YaleNet - Smart Matters - Panel: The South Asian Muslim Identity, Reviving the Consciousness"

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SPONSORS
Yalies for Pakistan (YPAK)
Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS)
Yale Muslim Students Association (Yale MSA)
Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC)

SPEAKERS

Azi Hussain
Vice President Preventive Diplomacy,
International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, Washington, DC

Hassan Abbas,
Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society, NY,

Fiazan Haq
Professor, Cora P. Maloney College ay SUNY Buffalo, NY,

ONLINE FREE REGISTRATION
https://secure.yourpatriot.com/ou/pakpac/405/376/eventsignup.aspx

CONFERENCE INTRODUCTION:
The intent of this event is to discuss with the groups of South Asian American Muslims including Bangaldeshi, Indian and Pakistani Americans about their historical identity, their common heritage and the inherent pluralism, and respect for all, that traditionally flowed in the hearts and minds of people of South Asia .

The conference will explore the various factors and influences beyond the social fabric challenges in the “Home Countries” and in United States which may have led to some loss of this identity. Such loss may have led to a lower capacity of tolerance and mutual respect in this current era.

This conference will also converse on the challenges the South Asian American Muslims students face in college campuses nowadays when they have to maintain a balance in academia, while being offered a different new identity by religious groups in these most formative years.

SPEAKERS BIO’S

Azhar (Azi) Hussain

Azhar Hussain is the Vice President for Preventive Diplomacy at the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD). A native of Pakistan , he holds a Masters Degree in International/Intercultural Management from the School of International Training in Vermont . Mr. Hussain has been providing educational and intercultural consulting services for numerous multi-national organizations for the past ten years, and has a well-established history of successful training and development initiatives throughout the world, including in India , Pakistan , Britain , the United States , and Mexico . He has served as Senior Consultant to the Government of Mexico's Ministry of Education and as an adjunct professor at the Tecnológico de Monterrey University in Mexico , where he taught courses on international relations and history and served as a teacher trainer for various university faculty. More recently, Mr. Hussain held the position of Senior Consultant on International Education and Development at the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). He has organized and delivered presentations at numerous conferences around the world, including at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum at Johns Hopkins University, and Georgetown University, and to foreign guests of the US State Department's International Visitors Leadership Program, and chaired the Inter-Cultural Seminar on Peace, Tolerance, and Coexistence for the Committee on Cultural Awareness in New Jersey. He has also collaborated with the United States Institute of Peace to initiate, develop, and deliver a peace education training program for Pakistani religious leaders. Mr. Hussain currently heads ICRD's Pakistan Madrasa Project, working in partnership with various Pakistani civic and religious organizations. The focus of this project is to: (1) encourage expansion of the madrasa curriculums to include the scientific and social disciplines, with a special emphasis on religious tolerance and human rights (particularly women's rights), (2) encourage the adoption of pedagogical techniques that can promote critical thinking skills among the students, (3) teach conflict resolution and dialogue facilitation skills, and (4) equip newly-trained teachers with the skills to train other previously uninvolved madrasa leaders in the above areas. The programs Mr. Hussain has initiated have trained nearly 1,000 madrasa leaders throughout Pakistan to date. He has also pioneered recent initiatives to engage religious and political leaders in Afghanistan . Mr. Hussain was recently named the recipient of the 2006 Peacemakers in Action Award by the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding in New York .

Dr. Hassan Abbas
Dr. Hassan Abbas is an Affiliate with the Belfer Center and a former joint research fellow with Project on Managing the Atom and the International Security Program from 2005–2009. Currently, he is a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society's New York headquarters working on U.S. relations with South and Central Asia . He is also a non-resident Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), Michigan , and an Associate of the Pakistan Security Research Unit (PSRU), University of Bradford , in the United Kingdom . He received his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University , and an LL.M. in International Law from Nottingham University , United Kingdom , where he was a Britannia Chevening Scholar (1999). Hassan also remained a fellow at the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School (2002–2003) and as a visiting scholar at the Harvard Law School 's Program on Negotiation (2003–2004).

His research interests are nuclear proliferation, religious extremism in South and Central Asia , and relations between Muslims and the West. In association with the Belfer Center , he is currently working on a project focusing on police reforms and counterinsurgency in Pakistan .

Hassan is a former Pakistani government official who served in the administrations of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1995–1996) and President Pervez Musharraf (1999–2000). His latest book, Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America's War on Terror (M.E. Sharpe) has been on bestseller lists in India and Pakistan and was widely reviewed internationally, including by the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Far Eastern Economic Review, The Hindu, and Dawn. He has also appeared as an analyst on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, Al-Jazeera, and PBS, and as a political commentator on VOA and BBC. His forthcoming book is Letters to Young Muslims on Science, Sovereignty and Sufis. He runs WATANDOST, which is a blog on Pakistan and its neighbors' related affairs.

Faizan Haq
Faizan Haq is currently Professor Cora P. Maloney College , SUNY, Buffalo , NY and a lecturer, Communication Department Buffalo State College. Prof Haq has earned his Bachelors in American Studies with concentration in Intercultural Studies from SUNY at Buffalo . His graduate course work included economics, multiculturalism and cultural history. His Masters' focus at Buffalo State College was in Multidisciplinary Studies with concentration in Public Relations and Education Technology. He also holds an M.S. in Education Technology.

Faizan Haq is also a fellow of American Institute of International Studies (AIIS), California and a founding member of Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), Washington D.C. Faizan Haq is also a fellow member of Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST)

When:		October 25, 2009 12:00pm-2:00pm
Where:		LC 102
Type:		Meeting
SPONSORS Yalies for Pakistan (YPAK) Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) Yale Muslim Students Association (Yale MSA) Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) SPEAKERS Azi Hussain Vice President Preventive Diplomacy, International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, Washington, DC Hassan Abbas, Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society, NY, Fiazan Haq Professor, Cora P. Maloney College ay SUNY Buffalo, NY, ONLINE FREE REGISTRATION https://secure.yourpatriot.com/ou/pakpac/405/376/eventsignup.aspx CONFERENCE INTRODUCTION: The intent of this event is to discuss with the groups of South Asian American Muslims including Bangaldeshi, Indian and Pakistani Americans about their historical identity, their common heritage and the inherent pluralism, and respect for all, that traditionally flowed in the hearts and minds of people of South Asia . The conference will explore the various factors and influences beyond the social fabric challenges in the “Home Countries” and in United States which may have led to some loss of this identity. Such loss may have led to a lower capacity of tolerance and mutual respect in this current era. This conference will also converse on the challenges the South Asian American Muslims students face in college campuses nowadays when they have to maintain a balance in academia, while being offered a different new identity by religious groups in these most formative years. SPEAKERS BIO’S Azhar (Azi) Hussain Azhar Hussain is the Vice President for Preventive Diplomacy at the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD). A native of Pakistan , he holds a Masters Degree in International/Intercultural Management from the School of International Training in Vermont . Mr. Hussain has been providing educational and intercultural consulting services for numerous multi-national organizations for the past ten years, and has a well-established history of successful training and development initiatives throughout the world, including in India , Pakistan , Britain , the United States , and Mexico . He has served as Senior Consultant to the Government of Mexico's Ministry of Education and as an adjunct professor at the Tecnológico de Monterrey University in Mexico , where he taught courses on international relations and history and served as a teacher trainer for various university faculty. More recently, Mr. Hussain held the position of Senior Consultant on International Education and Development at the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). He has organized and delivered presentations at numerous conferences around the world, including at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum at Johns Hopkins University, and Georgetown University, and to foreign guests of the US State Department's International Visitors Leadership Program, and chaired the Inter-Cultural Seminar on Peace, Tolerance, and Coexistence for the Committee on Cultural Awareness in New Jersey. He has also collaborated with the United States Institute of Peace to initiate, develop, and deliver a peace education training program for Pakistani religious leaders. Mr. Hussain currently heads ICRD's Pakistan Madrasa Project, working in partnership with various Pakistani civic and religious organizations. The focus of this project is to: (1) encourage expansion of the madrasa curriculums to include the scientific and social disciplines, with a special emphasis on religious tolerance and human rights (particularly women's rights), (2) encourage the adoption of pedagogical techniques that can promote critical thinking skills among the students, (3) teach conflict resolution and dialogue facilitation skills, and (4) equip newly-trained teachers with the skills to train other previously uninvolved madrasa leaders in the above areas. The programs Mr. Hussain has initiated have trained nearly 1,000 madrasa leaders throughout Pakistan to date. He has also pioneered recent initiatives to engage religious and political leaders in Afghanistan . Mr. Hussain was recently named the recipient of the 2006 Peacemakers in Action Award by the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding in New York . Dr. Hassan Abbas Dr. Hassan Abbas is an Affiliate with the Belfer Center and a former joint research fellow with Project on Managing the Atom and the International Security Program from 2005–2009. Currently, he is a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society's New York headquarters working on U.S. relations with South and Central Asia . He is also a non-resident Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), Michigan , and an Associate of the Pakistan Security Research Unit (PSRU), University of Bradford , in the United Kingdom . He received his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University , and an LL.M. in International Law from Nottingham University , United Kingdom , where he was a Britannia Chevening Scholar (1999). Hassan also remained a fellow at the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School (2002–2003) and as a visiting scholar at the Harvard Law School 's Program on Negotiation (2003–2004). His research interests are nuclear proliferation, religious extremism in South and Central Asia , and relations between Muslims and the West. In association with the Belfer Center , he is currently working on a project focusing on police reforms and counterinsurgency in Pakistan . Hassan is a former Pakistani government official who served in the administrations of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1995–1996) and President Pervez Musharraf (1999–2000). His latest book, Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America's War on Terror (M.E. Sharpe) has been on bestseller lists in India and Pakistan and was widely reviewed internationally, including by the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Far Eastern Economic Review, The Hindu, and Dawn. He has also appeared as an analyst on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, Al-Jazeera, and PBS, and as a political commentator on VOA and BBC. His forthcoming book is Letters to Young Muslims on Science, Sovereignty and Sufis. He runs WATANDOST, which is a blog on Pakistan and its neighbors' related affairs. Faizan Haq Faizan Haq is currently Professor Cora P. Maloney College , SUNY, Buffalo , NY and a lecturer, Communication Department Buffalo State College. Prof Haq has earned his Bachelors in American Studies with concentration in Intercultural Studies from SUNY at Buffalo . His graduate course work included economics, multiculturalism and cultural history. His Masters' focus at Buffalo State College was in Multidisciplinary Studies with concentration in Public Relations and Education Technology. He also holds an M.S. in Education Technology. Faizan Haq is also a fellow of American Institute of International Studies (AIIS), California and a founding member of Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), Washington D.C. Faizan Haq is also a fellow member of Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) Additional Info/Contact:

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