BEIRUT — The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) announced today that award-winning Washington Post correspondent Anthony Shadid has been appointed as its first resident fellow for the 2007-08 academic year. He is also the first “writer-in-residence” at IFI, a post that will be conferred on prominent journalists and writers from the Middle East and other parts of the world. Shadid is taking a year off from his duties as Beirut-based Middle East correspondent for the Washington Post newspaper, and will use his stay at AUB to research and write a book. He will participate in selected IFI activities and in early 2008 will give the first annual Issam Fares Institute Writer-in-Residence Lecture at AUB.

Anthony Shadid

“We’re delighted to have Anthony Shadid inaugurating this in-house fellowship for writers and journalists,” said IFI Director Rami G. Khouri upon announcing the award in Beirut today. “His journalism has consistently set very high standards of both professionalism and humanism. He combines sensitivity, insight, and accuracy in a manner that allows readers around the world to appreciate the complex realities, rather than the fleeting superficialities, of Middle Eastern societies. His presence at the Issam Fares Institute and AUB will be an asset to the entire university community.” Shadid, 39, has had a distinguished career with the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and the Associated Press, serving in Washington, Cairo, Los Angeles, Baghdad, and Beirut. He won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his international reporting that year, primarily from Iraq. His recent book, “Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War”, has also been widely acclaimed. An American of Lebanese descent, he is a native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University. On accepting the fellowship, Shadid said: “I am especially pleased to have this opportunity to be based at the Issam Fares Institute at AUB. These two unique institutions reflect the best tradition of mutually constructive Arab interaction with the world. I look forward to drawing on the rich resources of AUB, and to contributing as I can to the institute and the university.” The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs was established at AUB in 2006. It draws on the research activities of the AUB faculty to promote better understanding of public policy issues and international affairs, and to foster dialogue and joint research among academics, government officials, the private sector and civil society.

— Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs