by Rod Jones
OCU University will celebrate Constitution Day with a presentation by Middle East expert Joshua Landis at 4 p.m. Sept. 17. The presentation titled “ISIS, Ethnic Cleansing, and the Future of the Middle East†is free to the public and will be held in the Kerr McGee Auditorium in Meinders School of Business at N.W. 27th Street and McKinley Avenue.
Landis is the director of the Center for Middle East Studies and a professor in the University of Oklahoma’s College of International Studies. He writes the daily political newsletter Syria Comment and travels frequently to Washington, D.C., to consult with government agencies. He recently spoke at the Woodrow Wilson Institute, Brookings Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Landis lived in Syria for four years and spent most summers in Damascus until the country’s revolution began. He lived in the Middle East for more than 14 years and speaks fluent Arabic. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Swarthmore, master’s degree at Harvard and doctorate at Princeton.
