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Pepperdine Libraries Hosts Education Panel to Explore Three Cups of Tea

On the heels of a successful collaboration in which Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson spoke on the Malibu campus, the Pepperdine University Libraries and One Book, One City Malibu, will continue the dialogue about education through a panel discussion on Thursday, May 21. The event begins at 6 p.m. in Payson Library on the Pepperdine Malibu campus.

Panelists Diana Hiatt-Michael, Mirwais Azizi, and Jeff Lee will discuss issues raised by Mortenson and co-author David Oliver Relin as One Book, One City Malibu celebrates its seventh annual community read with Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission To Promote Peace... One School At A Time. They will share their unique experiences working on education initiatives in Nepal, Afghanistan, and Oman, and explore issues of education, gender, poverty, altruism, leadership, community engagement, within peaceful and terror-ridden countries.

Three Cups of Tea explores how some failures can lead to unanticipated success. A Nobel Peace Prize candidate, Mortenson's personal experience unfolds into a compassionate journey of commitment and hope in the book, which changes the lives of hundreds of children by giving them access to education. Mortenson's work in both Pakistan and Afghanistan spawned the founding of the organizations Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace. Both organizations and their members continue to fight Islamic extremism through efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, particularly among girls in these regions.

"Individuals will have the opportunity to engage in an intimate dialogue about how the complex issues examined in Three Cups of Tea are being addressed by members of the Pepperdine community," says Amy Hunter, Director for Library Advancement. "The conversation will not only heighten awareness about the challenges of education in the Middle East, but it will demonstrate how involvement with causes striving for change, can directly impact the future of children, communities, and nations."

The event is part of a month-long community reading program by One Book, One City Malibu, and is open to the public and free of charge. For more information, call Amy Hunter at (310) 506-6785. For more information about One Book, One City Malibu, visit their Web site.

The Panel

Diana Hiatt-Michael, Professor Emeritus of Education at the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology, has worked with masters and doctoral candidates at Pepperdine for nearly 35 years. Her expertise falls in the area of family-school-community partnerships, a subject matter on which she has both written and published. Her accolades include the award-winning Family-School-Community Partnerships Monograph Series published by Information Age.

In November 2006, Hiatt-Michael visited the Sultanate of Oman to discuss family-school-community partnerships. The Sultanate of Oman is focusing on education as a means to rapidly change the country from a nomadic-agrarian society to an active participant in contemporary world economics, says Hiatt-Michael. During her time visiting with top Ministry of Education representatives from six regions of the country, principals, and parents, Hiatt-Michael employed various team-building and leadership exercises to unify the group. The outcome included uniquely crafted School Site Plans, which were enthusiastically created and implemented by each community.

Dr. Mirwais Azizi has over 12 years of local and international teaching, management, and executive leadership experience with emphasis on the fields of education, health care and information technology. In December of 2008, he completed his doctoral dissertation on the Leaders of Higher Education in Afghanistan: Leadership Beliefs, and Challenges for the 21st Century. His research evaluated Western, Eastern, Islamic and cultural leadership styles, and he created an educational leadership model for Afghanistan that incorporated these leadership views.

Jeff Lee, an Assistant Professor at Azusa Pacific University in the School of Education, has taught at numerous low-income, Title I schools in Orange County. Additionally, he has worked with the Ministry of Education in Nepal ProLiteracy, and World Education. As the Vice President of Community Development Network, a US-based non-government organization working in developing countries on education initiatives, Jeff works with technology tele-centers designed for youth in Nepal's rural villages.