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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Rami G. Khouri, a prominent journalist and scholar whose focus is on Middle East politics and conflict, will deliver the 2008 Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Memorial Lecture for World Peace on Wednesday, April 30, at Oregon State University.

His talk will focus on the prospects for peace in the Middle East - and obstacles to that goal. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. in OSU's Milam Auditorium and is free and open to the public.

Khouri is the director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, which is published throughout the Middle East. An internationally syndicated political columnist and author, Khouri also has hosted weekly radio and television public affairs shows in Jordan.

He spent seven years as editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times newspaper, and frequently comments on Middle East issues for National Public Radio, CNN and the British Broadcasting Corporation.

A frequent lecturer in the United States and Europe, Khouri is Palestinian-Jordanian and a United States citizen. He spent a year as a Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University, and earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Syracuse University.

His interests go beyond politics. Khouri has served as a consultant to the Jordanian tourism ministry on biblical archaeological sites and hosted a weekly archaeology program on Radio Jordan. He also spent several years as chief umpire for Little League baseball in Amman, Jordan.

Richard Clinton, an emeritus professor of political science at OSU and a member of the Pauling Peace Lecture Committee, said Khouri is a well-respected journalist who will provide an informed perspective on the U.S. role in the Middle East.

The OSU lecture honors two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling and his wife, Ava Helen Pauling, for their efforts to promote world peace. It was established by the College of Liberal Arts.