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December 20, 2004
Former Ambassador and Middle East Expert William Rugh to Present Falmouth Forum Lecture, January 7
WOODS HOLE, MA—William A. Rugh, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Yemen will present the next lecture in the 2004-2005 Falmouth Forum season on Friday, January 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Marine Biological Laboratory's (MBL) Lillie Auditorium, MBL Street, Woods Hole. The lecture is sponsored by the Associates of the Marine Biological Laboratory and is free and open to the public.
America’s involvement with the Arab world goes back little more than half a century, but the Arab-American relationship has changed markedly over those few decades. Arabs at first had overwhelmingly positive attitudes toward the United States, while many tended to be highly critical of some other countries. Today the roles are reversed. Public opinion polls show the U.S. President among the least admired and also demonstrate alarming support for al Qaida and Usama bin Ladin, America's Enemy Number One. Despite these troublesome signs, Arabs have by and large maintained their respect and admiration for most aspects of American society and culture. In his lecture, Rugh will offer some ideas and analyses to explain these contradictions.
Rugh was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer from 1964 to 1995, serving in Washington and at seven Middle Eastern diplomatic posts including U.S. Ambassador to Yemen from 1984 to 1987 and to the United Arab Emirates from 1992 to 1995. From 1995 until 2003 Rugh was President and CEO of an American non-profit organization called AMIDEAST that undertakes educational projects in the Middle East. Currently he is an Associate of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, an Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute, a Trustee of the American University in Cairo, and a Board Member at AMIDEAST. Rugh holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. He was an adjunct professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University from 1987 to 1989 and has published numerous journal and op-ed articles on Middle Eastern subjects. In March 2004, Praeger/Greenwood published his book Arab Mass Media and in December 2004, the Public Diplomacy Council in Washington D.C. published a book that he edited titled, Engaging with the Arab and Islamic Worlds Through Public Diplomacy: A Report and Action Recommendations.
Admission to this Falmouth Forum presentation is free and open to the public. A buffet dinner is available before the lecture at 6:00 p.m. in the Swope Center located near the auditorium. Dinner tickets, available for purchase starting December 29, are $20 and must be purchased in advance at either Eight Cousins Children’s Books, Main Street, Falmouth, or at the MBL in Woods Hole. Dinner seats are limited and are available until they sell out or until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 4. All tickets are nonrefundable. For more information contact the MBL’s Associates Liaision at 508-289-7281.
The MBL Associates were founded in 1944 to provide an opportunity for friends of the Laboratory, both scientists and non-scientists, to support the MBL. Over the years the Associates have taken on a wide range of projects, including providing fellowships for young scientists, supporting the MBL/WHOI Library, renovating the Lillie Auditorium, and landscaping the Whitman-Loeb quadrangle on the Woods Hole campus. The Associates also help bring the work of the Laboratory to a broader public by sponsoring the Falmouth Forum Series and operating the MBL Gift Shop. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the Laboratory.
Remaining lectures in the 2004-2005 series are below.
January 28, 2005
Shipwrecks and Sea Monsters: An Underwater Photojournalist’s World
Brian Skerry, contributing photographer for National Geographic Magazine
February 11, 2005
Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
William Taubman, 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner
March 4, 2005
America in a Dangerous World
H.D.S. Greenway, Columnist, Boston Globe
March 25, 2005
Visiting the Family: Rare Primates of the World
Connie Rogers, author and book editor
The Marine Biological Laboratory is an independent scientific institution, founded in 1888, dedicated to improving the human condition through basic research and education in biology, biomedicine, and environmental science. MBL hosts research programs in cell and developmental biology, ecosystems studies, molecular biology and evolution, neurobiology, behavior, global infectious diseases and sensory physiology. Its intensive graduate-level educational program is renowned throughout the life sciences. The MBL is the oldest private marine laboratory in the western hemisphere.
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