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FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES -- Abdul Aziz Said

Abdul Aziz Said
SIS Room 206
Office:(202) 885-1632
E-mail: asaid@american.edu
Website
BA, MA, PhD, American University

Biography

Abdul Aziz Said is the senior ranking professor at American University and the first occupant of the Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace. He founded the university-wide Center for Global Peace, which undertakes a wide range of activities, both on and off campus, aimed at advancing our understanding of world peace. He founded and serves as director of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Division, in the School of International Service, which offers a Master of Arts degree and four dual or joint degree options, as well as concentrations at the Doctoral and Undergraduate levels. He is responsible for developing several educational, research, and outreach programs such as the Center for Cooperative Global Development, Project PEN (Providing for Educational Needs), the Washington Semester in International Peace and Conflict Resolution, the Summer Institute for Teachers: Education for Global Citizenship, the Center for Mediterranean Studies, and the Community for Social Change and Political Participation in the Middle East and Africa.

He is a frequent lecturer and participant in national and international peace conferences and dialogues and is deeply involved with a number of professional associations and Service Academies. He has lectured in more than one hundred universities in the United States and all over the world. His past and current public service includes consulting the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, the United Nations and the White House Committee on the Islamic World. He has served as the president of the regional chapter for the International Studies Association and as moderator for the Ecumenical Council of Washington. He advises and serves on the Board of Directors for various international non-governmental organizations including Search for Common Ground, Global Education Associates, the National Peace Foundation, PAX International, International Youth Advocate Program, The Omega Institute, Nonviolence International, and Global Alliance for Transnational Education, International Center for Religion and
Diplomacy, and the Jones International University-University of the Web. He also serves on the editorial boards of Human Rights Quarterly and Peace Review. He served as advisor to the Democratic Principles Working Group of the United States Department of State's “Future of Iraq Project” in 2002-2003 and was an advisor to the members of the Iraqi Governing Council.

He has written, co-authored and edited more than seventeen books including Contemporary Islam: Dynamic, not Static, Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam: Precept and Practice , Cultural Diversity and Islam, Concepts of International Politics in Global Perspective , Human Rights and World Order, Ethnicity in an International Context, The New Sovereigns: Multinational Corporations as World Powers, Theory of International Relations: The Crisis of Relevance, Ethnicity and U.S. Foreign Policy and articles on various aspects of world politics.

His deep commitment to nonviolence, human rights, political pluralism, cultural diversity, and ecological balance has furthered the expansion of Peace and Conflict Resolution as a field of study throughout the world.

Research Interest

  • Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam
  • Transformation
  • US Foreign Policy

Recent Courses Taught

  • Total Peace (HNRS 302.003H Spring 2006)
  • Peace Paradigms (SIS 607.002 Fall 2005)
  • Islamic Sources of Conflict Resolution (SIS 510.001 Spring 2005)
  • Insurgency, Counter-Insurgency, & Nation Building (SIS 596.007 Spring 2005)
  • Peace Paradigms (SIS 607.002 Fall 2004)
  • Introduction to Peace and Conflict Resolution (SIS 308.001 Fall 2004)

Selected Publications

BOOKS (Recent)

  • Making Peace with Islam (co-authored with Nathan Funk, forthcoming, 2006).
  • Contemporary Islam: Dynamic, Not Static (co-edited with Meena Sharify-Funk and Mohammed Abu-Nimer, forthcoming, 2006).
  • Concepts of International Politics in Global Perspective, Fourth Edition (with Charles O. Lerche, Jr. and Charles O. Lerche, III), Prentice Hall: 1963, 1970, 1979, and 1995.
  • Cultural Diversity and Islam (co-edited with Meena Sharify-Funk), University of Press of America, 2003.
  • Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam: Precept and Practite (co-edited with Nathan C. Funk and Ayse Kadayifici), University Press of America, 2001.
  • Ethnicity and U.S. Foreign Policy, ed., Second Edition, Praeger: 1977 and 1980.
  • Ethnicity in an International Context, ed. (with L.R. Simmons), Transaction Books, 1976.
  • Human Rights and World Order, ed., Transaction Books/Praeger, 1978.
  • The New Sovereigns: Multinational Corporations as World Powers,. ed. (with L.R. Simmons), Prentice-Hall, 1971
  • Theory of International Relations: The Crisis of Relevance, Prentice-Hall, 1968.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Dr. Said Contributes to learned journals, anthologies, and newspapers on current issues in global politics, including the American Journal of International Law, Human Rights Quarterly, Peace Review, International Journal of Peace Studies, the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Philadelphia Enquirer and other newspapers in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Professional Practice

Professor Said is a frequent lecturer and participant in national and international peace conferences and dialogues and is deeply involved with a number of professional associations and Service Academies. He has lectured in more than one hundred universities in the United States and all over the world. His past and current public service includes consulting the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, the United Nations and the White House Committee on the Islamic World. He has served as the president of the regional chapter for the International Studies Association and as moderator for the Ecumenical Council of Washington.

EDITORIAL AND ADVISORY BOARDS (past and current):

  • Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM)
  • Center for Peace Building International
  • Center for the Study of the Presidency: National Committee to Unite a Divided America
  • Common Ground
  • Council on Foreign Relations: Power-Sharing and Minority Rights in Iraq
  • Council on US-Syrian Relations
  • Creative Peace Building Initiatives
  • Fulbright Senior Specialist Program
  • Global Alliance for Transnational Education (GATE)
  • Global Education Associates
  • Human Rights Quarterly
  • Human Rights International
  • International Association of University Presidents: U.N. Commission on Arms Control
  • International Center for Religion and Diplomacy
  • International Journal of Nonviolence
  • International Youth Advocate Foundation
  • International Youth Advocate Program
  • Jones International University-University of the Web
  • Joint Program on Conflict Resolution. (Institute for Victims of Trauma)
  • Journal of Peacebuilding and Development
  • Kosmos Journal
  • National Youth Advocate Program
  • Nonviolence International
  • Peace Review
  • Peacebuilding & Development Institute
  • Search for Common Ground
  • Spirituality and Reality
  • The National Peace Foundation
  • The Omega Institute
  • Washington National Cathedral Interfaith Curriculum Advisory Council
  • Youth Advocate Program International

Awards

  • Outstanding Contribution to Academic Development Award
  • The University Faculty Award, Outstanding Service to the American University
  • Outstanding Faculty Award Mortar Board
  • Status of Lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute, Department of State
  • Grantee, The Rockefeller Foundation
  • Grantee, The United States Institutes of Peace
  • Grantee, National Endowment for Democracy
  • Grantee, United States Agency for International Development
  • Phi Epsilon Pi National Jewish Fraternity, Living Legend Award
  • Abdul Aziz Said Phi Epsilon Pi Scholarship (named after)
  • Multicultural Award, American University Office of Multicultural Affairs

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