FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, will speak as part of this year’s University of Arkansas student Distinguished Lecture Series.

Her lecture, “The Role of Women in World Peace,” will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, in the Fayetteville Town Center on the downtown square. The lecture is free and open to the public. No tickets are required.

Shirin Ebadi was the first woman to serve as a judge in the Iranian legal system, but was removed from her position following the Iranian Revolution in 1979 because she was a woman. She was denied a license to practice law in her country until 1992, when she was finally able to start her own private practice.

Ebadi wrote The Rights of a Child, regarding Iranian law, in 1987, following it with The Rights of Refugees in 1993 and The Rights of Women in 2002. She cofounded the Iranian Association for Support of Children's Rights in 1995 and the Human Rights Defense Centre in 2001. In her law practice she has handled many human rights cases.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 in recognition of “her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children."

Ebadi left Iran in 2009 after several years of harassment by government authorities. She currently lives in exile in London, but speaks frequently in the West, and is still an outspoken critic of Iran’s record on human rights. She remains a devout Muslim and an advocate for peaceful change in Iran.

The Distinguished Lecture Series is a student-sponsored program, a part of the Office of Student Activities. For accommodations due to disability please contact the Office of Student Activities, osa@uark.edu, or call 479-575-5255.

Speakers are chosen by a committee of students, faculty and staff, and the events are funded by students who pay the student activities fee, appropriated by the Programs Allocation Board. Recent speakers have included Bill Nye, W. Kamau Bell and NASA astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.