Kidnapped journalist, Gandhi’s grandson visit UCF

Several distinguished speakers including Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Shadid, one of four New York Times journalists who were kidnapped in Libya this year, will give talks at the University of Central Florida this fall.

Hosted by UCF’s Global Perspectives Office, the talks are part of the office’s mission to sharpen UCF’s international focus. The office is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Shadid will discuss his experience covering affairs in the Middle East and share his story of perseverance while in captivity for several days in Libya. Speakers also will include Peter Bergen, CNN’s national security analyst, and Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

Many of the speakers reflect the office’s annual theme of People Power, Politics and Global Change. Other themes this year are the Environment and Global Climate Change; Covering Global Crises from the Frontlines; and the India Speaker Series.

Shadid, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, will present “Dispatches from the Middle East: Covering the ‘Arab Spring’” at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, in the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union. The presentation is free and open to the public.

A foreign correspondent for the Times based in Baghdad and Beirut, Shadid and three colleagues were caught in the crosshairs of the uprising against Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi. The reporters were kidnapped and held for six days before being released in March.

For more information contact Mark Freeman, Office of Global Perspectives, 407-823-0935, mark.freeman@ucf.edu.