Bruce Lawrence holds online office hours Friday, April 30 at noon. Photo credit: Duke Photography

DURHAM, N.C. - Insights on teaching Islam over the past four decades are the focus of the next "Office Hours" webcast conversation Friday, April 30. Religion professor Bruce Lawrence will take questions from online viewers during the interview beginning at noon on Duke's Ustream channel.

To ask Lawrence a question in advance or during the session, send an email to live@duke.edu, tweet with the tag #dukelive or post to the Duke University Facebook page.

During his nearly 40 years at Duke as a religion professor, Lawrence has taught multiple courses on Islam, including a recent seminar on the Qur'an where he assigns his students "custodianship" of five surahs, or chapters, of Islam's sacred text. He has written seven books, including a translation of Osama bin Laden's writings in the book "Messages to the World -- The Statements of Osama bin Laden," and has pioneered scholarship in comparative religion and the study of Islamic societies globally.

Lawrence has chaired the Department of Religion, directed the Center for South Asian Studies, served as the inaugural director of the Duke Islamic Studies Center and was recently named a Carnegie Scholar. He is retiring in 2011 and recently gave his "last lecture" at Duke.

Office hours at a university are times when professors leave their doors open for individuals to stop by and discuss issues such as current events and developments in their fields. Duke's "Office Hours" series aims to bring the expansiveness and sparkle of these conversations to anyone with an Internet connection and an interest in the ideas bubbling up at Duke. To date, topics have ranged from patenting genes to political cartoons, the economics of the Islamic world and caring for people with cancer. You are invited to join the conversation.