Lecture: “Endangered Christians in the Middle East: Religious Cleansing & Changing Geopolitics”

Lecture: “Endangered Christians in the Middle East: Religious Cleansing & Changing Geopolitics” by former Vice-Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou

THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 3 at 4PM

The newly reorganized Social & Cultural Committee of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Newburyport will be kicking off its inaugural event on Sunday, March 3 at 4PM with a lecture by former Vice-Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou, entitled, “Endangered Christians in the Middle East: Religious Cleansing and Changing Geopolitics”. A reception will follow the lecture and Q&A and will be free and open to the public.

Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou is a retired, senior US diplomat, having served (2004-2012) as Vice Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. She is an Affiliate Scholar at the Center for European Studies (CES) at Harvard University, where she Co-Chairs the Southeastern Europe Study Group. She is currently a member of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Religion & Foreign Policy Working Group: Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society and also serves as the Director of International Affairs for the Hellenic American Leadership Council.

Dr. Prodromou is a recognized expert on issues of religion and security; religion and US foreign policy; democracy, human rights, and religious freedom; and religious radicalism in America. She is a regional expert on Southeastern Europe and the Near East. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Harvard International Review, Journal of Democracy, Orbis, Survival, Journal of Faith & International Affairs, European Journal of Political Research, as well as in numerous scholarly volumes.

She has extensive policymaking experience as a consultant to the US diplomacy, defense, and intelligence communities; to international organizations, such as NATO and the UN; and to government ministries and NGOs in EU member-states. She also has a background in international banking, with expertise in political risk assessment and bank debt restructuring packages. She consults to financial institutions on religious-political risk factors for private investment.

She is a frequent contributor and guest commentator on foreign policy, religion, and security, in media sources such as The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, US News & World Report, The Miami Herald, and The Hill’s Congress Blog, and she has been quoted as an expert in sources such as The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Economist, Religion News Service, the Christian Science Monitor, Politis (Greece), Phileleftheros (Greece), Vima (Greece). She has appeared as a commentator and analyst on television and radio outlets such as Voice of America (Iran, Greece), National Public Radio, New England Cable News, and numerous regional radio programs.

Dr. Prodromou holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in political science from MIT, an M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a B.A. in international relations and history from Tufts University.