A distinguished author will give a lecture about his book on the late Queen of Saudi Arabia at 3 p.m. Oct. 9 in Hembree Auditorium.
Joseph Kéchichian will lecture on the life of the late Queen 'Iffat Al Thunayan and her influence during her reign.
Nani Verzon, program coordinator for the Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies, said she is very excited for Kéchichian's visit. She said it is a great honor for the King Fahd Center to host an internationally recognized pundit with so much political experience pertaining to the Gulf region and the Middle East as a whole.
Verzon said she thinks a great deal of the lecture will be about with the life of 'Iffat Al Thunayan as well as her political contributions to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
She said that these contributions were not only in terms of her influence within King Faisal's court but internationally, as she also hosted female guests of the state.
This is the first political biography written about a Saudi monarch's spouse, so it is "doubly exciting," she said.
"Every opportunity to host an expert active in the field is an opportunity not only to provide our students with information about a region that affects greatly the rest of the world, but also to highlight the resources that we have here on campus in terms of faculty and classes that may pertain to their interest," she said.
Sophomore Micayla Mosier, a Middle Eastern studies major and an Arabic minor, said she appreciates anyone who is working to raise awareness of what is going on in the Middle East.
Senior Hilary Zedlitz, a double major in Middle Eastern studies and political science, said she agreed.
When a guest lecturer who is as studied as Kéchichian visits campus, it is exciting because they offer students and faculty a different perspective on what it is like working in that area of study, Zedlitz said.