The University of Utah Office for Global Engagement and the Middle East Center invite campus and community members interested in global affairs to attend the Gulf States Forum, a one-day event exploring diplomacy, economic diversification, natural resources, and innovation across the Gulf region.

The forum is Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, beginning at 9 a.m. Several lectures and discussions are scheduled throughout the day, and the event will culminate with the Global U Alumni Impact dinner, recognizing an alumnus whose career has made a significant international impact.

Designed to foster dialogue among academic, government, industry, and community leaders, the Gulf States Forum will examine opportunities for collaboration on issues shaping the future of the Gulf Region and its partnerships with the United States.

The program

A keynote address from His Excellency Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi,

• Panel discussion with Bader Mousa Al-Saif, an assistant professor at Kuwait University, and Dania Thafer, director of Gulf International Forum, and moderated by Michael Christopher Low, director of the university’s Middle East Center,
• A guest lecture, “S.-Gulf Relations after the Iran War­—what (and where) next?,” by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, fellow for the Middle East at the Baker Institute at Rice University,
• Roundtable discussion moderated by Low with Ulrichsen and Andrew Leber, assistant professor of political science at Tulane University, and Karen Young, senior research scholar at the center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University,
• The Global U Alumni Impact Dinner honoring His Excellency Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and a 1991 University of Utah graduate, with the inaugural Global U Alumni Impact Award, and celebrating the U’s commitment to global engagement and recognizing individuals and organizations advancing international collaboration.

Dinner tickets are $60/guest ($15 for current UofU students), with all proceeds benefiting the University of Utah International Students Emergency Fund, which provides financial assistance to international students facing unexpected financial emergencies.

Special guests

The Gulf States Forum will feature a distinguished panel of University of Utah faculty and academic experts whose research and professional expertise span the Gulf Region and its most pressing challenges. Panelists will lead discussions on issues shaping the future of the region and opportunities for international collaboration. Guest speakers include:

His Excellency Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the regional organization representing Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Secretary-General AlBudaiwi (’91) will be recognized for his global leadership with the inaugural International Alumni of the Year award.

Dr. Bader Mousa Al-Saif is a historian of the modern and contemporary Middle East and Islamic thought. He focuses on the Arabian Peninsula, namely its geopolitics, public policy, culture, reform dynamics, transnational trends, and gender studies. He is an assistant professor at Kuwait University, the founding president of Al-Saif Consulting, and a fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and the Arab Gulf States Institute.

Dr. Andrew Leber is an Assistant Professor at Tulane University in the Department of Political Science and the Middle East & North African (MENA) Studies program. His work examines public policymaking and media ecosystems under non-democracies, with a particular focus on the politics of the Middle East (or West Asia) and North Africa.

Dr. Michael Christopher Low is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah. Low is the author of Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj (Columbia University Press, 2020). He is currently working on a new book project tracing the entangled environmental histories of water, desalination technology, energy, and climate change in the Arabian Peninsula. 

Dr. Dania Thafer is the Executive Director of Gulf International Forum, an institute based in Washington, D.C. that provides analysis on political, economic, social, and security issues for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Iran, Iraq and Yemen. She is also a Lecturer for Arabian Peninsula affairs at the U.S. State Department’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center.

Dr. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and co-director of the Middle East Energy Roundtable. His research examines the changing position of Persian Gulf states in the global order, as well as the emergence of longer-term, nonmilitary challenges to regional security.

Dr. Karen E. Young, a political economist focused on the Gulf and the wider Middle East economies and energy sector. She is Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University SIPA. She also serves as a senior advisor to the founding director on scholarship. She is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute and is director of the Initiative on Economics and Energy.

How to attend the Gulf States Forum

Community members, students, faculty, staff, and professionals interested in global affairs are encouraged to attend. Apart from the evening dinner, all forum events are free and open to the public. Registration is required, and space is limited.

To register and view the complete program, visit global.utah.edu/gulfstatesforum.

About the University of Utah Office for Global Engagement

The University of Utah Office for Global Engagement advances the University’s global mission by fostering international partnerships, supporting student and faculty engagement abroad, welcoming international students and scholars, and creating opportunities that connect the University community to the world.

About the University of Utah Middle East Center

For more than sixty years the University of Utah’s Middle East Center has served as a hub for the scholarly examination of the region. Bringing together than more 30 faculty affiliates from across campus, the Middle East Center facilitates research, teaching, public events, and community outreach. It provides faculty with the resources and intellectual environment to realize cutting-edge research and connect with our scholarly peers from across the nation and the globe. The Center works with the College of Humanities and many partner departments, including World Languages and Cultures, History, and Political Science, to facilitate language learning in Arabic and Persian and an interdisciplinary Middle East BA track within International and Area Studies. The Center also partners with the University of Utah Press to produce a book series, Transregional Middle Easts.

• Rebecca Walsh 801-550-4930 Rebecca.walsh@utah.edu
• Michael Christopher Low Director, Middle East Center
  M.Chris.Low@utah.edu