The Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Memorial Lecture
The Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Memorial Lecture has been a continuous event at UToledo since 2001. It is sponsored by the Judith Herb College of Arts, Social Sciences and Education and the Mikhail Endowment Fund, which was originally established through a donation from the Mikhail family to honor the work and contributions of Maryse Mikhail and her involvement in educational, philanthropic and interfaith organizations.
The Mikhail Endowment Fund was originally established through a donation from the Mikhail family to honor the work and contributions of Maryse Mikhail and her involvement in educational, philanthropic and interfaith organizations. The main purpose of the fund is to support an annual lecture dealing with Arab culture, history, politics, economics, and other aspects of life in the Middle East including issues of peace and justice.
Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Endowment Fund website
Past Mikhail Lecture Speakers and Events
2024 - Leila Fadel - host NPR Morning Edition
Sept. 9, 2024
Leila Fadel is a Lebanese American journalist and is a co-host of National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.
Before hosting “Morning Edition” and “Up First,” Fadel served as NPR’s international correspondent based in Cairo, where she covered the Arab Spring and its aftermath throughout the Middle East. Fadel was awarded the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club for her coverage of the 2013 coup in Egypt. In 2016, Fadel was named the Council on Foreign Relations Edward R. Murrow Fellow. Her series, "Muslims in America: A New Generation," produced in collaboration with National Geographic, won the prestigious Goldziher Prize in 2019. In 2007, Fadel won the George Polk Award for her international coverage of the Iraq war, which she undertook with Knight Ridder, McClatchy Newspapers, and the Washington Post.
2023 - Panel Discussion "War and Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza"
Dec. 11, 2023
Adil Haque, professor of law and Judge Jon O. Newman Scholar at Rutgers Law School;
Sari Bashi, program director at Human Rights Watch; and
Dr. Tom Dannenbaum, associate professor of international law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
2022 - Adele Ne Jame - Poet, Auther, Teacher and Melissa Chimera - Mixed Media Artist
Oct. 18, 2022
Mother-daughter poet-artists Adele Ne Jame and Melissa Chimera lecture titled “The
Lebanese Diaspora, Loss and Recovery, a Personal Retrospective,” included a recitation
of Ne Jame’s poetry and images from Chimera’s paintings.
Hawaii natives Ne Jame and Chimera combine their expertise to represent species extinction, globalization and human migration. Their work has been displayed at the Sharjah, United Arab Emirates International Biennial in 2009 and most recently at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Mich.
2021 - Noura Erakat - Human Rights Attorney, Educator, Author
"We Broke a Dam: The Palestinian Intifada of Unity”
Oct. 10, 2021
Noura Erakat, an associate professor of Africana studies at Rutgers University, is the author of “Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine” and non-resident fellow of the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School.
Erakat’s book received the Palestine Book Award and the Bronze Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Award in Current Events/Foreign Affairs.
2020 - Laila Lalami - Arab-American Author
“Conditional Citizens”
Dec. 8, 2020
Lalami, who was born in Morocco and came to the United States for graduate school, is the author of four novels, including “The Moor’s Account,” which won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
Her novel “The Other Americans” was a national bestseller and a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and the National Book Award in Fiction. And her essays and criticism have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, Harper’s, the Guardian and the New York Times.
She also has received fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Lalami lives in Los Angeles and teaches creative writing at the University of California, Riverside.
2019 - Phyllis Bennis - Institute for Policy Studies
“Syria, Turkey, the Kurds, ISIS, and the New Global War on Terror”
Nov. 16, 2019
Bennis is a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington and of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute.
She is a co-founder of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights and the Iraq-era anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice. She co-chaired the United Nations-based civil society International Coordinating Network on Palestine and serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace.
2018 Mohja Kahf - Novelist and Poet
“I Want Milk, I Want Honey: An Afternoon of Poetry with Mohja Kahf"
Nov. 4, 2018
Kahf is professor of comparative literature and Middle East studies at the University of Arkansas, where she has taught since 1995.
Her book titled “Hagar Poems” was described by Booklist (2016) as “Forthright and fearless poetry. Kahf brilliantly transposes the disorienting experience of life in the U.S. for many immigrant and marginalized women with the rich history of the Abrahamic religions.”
For her work, Kahf has won numerous awards, including a Pushcart Prize for her essay, “The Caul of Inshallah.” In 2017, her novel, “The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf,” was chosen for the 2017 One Book Project by Indiana University East.
2017 Neal Katyal - Former Acting U. S. Solicitor General
“The President and the Courts in National Security Cases”
Oct. 11, 2017
2016 Laila El Haddad - Journalist and Author
Oct. 9, 2016
2015 Thomas P. Abowd - Tufts University
“Jerusalem and the Prospects for Peace in Palestine/Israel.”
Oct. 11, 2015
2014 Lila Abu-Lughod - Columbia University
"Do Muslim Women Need Saving"
Oct. 12, 2014
2013 Juan Cole - University of Michigan
“Youth Movements and the Arab Revolutions”
Nov. 17, 2013
2012 Jack Shaheen - Scholar and Media Critic
“Images of Arabs and Muslims in Popular Culture: Problems and Prospects”
Oct. 7, 2012
2011 Gwynne Dyer - Distinguished Journalist and Author
2010 Saree Makdisi - UCLA
2009 Rahim AlHaj - World-Renowned Oud Musician
2008 James Zogby - Arab American Institute
2007 Marcy Kaptur - U.S. Congressional Representative
2006 Kathy Kelly - Distinguished Lecturer and Peace Activist
2005 Robert Mabro - Oxford Institute of Energy Studies
2004 Naomi Shihab Nye - Distinguished Writer and Poet
2003 David Cole - Georgetown University Law Center
2002 John Esposito - Georgetown University
2001 Noam Chomsky - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
