FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 11, 2008

Contact: K.E. Schwab  

724.738.2199

 karl.schwab@sru.edu

Islamic expert’s research, talk offers another view of Muslims 

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Dalia Mogahed, a senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a nonpartisan research center dedicated to providing data analysis on the views of Muslim populations around the world, will present “Who Speaks for Islam? What A Billion Muslims Really Think” at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Slippery Rock University’s Advanced Technology and Science Hall.

            Mogahed takes the view that extremists and terrorism have too often monopolized the media's coverage and thus the message coming out of the Muslim world.

            She will present the findings of the Gallup Organization’s survey of more than one billion Muslims worldwide, including Muslims in the West. 

            Mogahed, with John L. Esposito, is coauthor of the recently published “Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think.” Her analysis has appeared in a number of leading publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy Magazine, Harvard International Review and The Journal of Middle East Policy. She also directs the Muslim West Facts Initiative through which Gallup, in collaboration with The Coexist Foundation, is disseminating the findings of the recent poll of key opinion leaders in the Muslim World and the West. 

            She is a member of Women in International Security, serves on the leadership group of the Project on U.S. Engagement with the Global Muslim Community and is a member of the Brookings Middle East Crisis Task Force.

            SRU’s International Arts and Cultures Series, the Office of International Services, the College of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts, the departments of philosophy, history, political science, modern languages and cultures, and geography, geology and the environment are sponsoring the free lecture.

Slippery Rock University is Pennsylvania’s premier public residential university. Slippery Rock University provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that intentionally combines academic instruction with enhanced educational and learning opportunities that make a positive difference in their lives.