Best-selling author and CNN’s ‘Believer’ host Reza Aslan to speak at UCI on Islamophobia

EVENT: Reza Aslan, an internationally renowned religion writer and scholar, will speak at UCI about Islamophobia and steps we can take to overcome it. His appearance is part of a UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence lecture series about the nature of prejudice and strategies to counter bias and hate in our time.

WHEN/WHERE: 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 2, at the Irvine Barclay Theatre (grid E9, bldg. 1 on campus map: https://communications.uci.edu/documents/pdf/UCI_16_map_campus_core.pdf), followed by a book signing

INFORMATION: General admission is $10. Tickets are free for UCI students, staff and faculty with valid ID. Access links to ticketing at http://inclusion.uci.edu/perspectives. Parking is available for $10 in the Student Center Parking Structure (grid D9 on campus map). Media planning to attend should contact Tom Vasich at 949-824-6455 or tmvasich@uci.edu. Attendance and parking are complimentary for media who RSVP in advance.

BACKGROUND: A professor of creative writing at UC Riverside, Reza Aslan is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-seller Zealot: The Life & Times of Jesus of Nazareth and No god but God: The Origins, Evolution & Future of Islam, which was named one of the 100 most important books of the last decade by Blackwell Publishers. Aslan serves as host and executive producer on projects that include the CNN original documentary series “Believer.” He brings his expansive worldview to UCI for the second lecture in a campuswide series exploring ways to counter prejudice. The Office of Inclusive Excellence drives UCI’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, which is fundamental to advancing its mission as a public research university. The OIE provides campus accountability, mounts training and education, conducts responsive research, and builds and sustains partnerships with universities and colleges that share this commitment. For more information, see http://inclusion.uci.edu.