Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore is proud to welcome Dr. Jo-Anne Hart for a public lecture on Monday, October 23, 2017.

Jo-Anne Hart is adjunct professor at the Watson Institute and professor at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She graduated from UCLA and received a  fellowship to study Persian language at NYU, where she also received a PhD in political science. She specializes in US security in the Persian Gulf, with particular reference to Iran. In addition to Lesley, she has taught at Brown, the Naval War College in Newport, RI, and Barnard College.

Hart also works as a practitioner in international conflict resolution: she is active with the international NGO Search for Common Ground, where she also serves on the Board of Directors. She has worked with the US military for more than a decade. Hart has convened a US-Iranian working group on avoiding incidents at sea in the Persian Gulf and regularly participates in trainings with the US Army on mutual threat reduction in the Gulf. Hart has years of experience in simulations, in security decision making exercises both as a participant at the national level and in designing simulations to support her own teaching. She gives briefings to senior military leaders and has lectured widely in the US and abroad. At Lesley, she teaches Contemporary Middle East History as well as courses on technology and global learning.

Her lecture, Field Notes from Two Decades Pursuing Conflict Transformation Between the US and Iran, asks the following:

Why has it been so difficult to ease the longstanding hostility between the US and Iran despite mutual interests which could be well served?

Speaking from her own experience taking part in unofficial, so-called Track Two, talks with Iranian negotiators since 1996, Prof. Hart will illustrate the process of seeking conflict resolution. Hart will describe the back-channel process she initiated with Iranians and other key stakeholders in the Persian Gulf to avoid a naval incident at sea in those crowded and critical waters.

The lecture begins at 7:00PM and will be held in the Scheuer Room of Kohlberg Hall. 

This event is cosponsored by Arabic, Islamic Studies, Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology, and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.