Syria's ambassador to U.S. to speak Oct. 2

September 27, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Imad Mustapha, the Syrian ambassador to the United States, will visit the University of Florida Oct. 2.

Mustapha will present a lecture, “Syria: Challenges and Crisis,” at 5 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall. His speech will focus on current issues facing Syria and Syrian-U.S. relations. Admission is open to the public and free. His visit is sponsored by the University of Florida Arabic Cultural Association and the University of Florida International Center.

Mustapha has been the chief Syrian envoy to the United States since March 2004. Prior to this position, he was the dean of faculty of information technology at the University of Damascus. He has a doctoral degree in computer science. Mustapha is fluent in Arabic, English, and French, and also has some knowledge of German. He has been a guest on numerous news programs for American and Arabic media.

His visit to UF is made possible because of Annie Higgins, the faculty adviser of the Arabic Cultural Association. She is a visiting professor of Arabic language and literature in the Department of African and Asian Languages and Literature. Additionally, she has traveled and conducted research in Egypt, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.