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NYU Abu Dhabi Institute Announces First Year's Event Schedule

Press Release

U.S. Political Strategist Bob Shrum, Prize-winning Novelist Elias Khoury and Others Scheduled to Speak at Institute.

The NYU Abu Dhabi Institute the center NYU has established in Abu Dhabi for intellectual and scholarly programming prior to the opening of its campus - today announced its first year s schedule of events. The Institute will organize a variety of programs, including international conferences, research workshops, and lectures to stimulate the exchange of ideas, share new research, highlight the mission of liberal arts education, and focus attention on topics of broad public interest. For more information, the public can visit http://nyuad.nyu.edu.

The Institute s first major initiative the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed University Scholars Program - is already underway; the 17 scholars were selected over the summer, and recently took the first class in their year-long course with NYU President John Sexton.

Programs and events being sponsored by the Institute this year include:

Speaker Series I: Conversations with Authors

Philip Kennedy, faculty director of the NYUAD Institute, will engage a noted author in conversation, including a question and answer session with the audience. All events take place in the Al Mamoura Auditorium, Aldar Properties Building, Abu Dhabi, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

  • October 7, 2008 On the Art of the Novel; with Elias Khoury, Global Distinguished Professor Please see the event flyer here.
  • November 12, 2008 On Stephen Hawking s A Briefer History of Time; with Glennys Ferrar, professor of physics, Center for Cosmology & Particle Physics
  • November 16, 2008 The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election; with Hassan Fattah, Mid-East Correspondent/Journalist; Rogan Kersh, Associate Dean, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service; Bob Shrum, American political strategist and advisor
  • December 17, 2008 On Edward Said s The World, The Text, and the Critic; with Marina Warner, novelist and cultural historian
  • January 14, 2009 On Social Entrepreneurship; with Paul Light, Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service; and Gabriel Brodbar, director, Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship
  • February 18, 2009 Einstein s Film Forum; with Michael Iampolski, associate professor of comparative literature and Russian and Slavic studies; and Richard Allen, professor, cinema studies
  • March 20, 2009 Translation and Bilingualism; Assia Djebar with Richard Sieburth, professor of French and comparative literature, in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi Book Fair 2009
  • April 8, 2009 On the Occasion of the Arabic Translation of The Pickup; with Nadine Gordimer, writer, Nobel laureate, and political activist

Distinguished Lecturers

All lectures take place in the Al Mamoura Auditorium, Aldar Properties Building, Abu Dhabi, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

  • November 10, 2008 Banking the World; with Jonathan Murdoch, professor of public policy and economics, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
  • November 18, 2008 Outside the Box: Alternate Modernities: Near Eastern & Latin American Art in the Mid-20th Century; with Edward Sullivan, dean for humanities and professor of art history
  • April 5-6 (provisional dates) NYU Abu Dhabi & the 21st Century; with Hilary Ballon, University professor and professor of architecture and urban studies, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Performances and Screenings

NYU Abu Dhabi Institute is a sponsor of Muslim Cultures of Bombay Cinema film festival. All screenings will take place at Al Dhafra Auditorium, Cultural Foundation, Abu Dhabi.

  • Thursday February 26 at 7:00pm, Jodha Akbar (2008)
  • Saturday February 28 at 3:00pm, Pukar (1939)
  • Saturday February 28 at 7:00pm, Mirza Ghalib (1954)
  • Sunday March 1 at 3:00pm, Chaudhvin ka Chand (1960)
  • Sunday March 1 at 7:00pm, Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
  • Thursday March 12 at 3:00pm, Najma ( 1943)
  • Thursday March 12 at 7:00pm, Mere Mehboob (1963)
  • Saturday March 14 at 3:00pm, Garm Hawa (1973)
  • Saturday March 14 at 7:00pm, Mammo (1994)
  • Thursday March 19 at 7:00pm, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989)
  • Saturday March 21 at 3:00pm, Fiza (2000)
  • Saturday March 21 at 7:00pm, Sardari Begum (1996)
  • Sunday March 22 at 3:00pm, Pakeezah (1971)
  • Sunday March 22 at 7:00pm, Umrao Jaan (2006)

Conferences and Symposia

  • January 20 - 22, 2008 Education and Human Development Conference; with Mary Brabeck, dean of NYU s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; and Peggy Blackwell, dean of the College of Education, Zayed University; Al Mamoura Auditorium, Aldar Properties Building, Abu Dhabi
  • March 3 - 4, 2008 Africa and the Gulf Conference; with, director of Africa House and professor of economics; location TBD
  • May 3 - 6, 2008 Carbon Policy and Global Administration Law Conference; with Richard Stewart, NYU School of Law, and Benedict Kingsbury, NYU School of Law; location TBD

Additional events to be announced.

About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from over 115 countries and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.