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• Study Elementary Arabic, the language spoken in Egypt today, or sign up for Dr. Husam Mohamad's special one-hour weekend course, POL 3990, Egypt and the Middle East, September 8-10. Either of these classes qualifies toward the Passport to Egypt free tuition credit promotional drawing.

• See Temples and Tombs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from the British Museum, at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art September 7-November 26. This world-class exhibit features 85 artifacts from circa 2700 B.C.E. to the Roman occupation of the fourth century C.E. (A.D.) Students with I.D. can buy a ticket for the discount price of $7. Staple this ticket to the back cover of your Egypt semester passport to qualify toward the Passport to Egypt free tuition credit promotional drawing.

Visit Egypt this year!

UCO students, faculty, and staff and members of the local community are invited to a presentation on a Study Abroad in Egypt opportunity that the Passport program will sponsor on May 15-27. The tour is interdisciplinary, highly interactive, and five-star all the way. Pictured at left is the hotel in Cairo.

Click here for details about itinerary, costs, etc.

Interested? Contact Dr. Husam Mohamad of the Political Science Department or Dr. Robert Kerr of the Department of History and Geography: hmohamad@ucok.edu or rkerr2@ucok.edu.

Passport to Egypt Scheduled Events:
September | October

Note: All events listed here qualify toward the Passport to Egypt free tuition credit promotional drawing. Make sure you bring your Egypt semester passport with you to collect a stamp.

Tuesday, September 5: Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim's documentary on media coverage of the war in Iraq, Control Room, was shown at Pegasus Theater, in the Liberal Arts building, at 6 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. The movie focuses on the complementary--and sometimes conflicting--roles of civilian journalists and members of the military press corps in a time of war.

Thursday, September 7: Cecil B. DeMille's classic 1934 film Cleopatra, starring Claudette Colbert in the title role, screened at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art at 7:30 p.m. This film kicked off the 2006 Film Preservation Festival, in collaboration with the University of Central Oklahoma Film Studies Collection, and the exhibit of Egyptian artifacts at the Museum. UCO's Dr. Margaret Musgrove introduced the film with a brief mini-lecture comparing the Hollywood version with the historical reality about one of Egypt's most glamorous rulers.

Wednesday, September 13: Free movie, A Man in Our House, in Pegasus Theater at 3:30 p.m. Based on the famous novel by Ihsan Abdel Qoddous, this classic political thrilled is set prior to the 1952 revolution. It stars the legendary Omar Sharif in one of his most memorable roles, as a member of the underground resistance to the British occupation.

Monday, September 18: World-renowned Egyptologist Bob Brier, considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on mummies and the mummification process, spoke to a packed Pegasus theater at 11 a.m. on "Resurrection of a Lost Art: A Modern Mummification" and in Constitution Hall at 7 p.m. on "The Murder of Tutankhamen--A Theory." Both lectures were free and open to the public as well as the UCO community. The evening lecture was followed by a book-signing of Dr. Brier's book The Murder of Tutankhamen.

Tuesday, September 26: Oklahoma City Museum of Art film curator Brian Hearn spoke on "Youssef Chahine and Cairo" and show a 20-minute documentary on this controversial Egyptian director at 7 p.m. in Pegasus Theater. This lecture was free and open to the public.
 

September 28, 29, 30, and October 1: The Oklahoma City Museum of Art hosted a Youssef Chahine Retrospective, screening five films over the course of four days.

Monday, October 2: "Dancing with Mummies: A Forensic Examination of King Tut." Dr. David von Minden of UCO's Chemistry department spoke on how Forensic Science has changed our knowledge about ancient Egyptian mummies, and one famous mummy in particular, in Howell Hall room 203 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, October 6: "Kings and Commoners: Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt." Art historian Dr. Sara E. Orel of Truman University demonstrated how archaeological evidence can shed light on the lives and customs of people who lived thousands of years ago. Her presentation was at 11 a.m. in Pegasus Theater.
At 2 p.m. that same day, also in Pegasus Theater, Dr. Orel acted as respondent to a presentation by the University of Central Oklahoma's Legal Counsel, Dr. Brad Morelli, on the subject of illicit traffic in antiquities, using examples from the past and cases in the news today.

Wednesday, October 11: "Temples and Tombs" in context. Dr. Bill Hommel of the UCO Art Department gave the "inside scoop" about the ongoing Egypt exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, giving the audience clues about what to look for and what to expect. This lecture was held at 3:30 p.m. in the Melton Gallery, located in the Art and Design building north of Broncho Lake.


Thursday, October 12: "Ancient Egypt on Film: An Evening with Clif Wiens" at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art at 7:30 pm. Participants got a behind-the-scenes look at how documentary companies make and shape the films you see about Ancient Egypt. Clif Wiens is a writer, researcher and producer who has worked with National Geographic on multiple Egypt projects, including Egypt Live, King Tut's Final Secrets, and The Lost Gospel of Judas, in addition to many other projects.


