Café CSE Speaker Series

This week CSE will present their first speakers of the semester.

February 6: Mark Choate (History) and Jim Toronto (Arabic/Islamic) will discuss “Europe as a Melting Pot? Rising Immigration and Declining Population in the EU"

Where? 238 HRCB (Kennedy Center)
When? Wednesday, February 6, 4pm
Why? This pressing contemporary issue is very applicable to modern France and important in an understanding of modern French politics. Plus, while the French Department is not represented, these are excellent professors, and it is sure to be a great time.

Mark Choate is an associate professor of history at Brigham Young University. He has published articles in International Migration Review, French Colonial History, Modern Italy, Italian Culture, and other journals; his book Emigrant Nation: The Making of Italy Abroad (2008; Italian translation, 2013) was awarded the Council for European Studies Book Award and the Marraro Prize. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London, and the Società Italiana per lo Studio della Storia Contemporanea. Choate’s research has been supported by the Fulbright, Mellon, and Pew foundations. He received a BA magna cum laude, an MA, and a PhD in history from Yale University.

Toronto is an associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at Brigham Young University. He was previously a faculty member in the Department of Church History and Doctrine where he taught courses in comparative world religions. He served as the director of BYU’s Center for Cultural and Educational Affairs in Amman, Jordan, and was assistant director of the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at BYU for four years. Toronto writes and publishes on Islamic education, Muslim immigration in Italy, religious freedom and integration of religious/ethnic minorities in the Mediterranean littoral, and history of the LDS church in Italy and the Middle East. He received a a BA in English with minors in history and Italian from Brigham Young University and an MA and a PhD in in Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University.