minor changes to improve the quality of undergraduate education, such as providing online access to class syllabi to aid students in selecting courses.