september 16, 2008

Dean jamal nassar visits bethlehem university

Professor Jamal R. Nassar, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at California State University at San Bernardino CSUSB, visited Bethlehem University on Monday, 25 August 2008. In April 2006, Bethlehem University and CSUSB signed a Memorandum of Agreement in International Educational Cooperation.

During his visit Dr. Nassar met with the Dean of Arts, Fr. Jamal Khader, Dr. Moen Halloun, Chair of Arabic, and Prof. Qustandi Shomali (Board member of the Middle East Studies Center at CSUSB), in order to discuss different projects to promote the existing cultural and educational cooperation between the two universities.  For example,  one project involves preparing a textbook on Palestinian Society to be used in American Universities.

Jamal R. Nassar was born in Jerusalem, Palestine, and received a BA from Jacksonville University in 1972, an MA from the University of South Florida in 1974, and a PhD from the University of Cincinnati in 1978. Immediately following his education, Dr. Nassar joined the faculty at Illinois State where he served as Chair of the Department of Politics and Government until accepting the post at CSUSB in 2007.  His specialty is Middle Eastern politics.

Many of his articles, chapters and reviews have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Dr. Nassar has also chaired several national and international conferences on the Middle East, addressed the United Nations on the Palestine question and been a consultant or expert witness in court cases in the United States and Canada. He was editor of Arab Studies Quarterly (1991-1995) and is on the editorial board of this and other scholarly journals.