The Noruz lectures are the most important collaborative effort between FIS and the George Washington University. From 1992 to 2017, each year around Noruz (Iranian New Year, approximately March 21) the Foundation for Iranian Studies, in cooperation with The George Washington University, has organized a public lecture on Iran under the title of “The Annual Noruz Lecture by a Distinguished Scholar of Iranian Studies Series.” Each lecture was meant as a statement of a new idea or the summation of the work of a scholar in his or her field of concentration.
The topic was selected by the speaker in consultation with the members of the Selection Committee, consisting of the Foundation for Iranian Studies’ Executive Director Mahnaz Afkhami, Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr of the George Washington University, Professor Roger Savory of the University of Toronto, and board member Gholam Reza Afkhami. The lectures, followed by a reception around the “haft-seen” table, were held at the George Washington University. Several lectures have been published as monographs. They will be published together in a volume in the future jointly by the Foundation for Iranian Studies and the George Washington University. The Persian translation of the lectures has appeared in Iran Nameh.
In its 2005 annual meeting, the Foundation’s board of directors decided that henceforth the Noruz lectures shall be delivered in honor of the late Dr. Abdol-Hossein Samii, a board and founding member of the Foundation for Iranian Studies.
Previous lectures and their Persian translation are now available on this website.