Ayman Mohyeldin will be Dean’s Global Forum guest

October 10, 2022
Ayman Mohyeldin, renowned journalist and news anchor at MSNBC, will join Northwestern Qatar as the next speaker for the Dean’s Global Forum on October 25. In a conversation with Dean Marwan M. Kraidy, Mohyeldin will discuss his career trajectory and reflect on his experience reporting on the Middle East and the Arab World.
 
“Ayman is an influential media figure and distinguished journalist whose coverage of the Iraq war and reporting on some of the major events in the Middle East have dispelled misconceptions about Arabs and the Arab world,” said Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “I look forward to his visit to our campus and my conversation with him on his career in the media, which, I am sure, will inspire our students as well as the wider Northwestern Qatar community.”
 
Mohyeldin is the host of MSNBC’s weekly primetime show Ayman, where he conducts interviews and conversations about the biggest political and cultural stories developing in the U.S. and around the world.
 
He began his journalism career in 2001 at NBC News in Washington D.C., and from the very start of his career, he participated in coverage of global news, including the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. He later worked for major news outlets, including Fox News, CNN, and Al Jazeera English, before joining MSNBC in 2011.  
 
Throughout his career, Mohyeldin has been recognized for his coverage of stories centered in the Middle East, including stories on major conflicts in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq, where he brought to light the impact of the U.S.-led invasion on civilians.  Mohyeldin has also covered the Arab uprisings and was the first journalist to be given access to nuclear research facilities in Libya.
“Ayman is an influential media figure and distinguished journalist whose coverage of the Iraq war and reporting on some of the major events in the Middle East have dispelled misconceptions about Arabs and the Arab world”
- Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar
He has received multiple international awards, including a Peabody, a Sigma Delta Chi Award, Argentina’s Perfil International Press Freedom Award, the Cutting Edge Media Award from the United Kingdom, and the European Union’s Anna Lindh Foundation Award. In addition, he was named Journalist of the Year by both GQ and Esquire magazines, and in 2011, was listed in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world.
 
A proponent of press freedom, Mohyeldin was detained by the Egyptian security forces in Tahrir Square during the uprisings in 2011. He has recently gone viral on social media platforms for his coverage of slain Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli fire while reporting from the West Bank.
 
Mohyeldin is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., where he received his BA and an MA in international politics with a focus on peace and conflict resolution. Born in Cairo, Egypt, Mohyeldin grew up in Detroit, Michigan; Amman, Jordan; and Marietta, Georgia.
 
The Dean’s Global Forum is a series of lectures that features eminent leaders from the academe, the media, the arts, and public affairs. Past speakers have included Prathama Banerjee, professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies; Amal Mohammed Al-Malki, founding dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad bin Khalifa University; and Eve Troutt Powell, the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania.