News Release

Nationally syndicated columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Krauthammer will give a free lecture, "Israel: Finally a Ray of Hope," at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24, in Shriver Hall Auditorium on the university's Homewood campus, 3400 N. Charles St. in Baltimore.

Krauthammer will discuss Israel's relations with its neighboring countries. The event is chaired by two Johns Hopkins juniors, Yonina Alexander of Israel and Bita Azhdam of Rockville, Md. The program is intended to promote a dialogue on campus and to promote discussion of the shared values of freedom and democracy that connect Israel and the United States.

Charles Krauthammer writes a syndicated column for The Washington Post that appears in over 125 newspapers worldwide, according to a biography posted at the Web site of TIME, the magazine for which he also writes a monthly essay. A contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and The New Republic, Krauthammer serves on the editorial boards of The National Interest and The Public Interest, and is a weekly panelist on Inside Washington and a contributor to FOX News. Krauthammer earned a medical degree from Harvard University and his accomplishments include the co-discovery of a form of bipolar disease that continues to be cited in psychiatric literature. He quit practicing medicine in 1978, came to Washington to direct planning in psychiatric research in the Carter administration, and began contributing articles to The New Republic. During the 1980 presidential campaign, he served as a speech writer for Vice President Walter Mondale. He joined The New Republic as a writer and editor in 1981. His New Republic writings won the 1984 National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism, the highest award in magazine journalism. In 1987, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary for his syndicated column in The Washington Post. In 2001, he was appointed to the President's Council on Bioethics.

"Israel: A Ray of Hope" is sponsored by Scott Black, an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University, in conjunction with Hopkins Hillel, an agency of Hillel of Greater Baltimore, which is supported by THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. Other supporters of the program include CHAI, Jim Winter Israel Initiative Fund, Susan Boswell, dean of students on the Homewood campus, FAS, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, and the Baltimore Jewish Times.

A reception follows Krauthammer's lecture. For information, contact Rachel E. Heimann at (410) 516-0333 or reh@jhu.edu.