Monday, October 14, 2002

Wilmington, NC -- Dr. Michael Doran, assistant professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, has been named the first Sherman Emerging Scholar in the Department of History at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Dr. Doran was selected in national competition for this distinction. Finalists included scholars at Georgetown University and Stanford University.

In the capacity of Sherman Emerging Scholar, Dr. Doran will visit Wilmington Oct. 23-26, conduct informal seminars with faculty and students, guest lecture in several classes, and present a public lecture.



Dr. Doran is the author of Pan-Arabism Before Nasser: Egyptian Power Politics and the Palestine Question (Oxford University Press, 1999). His public lecture, "The United States, the Arab World, and the Question of Palestine," will be delivered at 7:30 p.m. in Dobo Hall, Room 134 on the campus of UNCW. A reception will immediately follow the lecture. The lecture is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.

At Princeton, Dr. Doran has taught courses on the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the United States and the Middle East, an Introduction to Middle Eastern History, 622-2000, and graduate seminars in Political Community in the modern Arab World, and the Middle East in International Politics.



He earned his Ph.D. (1997) and M.A. (1990) in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton, and his B.A. in history from Stanford in 1987.

The Sherman Emerging Scholars Lecture Series is the first endowed lecture series for the UNCW History Department. Announced in April, 2002, the series is named in honor of Virginia and Derrick Sherman, a retired couple who have made Wilmington their home. The endowment was established in honor of the Shermans by their son, Phillip D. Sherman and his wife, Birgitta L. Sherman, and their daughter, Ann Sherman-Skiba and husband Dr. Gunther Skiba.

This new lecture series, which will become an annual event during the week marking United Nations Day, is designed to provide a forum for promising new scholars to present their perspectives on current issues in the fields of modern history, politics, and international relations to the university community and to the public.

The History Department is extremely grateful to the Sherman family. Their generosity greatly enhances the department’s ability to carry out its teaching and public service missions.

Individuals seeking additional information may contact Dr. Kathleen C. Berkeley, History Department chairperson, at 910/962-3308. A review of Dr. Doran’s book, Pan-Arabism Before Nasser: Egyptian Power Politics and the Palestine Question, by The New York Review of Books, can be obtained at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=314. His biography is available at http://www.cfr.org/bio

To speak with Dr. Doran individually, media are invited to attend his session with the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society at 3:30, Thursday, Oct. 24, in Morton Hall 212, or cover the lecture and attend the reception.