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MAAS Alumni: Wetter, Dougherty, Bloom, Malley, Scholar, Trigg, Mezran, Bezzat, Lehmann, Abugideiri, Joseph, Mohni, Willis, Teng, Shapiro, Pridotkas, Buzbee, El-Zir, Ream , Ghneim, Kholoussy, Saleh, Foley, Martin, Eadeh, Lawson, Shaikley, Al-Dakkak, Axelro
Published in 2005
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John Wetter (1983) is “back in DC after 3 years in Beirut and 3 years in Jerusalem with the World Bank.
”From the AUC website: AUC Librarian Robin Dougherty (1988) presented her paper “Music, Women, and Leisure: Piano Sheet Music and the Amateur Musician in Early Twentieth-century Egypt,” at the 27th annual conference of MELCOM International (the Middle East Libraries Committee), held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina from May 23-25, 2005. Robin also met with recent graduates and MAASers in Cairo this summer.
Mia Bloom’s (1991) book Dying to Kill: the Allure of Suicide Terror was published in May 2005 and sold out within two months; it is now going into a second printing. Dr. Bloom is also completing her next book on the strategic use of rape during ethnic conflicts,tentativelyentitled:“Gendercide:Raping to Win.” This summer she was interviewed on CNN, the Al Franken Show and by Ted Koppel for Nightline. She is currently teaching at the University of Cincinnati. Best of all, she got married in July.
Mohammed Malley (1991) is completing his PhD at UT Austin while working as the principal of Austin Peace Academy.
Judith Scholar (1992) continues her work in UK with the Nottinghamshire County Council in the Regeneration Division, focusing on employment and labor market initiatives.“I’d love to be able to use my MAAS degree, but it’s tough in the the middle of England; most of that work is in and around London. Caroline Barnes (1992) joined me on a short trip to Venice.”
Christine Trigg (1992) and her family have relocated to India for a three-year stint. “My husband Doug was transferred there with Microsoft and I hope to get back to working in international development. We are very excited to be living abroad again and to give our children the opportunity to experience another way of life. Doug and I just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a trip to Jordan and Syria. I remember fondly the wedding shower give to us by my MAAS classmates back in 1990. Greetings to everyone and an invitation to visit us in Delhi.”
Karim Mezran (1993) writes: “I am now the Director of the Center for American Studies in Rome as well as professor of Political Science at John Cabot University in Rome. This fall I will also be teaching a class on Political Islam at the Sais-Johns Hopkins University’s Bologna Center and I will be glad to meet any student or alumnus of the Center who passes through Rome.”
Martha Cooper Bezzat (1994), in Massachusetts, left MIT in February in order to start my teaching career. I’ll begin teaching “Women in the Arab Muslim World” at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education in Cambridge, MA in January. I’ll also continue to teach Arabic to adults at the Al-Huda Society in Everett this fall.
Scott Lehmann (1994), “I am still in Madrid but my company, Sybari Software, was acquired by Microsoft and I have now moved over to Microsoft as the Product and Solutions Marketing Manager for Security Products for Europe, Middle East and Africa.”
Hibba Abugideiri (1994) has left GWU to accept a tenure-track position in the History Department at Villanova University.
Sabrina Joseph (1995) successfully defended her Georgetown University history doctoral dissertation and has moved to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, where she will be an Assistant Professor of History at Shippensburg University.
Elke Kaschl Mohni (1996) has recently accepted the position of director of the Goethe Institute officeinAbuDhabiandwill be traveling throughout the Gulf.
John Willis (1997) is starting a tenure-track position in the history department at University of Colorado, Boulder, this fall, teaching history of the modern Middle East.
Sheng Yeu (Sean) Teng (1997), President and CEO of AAC (Acquire Assets Corporation, a BVI based company for taxation and holding purposes), writes:“In 1997, I established my own investment management company, AAC, in the Greater China region. The goal of AAC is to become a gateway for the Greater China market. Our focus industries are Telecom, Media, Financial Services, and IT solutions for government sector and corporate clients. The past eight years have passed quickly: instead of seeking outside investors, today China is also looking for investment target and business connections abroad. I will be more than happy to become our alumni’s bridge to this largest emerging market in the world. If MAASers have different industry focus from ours, AAC will still be able to provide its service in many ways.”
