Tahir al-Bakaa

"Iraqi Intellect in a Troubled Ocean"

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007
3:30 p.m.
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave.

Tahir al-Bakaa is former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and former president of Al Mustansiriya University in Iraq. He also served on Iraq's National Assembly and Constitution Writing Committee. After four attempts on his life, al-Bakaa came to the United States in 2005 through the Scholar at Risk program to be visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Suffolk University in Boston.

Al-Bakaa has a Ph.D. in Iranian History from Baghdad University, specializing in Middle Eastern history and politics; he is author of four books and 58 research papers. He will hold a roundtable discussion on the state of higher education in Iraq. More information about al-Bakaa is available at http://www.gse.harvard.edu/impact/stories/other/al-bakaa.php.