Several top experts on Kurdish, Iraqi and Middle Eastern affairs will visit the University of Central Florida in February for a variety of presentations as part of the university’s newly established Kurdish Political Studies Initiative.

The UCF Global Perspectives Office organized the visits – one during each Tuesday in February -- in partnership with the university’s Learning Institute for Elders (LIFE).

The experts visiting campus will be Michael Gunter, a noted authority on Kurdish affairs and a professor of Political Science at Tennessee Tech University; Brendan O’Leary, the Lauder Professor of Political Science and director of the Penn Program in Ethnic Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania; Ambassador Peter Galbraith, a senior diplomatic fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, author of “The End of Iraq” and a former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia; and retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, former director of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Post-War Iraq.

Each expert will make a limited-access presentation to UCF LIFE members at one of their regular meetings and also participate in strategy and planning sessions, community meetings and classroom discussions. Gunter’s topic is “Kurds ascending.” O’Leary will address how to get out of Iraq with integrity, including the issue of the Kurds and power sharing. Galbraith will talk about the status of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Garner will discuss the Kurds and the future of Iraq.

The Kurdish Political Studies Initiative, established in 2008, strives to develop knowledge and understanding about the Kurds and Kurdistan. The program is supported by the endowed chair in Kurdish Political Studies established by Dr. Najmaldin Karim, a neurosurgeon in the Washington, D.C. area, and the Global Connections Foundation. The initiative is a cooperative undertaking of UCF's Global Perspectives Office, Department of Political Science and College of Sciences and the Global Connections Foundation. 

Through public discussions, conferences and other meetings involving high-profile speakers, the initiative supports scholarship and research and works with partners internationally to broaden knowledge and understanding about the Kurds and Kurdistan.

UCF LIFE is a community educational program for people of retirement age in the Central Florida area who thirst for continued learning.

In addition to the UCF Global Perspectives Office and UCF LIFE, sponsors of the visits include the UCF Political Science Department, UCF Kurdish Political Studies Initiative, UCF Middle Eastern Studies Program, UCF Diplomacy Program and the Global Connections Foundation.