At the 8th Annual Blessing of the PEACEMAKERS on Janurary 27, the peaceCENTER of San Antonio named Sister Martha Ann Kirk the San Antonio Peace Laureate for her works of compassion at home and abroad and in “letting her compassion shine for others to see”. Sister Martha Ann Kirk had a research trips to northern Iraq and gleaned the perspectives of more than 140 Iraqi girls and women living in this violence-wracked corner of the world. 

“Islam, Muslims, and the Current Global Context: Moving beyond Media Sound Bytes”

The first time Islam and Muslims really made the radar screen of contemporary public discourse in the U.S. was in November of 1979 when a group of university students stormed the American embassy in Tehran and held its personnel hostage for 444 days.Ever since, our ideas about Islam and Muslims have played an increasing role in the construction of our own U.S. American identity on the world stage, as well as in the construction of U.S. foreign policy.

Associate Professor of Islam, Director of Catholic-Muslim Studies Program / Catholic Theological Union

Scott Alexander’s interest in Islam dates back to the early1980s, when he was both witnessing the events of the Islamist revolution in Iran, and concentrating in comparative religion as an undergraduate at Harvard. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, Scott went on to Columbia University in New York where he earned the M.A. and Ph.D. in the history of religions, with a concentration in Islamic studies. From 1986 to 1990, Scott taught courses on Islam and the history of religions at Columbia, Fordham, and Princeton University, and in 1991 he took a position on the religious studies faculty of Indiana University in Bloomington where he taught as an assistant professor of Islamic studies from 1993 to 2000.

Three Wednesday series of  "Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance" with  Gülen Institute and Institute of Interfaith Dialog in cooperation with SoL Center.