Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Speaker for Islam program at UIS changed

Due to an illness in the family, Dalia Mogahed, executive director at the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, will not present “Who Speaks for Islam?” on Monday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium on the UIS campus. Instead, Magali Rheault, senior analyst at the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, will give a presentation. The event is free and open to the public.

Rheault’s main areas of research are integration and identity of European Muslims and perceptions of African Muslims. As part of the Muslim-West Facts Initiative and in collaboration with the Coexist Foundation, she travels the world to disseminate key findings from the Gallup World Poll to inform opinion leaders about Muslims’ views.

Rheault is also a senior consultant with the Gallup World Poll, where she analyzes public attitudes toward governance and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa.

The program is sponsored by the World Affairs Council, the International Visitors' Commission, Sister Cities, the Islamic Society of Greater Springfield and the UIS ECCE Speaker Series.

An overflow area will be available in the Public Affairs Center conference rooms C/D. The presentation will be followed by a reception in the PAC Restaurant from 9 to 10 p.m.