Thursday, October 12 and Friday, October 13: Reader's Theater presentation: The Writer's Honey moon, by playwright Ali Salem, at 7 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday in Pegasus Theater. This one-act comedy about a Cairo novelist's life in the information age was translated and adapted by Dr. Waleed Zaghloul of the College of Business and Mr. James Dolph of the English Department. Note: On Friday, Dr. Husam Mohamad of UCO's Political Science department will provide background commentary on social and political subtexts in the play following bthe evening presentation. The presentation has a running time of just 50 minutes, so students attending the 11 a.m. presentation won't need to worry about getting to their noon classes on time.

Saturday, October 14: All UCO students, faculty, and staff travelled by train to Fort Worth to see the Kimbell Museum's Hatshepsut Exhibit. Dr. Theresa Vaughan gave a preliminary 20-minute orientation lecture before the group entered the museum, and was available throughout the visit to answer questions.

Wednesday, October 25: Queens of the Nile! Dr. Theresa Vaughan followed up the Fort Worth visit with a lecture on Hatshepsut, Egypt's female Pharaoh, at 4 p.m. After a reception in the lobby, Dr. Margaret Musgrove continued with an historical look at Cleopatra, Egypt's final Pharaoh, at 6 p.m. Both events were held in Pegasus Theater.

 
Thursday, October 26: Two special presentations at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. in the Nigh University Center's Constitution Hall by Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Wellman of the U.S. Army on the U.S. presence in Iraq: What's working, what isn't, and why? A look at how cultural differences can--and maybe sometimes cannot--be bridged in collaborative projects, and how they are impacting both positively and negatively the U.S. military's efforts toward helping achieve a post-war independent Iraq.

LTC Wellman served as Public Affairs Officer to the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I) in Baghdad, which is responsible for the training, equipping, rebuilding and mentoring of the Iraqi Security Forces. He will provide a clear, up-to-date picture of the ongoing work in progress, drawing up on his past experience with U.S./Iraqi collaborative projects in the field and his current contacts working in the Middle East and in Washington D.C. How is the U.S. military actively working to improve relations with the Iraqi people?

Even though this subject deals primarily with conditions in Iraq and does not focus heavily on Egypt, the Passport committee is joining with UCO's Leadership Central to host LTC Wellman's presentations, and are in agreement that they should be treated as a Passport event (and worthy of a stamp) because they serve the Passport program's mission statement of global awareness and help situate Egypt's geographic and cultural situation as part of the Arab Middle East.

Download a full-color PDF poster about LTC Wellman's presentations. (approximately 3 MB)

October 28: Super Saturday for kids of all ages. Visit the ancient Egyptians at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Explore the special exhibit with your children using an activity guide or scavenger hunt. Get creative with hands-on art projects like pop-up pyramids, jewelry making, and mural drawing. Hear stories about mummies, pyramids, and pharaohs, provided by the Metropolitan Library System, and attend Oklahoma Children’s Theatre’s performance of Temples, Tombs, and Egyptian Treasures. All activities are free with paid Museum admission ($7 for students, $9 for the general public).

Monday, October 30: Dr. Robert Hahn of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale will be in the area to talk about the upcoming Study Abroad in Egypt tour sponsored by SIUC and the University of Central Oklahoma Passport to Egypt program.

Dr. Hahn will give a lecture on "The Legacy of Ancient Egypt" at 11 a.m. in Pegasus Theater.

He will discuss plans for the Study Abroad Tour in Egypt in Pegasus Theater at 4 p.m., The Village Public Library (10307 N. Pennsylvania) at 6:30 p.m., and the Edmond Public Library (10 S. Boulevard) at 8 p.m.

Dr. Hahn has been leading five-star interdisciplinary study abroad groups to Egypt for 23 years, with more than 1400 participants. This year he will be joined by Dr. Husam Mohamad of UCO's Political Science department, and faculty from various disciplines and various institutions across the country.

Wednesday, November 1: Dinner and (two!) movies: In this final Passport event, the Passport committee joins forces with the Kenyan Student Association (KENSA), the Nigerian Student Association (NSA), and Knowledge of Self (KOS) to present a double-header: two films in Pegasus Theater, with free food served in between. We will screen Terrorism and Kebab, a comedy starring Adel Imam, Egypt's leading comic actor, from 5:45-7:30. From 8:00-10:30 we will show the award-winning Cry Freedom, a serious film about Steven Biko, a South African activist killed in the late 1970s, starring popular American actor Denzel Washington.

UCO Students: If you are participating in the Passport to Egypt free tuition credit promotional drawing, please note that the double-header events on October 25 and 26 and November 1 count as separate events, for a total of six possible passport stamps.

 

UCO Passport to Egypt pages designed and maintained by Susan Spencer, Coordinator of the UCO Passport program