Edward Djerejian, founding director of Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, will discuss the Arab awakening and its implications for United States national security interests, foreign policy and public diplomacy.

Djerejian's career in the U.S. Foreign Service spanned the administrations of eight presidents from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton, and included appointments as the U.S. ambassador to Israel and to the Syrian Arab Republic. He is a leading expert on national security, foreign policy and the complex political, security, economic, religious and ethnic issues of the Middle East and South Asia. He has played key roles in the Arab-Israeli peace process and regional conflict resolution.

The event is co-sponsored by the Baker Institute, the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the University of Texas School of Law, under the auspices of the law school’s James A. Baker III Chair in the Rule of Law in World Affairs. The lecture will be held in Baker Hall, Doré Commons.