Adam Shapiro (1997) is currently in Kabul, Afghanistan, on a three-month position as country director for an NGO called Global Rights. Before leaving, he wrote, “I am quite excited about going to Afghanistan and seeing for myself a place that has largely been forgotten (again). I should be able to do some research for my PhD while there and also filmforperhapsanother documentary. The filmonDarfuris almost complete and is being reviewed by HBO and Sundance. We are hoping to have a deal with a distributor shortly. Preview screenings have been met with very positive audience response.”
Stacie Peden Pridotkas (1997), whose son George was born in February, 2004, is still in the DC area and working hard.
John Buzbee (1997) headed to Cairo where his wife Sally is the AP’s Chief of Middle East News. After a few glorious months of down time to catch up on reading and hanging out with daughters Emma and Meg, he starts work in the US Embassy Cultural Affairs section in August.
Mary El-Zir (1997) moved from Lebanon to Qatar in August, joining CDC (Construction and Development Company).
Rebecca Ream (1998) is currently working at the US Consulate in Dubai.
Fares Ghneim (1998) began work in early summer with BP in Abu Dhabi, where he is Communications Manager for BP Middle East and Pakistan.
Hanan Kholoussy (1999) writes that she will be teaching at NYU this fall while writing her dissertation. Her home base is now Tokyo, where her husband is working.
Sarah Saleh (1999) “finishedmyworkwithInternational Rescue Committee [IRC] in Sarajevo this summer and is now back in the Middle East, working with the Danish Refugee Council in Jordan. Though I am involved in managing DRC’s program in Iraq, I am based in Amman for the time being, like many other humanitarian aid workers. Working on the Iraq program will certainly be challenging, but interesting.”
Sean Foley (2000) taught a course on African Jihads as a Davis fellow at Georgetown in the spring semester, and successfully defended his dissertation in May (GU history). He started this fall as assistant professor at DePauw University teaching modern Middle East history, the Arab-Israeli dispute, and Islam and global terrorism.
Kevin Martin (2000) successfully defended his Georgetown University history doctoral dissertation−“Enter the Future! Exemplars of Bourgeois Modernity in Post-World War II Syria” −in August, after which he moved to Memphis, TN, where he has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Memphis.
Julie Eadeh (2002) spent the past year as a political officer in Riyadh covering human rights, political reform, first-ever elections,and women’s issues. She returns to DC this fall for six months of French before heading off to Beirut for a year.
Sean Lawson (2002) writes, “I just finishedup my coursework and comprehensive exams at RPI (Renssalaer Polytechnic). Cynthia and I moved back to Baltimore in August, as she is starting her PhD in history of science and technology at Johns Hopkins. I am starting my dissertation research, which is related to the impacts of computer technology and nonlinear science on US military affairs.”
Ali Shaikley (2002) is taking the current year to do a one-year MBA program at Oxford in the UK (the Said Business School). He will then return to complete his finalyear at GW Law School.
Kelly Al-Dakkak (2003) has been accepted to the M.St./ D.Phil program in Oriental Studies at Oxford University. She will begin her studies there in October 2005.
Matthew Axelrod (2003) left the US Embassy in Cairo in April and is now working at the Pentagon, as Country Director for Egypt and North Africa.
Gary Boutz (2004) spent the summer studying Lebanese dialect in Beirut at LAU; he is back this fall working on his PhD in Arabic at Georgetown.
Continuing student Samuel Blatteis (2007) has received a Fulbright award for 2005-6 and will be based out of Kuwait City for a year doing fieldresearchonGulf Arab countries’ expanding relations with China. He will be going up and down the Arab side of the Gulf interviewing oil experts and foreign ministry officials on regional approaches to China and tracking the trajectory of China’s growing role in the Middle East and what are different Gulf Arab perspectives on it. He welcomes people who are interested in discussing the topic to contact him. He would love to meet up with any former MAASers who will be in the area.
Younes Mirza (2005), Thomas Patrick Truxes, and Katrien Vanpee (2007) are three of fivestudentswhoreceivedfull-year scholarships to study at the University of Qatar. They have both completed their first year of the MAAS program. Pat is concentrating on the political and economic aspects of the Arab-Persian Gulf. Katrien is co-author of an Arabic grammar handbook and is interested in Arabic language/literature in the United States.
Brendan Geary (2005) received a Fulbrightaward and will be based in Qatar.
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