For Immediate Release— Monday, March 10, 2008

Contact:
Tony Hoppa
Assistant Vice President for Communications
(585) 245-5516
thoppa@geneseo.edu

Media Advisory

Islam Expert to Deliver Phi Beta Kappa Lecture on March 12

Who:              SUNY Geneseo

What:             The fifth Annual Phi Beta Kappa lecture, featuring Dr. Th. Emil Homerin on, "Islam: From Muhammad to Bin Laden and Beyond." The lecture is free and open to the public.

When:            March 12 at 1:30 p.m.

Where:           Newton Hall, room 202.

Why:              The Phi Beta Kappa lecture intends to bring an informed, intellectual and insightful perspective about major Islamic beliefs and scripture, as well as the perceived relationship between the United States and Islam.

Homerin teaches courses on Islam, classical Arabic literature and mysticism at the University of Rochester. He has received numerous grants and has won a number of awards, including the American Association of Teachers of Arabic Translation Prize, the University of Rochester's Teacher-of-the-Year in the Humanities and the University of Rochester's Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in the Undergraduate Education. Homerin became a member of Phi Beta Kappa in his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and is professor of religion and chair at the University of Rochester.

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation's oldest undergraduate honors society. Geneseo is the only undergraduate college in the SUNY system to be granted a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa: the Alpha Delta of New York chapter was installed in January, 2004.

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This advisory was written by Dan Skahen, a junior communication major from Newburgh, N.Y. serving as a media relations intern in the Office of Communications and Publications.