Release date: April 1, 2005
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or deb.hammacher@emory.edu

Jehan Sadat to Give Emory's Rosalynn Carter Lecture April 25

WHO: Jehan Sadat, former first lady of Egypt, international humanitarian

WHAT: Rosalynn Carter Distinguished Lecture in Public Policy: "The Principle of Peace"

WHEN: 8 p.m. Monday, April 25

WHERE: Glenn Memorial Auditorium, 1652 N. Decatur Rd., Emory.

COST: Free and open to the public. For more information, call 404-727-0096.

Jehan Sadat, former first lady of Egypt, will deliver the ninth Rosalynn Carter Distinguished Lecture in Public Policy at 8 p.m. Monday, April 25 in Glenn Memorial Auditorium at Emory University. Sadat will discuss "The Principle of Peace." The event is free and open to the public.

In keeping with the lecture's theme of women who have played significant roles in shaping public policy, Sadat has been active in Middle East and international humanitarian and women's empowerment initiatives. Rosalynn Carter personally invited Sadat to deliver the lecture and will introduce her at the event.

"Jehan has devoted her energy and talent to spreading her message of peace," says Carter. "In this troubled time I can think of no more perfect speaker or appropriate topic to present to the Emory community, and I am deeply grateful to her for accepting our invitation to come to Atlanta."

Sadat served as first lady of Egypt from 1970-81. (She was the wife of Anwar Sadat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for reaching a peace agreement with Israel in 1979 through the Camp David Accords. Then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter negotiated the peace accords, not a word of which has been violated to date. Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Muslim fundamentalists in 1981.)

Among her many accomplishments, Sadat organized the Talla Society for the empowerment of impoverished village women in Egypt; founded Wafa' Wal Amal, the first rehabilitation center in the Middle East for disabled veterans and civilians; founded the Arab-African Women's League; and organized a movement to reform Egypt's civil rights laws.

She is the author of the bestselling autobiography, "A Woman of Egypt," and since 1993 has taught international relations as the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park. Sadat has been a representative to the United Nations International Women's Conference in Mexico City, the International Parliamentary Conference on Population and Development in Sri Lanka, the World Congress of Families II in Geneva, among other events. She is the recipient of several international awards for public service and humanitarian efforts for women and children.

Sadat earned her bachelor's degree in Arabic and her master's and doctoral degrees in comparative literature from Cairo University.

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has been a distinguished fellow of Emory's Department of Women's Studies since 1989, and has worked to establish the Rosalynn Carter Programs in Public Policy. Past lecturers include former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, former NAACP head Myrlie Evers-Williams, former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders and Sarah Weddington, who successfully argued the landmark Roe v. Wade case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For more than a decade Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, a comprehensive metropolitan health care system.

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