In just a few weeks, Penn's campus will be graced with the presence of royalty.
Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan will speak in Irvine Auditorium as the Social Planning and Events Committee Connaissance's fall speaker as part of the Provost's Spotlight Series, the group announced on Friday.
The event, which has been in the works since last May, will be held on Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. when Queen Noor will speak about the current situation in the Middle East. She will discuss her involvement in the peace process, as well as her dedication to humanitarian causes.
After extensive discussions and negotiations, SPEC Connaissance was able to decide how to best use their budget of approximately $37,000 for their annual fall speaker -- allocated to them by the Undergraduate Assembly -- to nab such an influential world leader.
"We were trying to find somebody unique and different from who we've had in the past," SPEC Connaissance Co-Chairman Jeffrey Shuster said. "We wanted to get someone a little less political and a little more diverse, and we haven't had a woman in a while."
Born Lisa Najeeb Halaby to a distinguished Arab-American family, Queen Noor graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in Architecture and Urban Planning in 1974. She married King Hussein of Jordan in 1978, assuming a distinct position as an American woman in the midst of the Arab world.
Noor -- who visited Penn's campus in May 2000 to receive the Philadelphia-based HOPE Worldwide humanitarian organization's Unity Award -- has witnessed the warring nations of the Middle East by working closely with her late husband. She has continued to harness her powerful position to execute acts of charity by working with various U.N. organizations.
Noor also heads the Noor Al Hussein Foundation, which works to improve the overall quality of life in Jordan by promoting issues concerning health care, women's rights, cultural programs and community development.
Shuster, a Wharton junior, added that Noor is able "to bring a large degree of personal firsthand experience to share with the Penn community."
Because of the volatile situation in the Middle East right now and the constant thrashing of opposing views, Connaissance said that they hope the words of Noor will incite discussion and curiosity among students and faculty.
The situation "deserves to have a certain amount of discourse," SPEC President Maahir Haque said, adding that much can be gained from listening to Noor's perspective on the Middle East conflict.
"Living in the U.S., we really don't get what one might consider a most complete view," Haque said.
Engineering junior and President of the Penn Arab Student Society Bashar Saleh is from Jordan and has been personally affected by Noor's goodwill efforts.
"I know her because she was a sponsor for my school in Jordan," Saleh said. "My school was run by her organization -- she was the honorary president."
"She is a very knowledgeable woman and she has been through a lot.... I think it is very important for people to go see her talk," Saleh continued.
He added that he believes Penn students will easily relate to her because she of her American origins.
One of the purposes of Connaissance, Shuster said, is "to bring somebody to campus who will make Penn students think.... We're just here to bring a different perspective to campus."
Tickets for the event will be sold Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 for $5 to PennCard holders on Locust Walk. In the case of rain, tickets will be sold in the Office of Student Life in Houston Hall, room 200.
In addition to Noor's speech -- "An Evening with Her Majesty Queen Noor" -- she will be signing copies of her autobiography Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life at 4 p.m. on Oct. 8 in the Penn Bookstore.
Royal welcome Social Planning and Events Committee Connaissance hosts "An Evening with Her Majesty Queen Noor" Biography: Born in the United States as Lisa Najeeb Halaby, the 1974 Princeton University graduate married King Hussein of Jordan in 1978. Where: Irvine Auditorium When: 8 p.m. on Oct. 8 Ticket information: $5 on Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 on Locust Walk, or in case of rain, in room 200 in Houston Hall Past Connaissance speakers: Filmmaker Michael Moore, journalist Bob Woodward, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, entertainer Harry Belafonte, poet Maya Angelou, actor Ben Stein, basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and feminist activist Gloria Steinem
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