Hometown: Morgantown, West Virginia

Research interests: Legal and human rights, LGBTQ+ history, Palestinian history and resistance, struggles and movements of the working class, Appalachia and West Virginia

Christina Murray graduated with a BA in International Studies focusing on security and

diplomacy from West Virginia University in 2020. During her first year at college, Christina was awarded the National Security Education Program Boren scholarship, which allowed her to study Modern Standard Arabic at the Qasid Arabic Institute and Levantine Arabic at the Shababeek Language and Cultural Center for one year in Amman, Jordan. Additionally, Christina completed a month-long study abroad program with AMIDEAST Jordan in 2019 during which she began exploring complex political and social issues in advanced Arabic courses. Christina was also a Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA@AUC) Fellow (2021-22) at the American University in Cairo, where she completed classes in both MSA and the Egyptian dialect along with specialized content courses in translation, simultaneous translation/interpretation, contemporary literature, and public speaking.