Ghada Hashem Talhami was born in Jordan, to Palestinian parents. She received her B.A. in Liberal Arts (cum laude) from Western College for Women ( of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio), and an MA in US Foreign Policy from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She holds a Ph.D. in African History from University of Illinois – Chicago. She taught at Lake Forest College, Il., for many years as the D. K. Pearsons Professor of Politics. She is currently the inaugural Susan Currier Visiting Professor at California Polytechnic State University.

She is the author of six books and many articles on various aspects of Middle East politics, Islam, Jerusalem, women’s studies and the study of development in the Third World. One of her books is “The Mobilizations of Muslim Women in Egypt,” and her latest book is “Palestine in the Egyptian Press.” She is also the author of “Palestinian Refugees: Pawns to Political Actors.” She is currently writing a historical dictionary on women in the Middle East for Scarecrow Press. She has lectured at various institutions in the US and abroad, including Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Yale and Harvard Universities and many others. She has made many appearances on Chicago’s Public Affairs TV, al-Jazeerah – English and Arabic programs, and NPR. She was a Senior Research Fulbright Scholar in Syria in 1997. She participated in two World Council of Churches colloquia on the subject of Jerusalem.

So the quarter has been in progress for about a month now but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about our meetings on the Cal Poly campus. Every Thursday at 11am we will meet in building 14 (computer science) room 252. We’ve always got stuff on the menu to discuss and are always open to positive discourse. See you there!

-Sark