CITY COUNCIL MEMBER M.J. KHAN VISITS QATAR TO SPEAK ABOUT LIFE IN THE U.S.
April 6, 2007 - Houston City Council Member M.J. Khan will be traveling to Doha, Qatar April 6-13 as a representative of the U.S. State Department's U.S. Speaker and Specialist Program which is overseen by Karen Hughes, the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Council Member Khan will be meeting with local businessman, dignitaries, academics, students, and politicians. During those visits, Council Member Khan will be discussing a variety of different topics ranging from issues related to Houston Council business to the American political process and Muslims living in the US . He will visit students at some of the local universities and schools including Qatar University, the Texas A&M University Campus in Doha, Bright Future School , and the Pakistan Education Center . He will also visit with the Central Municipal Council, Pakistani Youth Society, and Qatar Businessmen's Association.
The U.S. State Department's U.S. Speaker and Specialist Program facilitates communication between individual Americans, representatives of the broad range of expert, responsible and informed opinion, and key foreign audiences. The U.S. Speaker and Specialist Program awards grants to American experts to present lectures, serve as consultants, or conduct workshops and seminars for professional audiences in a wide range of disciplines.
U.S. Speaker and Specialist grantees do not teach undergraduate classes or conduct research. The program applies the intellectual and creative competence of those Americans to the public diplomacy issues identified by U.S. embassies abroad. The U.S. Speaker and Specialist Program has an important domestic dimension. Upon their return to the United States, the U.S. experts can share with people in the United States the insights they have gained into foreign cultures.
Council Member Khan has been active in his role as a participant in the Speaker's Program. " I am proud to serve my country in this capacity. This is a great opportunity and I believe it will go a long way to help eliminate a lot of the negative stereotypes that people living overseas may have of the U.S." One way to reach foreign audiences through the Speaker's Program is through electronic media. Council Member Khan recently traveled to D.C. in early March to take place in a Web Cast also hosted by the U.S. State Department. He spoke with journalists and students in Morocco, India, Sri Lanka, and Liberia about his work as a Houston City Council Member. The USINFO Web Cast is being broadcast online and overseas and will allow thousands more people to learn about Houston and the City Council.
