On Tuesday, May 3, Roger Allen, the Sascha Jane Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics Emeritus in the department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, will speak about The Islamic State: Background and Implications.

His talk will be given from noon-1:30 p.m. in the Hourglass Room at the University Club at the Inn at Penn.

Dr. Allen has been president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America; has worked steadily to increase the academic, scholarly and personal contact between Western and Arab writers and critics, and has had numerous publications on Arabic literature in journals and books. In 2010, he was awarded a Medal of Honor by the Kingdom of Morocco for his contributions in the field of arts and sciences.