Joshua Landis, the director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at OU, will speak about “ISIS, Syria and the Crisis in the Middle East” Oct. 25 in the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
“I’m going to put the rise of ISIS into a larger historical context,” Landis said.
He said the discussion will explore American foreign policy and what can be done in the next presidency.
“What is the likely path ahead for a Clinton presidency, which is the most likely one,” Landis said.
“This is one of the big decisions that the next administration is going to have to come to grips with,” he said.
Landis, who is considered one of the leading experts on Syrian studies and the countries surrounding it, has written 63 articles on Syria and the Middle East, which includes more than 28 online publications, according to a press release from OU News. He also runs a daily blog called “Syria Comment,” which attracts about 100,000 readers monthly, according to the release.
Landis has lived in the Middle East for more than 14 years and also speaks Arabic and French fluently, according to the release.
“It is a privilege to have on our own campus one of the world’s leading scholars and commentators on the crisis in the Middle East,” OU President David Boren said in the release. “The Associates dinner will give the OU community an opportunity to learn more and be brought up to date about this critical part of the world.”
Landis often travels to Washington, D.C., where he consults with the State Department and other government agencies, according to the press release. He is frequently interviewed by a wide range of broadcast media and most recently appeared on the PBS “NewsHour,” “Charlie Rose,” Al Jazeera, “Frontline,” NPR and BBC, according to the press release.
Additionally, he has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and is a guest analyst for NPR and BBC radio, according to the press release.
Landis teaches Political Islam, International Relations in the Middle East, Islam, the Modern Middle East, Culture and Society in the Middle East, and the U.S. in the Middle East, according to the press release.
He has received the OU Regents’ Award for Superior Professional and University Service and Public Outreach, according to the press release.