CCAS has the privilege of hosting two undergraduate interns from the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) in Washington DC, who will be working with CCAS faculty and staff this summer. We are pleased to welcome Lily Stroud and Daniel Chehimi.
By way of introduction, they have each interviewed and written profiles about one another, which you can read below.
Lily Stroud is from Brooklyn, New York. She is a rising junior at Smith College, where she is double-majoring in Government and Middle East Studies. She has been studying Arabic for the past two years and works as an Arabic Tutor at Smith. She plans to do a semester abroad in Jordan next year, hoping to perfect her Shami (Levantine) Arabic and engage directly with Jordanian culture.
During her undergraduate studies, Lily has conducted research on Turkish politics, several of the Arab uprisings, as well as Egyptian social movements. She is also interested in how languages function as a method of communication and in the connotations of different Arabic translations of literature and academia.
She was interested in undertaking an internship with the National Council on U.S. Arab-Relations to assess what the Middle East policymaking landscape in D.C. looks like. She was specifically interested in Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies to understand the inner workings of an academic institution focused on the Middle East, as well as to better grasp the possible career pathways in academia that she could potentially pursue in the future. Her tentative post-graduate plans are to complete a Master’s and/or PhD program in Middle East Studies.
Outside of the classroom, Lily is on her school’s synchronized swimming team, is an avid runner, and loves to read and write. Currently, she is reading The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong.
Daniel Chehimi is from Beirut, Lebanon. He is a rising junior at Wesleyan University, where he is double-majoring in Economics and Government with a concentration in International Relations. Having spent most of his formative years in Lebanon and Kuwait, he has developed a strong interest in Arab and Islamic politics, culture, history, and economic policy, shaped by his lived experiences, personal ties, and intellectual pursuits.
Throughout his undergraduate studies, Daniel has conducted research for a professor on transnational Islamist activism with Egyptian and Tunisian diaspora communities. This past spring semester, he studied abroad in Sydney, where he completed an internship focused on policy advocacy and commercial operations in the property industry.
He was interested in undertaking an internship with the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations to gain insight into the policymaking landscape in Washington, D.C., particularly as it relates to foreign affairs. He is especially pleased to be interning with Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, where he can further develop his strong academic interests and deepen his exposure to the intersection between research and practice. His tentative post-graduate plans are to complete a Master’s and/or PhD program.Outside of the classroom, Daniel is an avid reader and music connoisseur. Additionally, he enjoys dabbling in filmmaking and storytelling. He is currently reading A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani.
