Drawing some of the most promising student leaders from universities in the Middle East and North Africa, the six-week program, which is administered through the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs under the authority of the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961, will include seminars, discussions and coursework focused on civic leadership, as well as field trips and volunteer work throughout the local community and state.
Audrey Helfman, associate policy scientist at UD's Institute for Public Administration and associate professor in the School of Urban Affairs, will teach the students leadership development skills that they will be encouraged to apply upon their return to their home countries. Daniel Green, UD associate professor of political science and international relations, will serve as academic director of the program.
“The center could not put together such an outstanding program without the help of so many faculty from departments across campus, and we hope they find the experience as rewarding as the center staff do,” Lesa Griffiths, director of UD's Center for International Studies, said.
Griffiths added that she is proud UD was chosen for the fourth straight year to host the MEPI program and said that the benefit of the experience is evident from the initiatives graduates take once they return to their home countries and universities.
UD's Center for International Studies will continue to mentor the students once they return to their home countries through an ongoing e-mail dialogue. Four past participants in MEPI summer institutes at UD also will spend part of their summer in Newark this year.
Lukman Arsalan, a recent graduate of the University of Jordan who attended the MEPI program at UD in the summer of 2004, its inaugural year, said that attending the program was such a valuable experience for him that he wanted to return as a mentor. Now serving as a student leadership mentor and resident adviser in this summer's program, he is counseling participants on how to work for social change once they return home. In the fall, he will continue his work in the graduate program in public service at the Clinton School for Public Service in Arkansas, under a full scholarship.
“When I entered the MEPI program in 2004, I was 18 and I hadn't had any previous travel experience,” Arsalan said. “The whole program was a new journey to me.
“I didn't have too many misconceptions, but a major misconception I did have, which was cleared, was how American citizens are different from the United States administration. In Jordan, so many people have a misconception about U.S. foreign policy and what Americans think about the Middle East,” he said. “I now see America as a country which really has diversity and a great diversity of opinions within its citizens.”
Dima Qassim, a senior majoring in information management systems at the University of Jordan and an alumna of last year's MEPI program, said that the MEPI program inspired her to take direct action once she returned to the University of Jordan.
“I learned about democracy,” Qassim said, “and one of the things I especially liked is that we got a lot of opportunities to volunteer. This made me realize how volunteering can contribute responsibly to society, and I decided that we should have these volunteer opportunities in my home country.
“The program really encouraged us to go on and apply for grants to continue with projects in education, economics, women's empowerment or any other social work in our own countries,” Qassim said. “When I went back home, I started a management information systems club, because this is what I study, and we did a lot of extracurricular activities, and I gave a leadership course that was a blast.”
Qassim, who was asked back to UD this year to complete an internship in information systems management at the Center for International Studies, said the MEPI program also broadened her social horizons. “I had the chance to make friends from all over the world, as well as from the Middle East,” she said. She added that field trips to Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C., Arizona and Lancaster County, (Pa.) Amish country further expanded her understanding of American culture and social diversity.
Sara-Jane Chehab, a participant in UD's MEPI Summer Institute in 2004 and presently a graduate student in UD's Department of Political Science and International Relations, is serving as a graduate program assistant for the institute while Dana Dweik, a participant in UD's 2005 MEPI Summer Institute, will speak to this year's participants on her work in fostering dialogue between opposing groups in the Middle East.
MEPI volunteer opportunities this year include partnerships with Habitat for Humanity, the Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation and the Mary Campbell Center in Wilmington.
Field trips are planned for Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City, Memphis and Colorado. The trip to Washington, D.C., will include meetings with governmental and nongovernmental leaders, and this summer's MEPI alumni will meet UD faculty again at a follow-up workshop to be held in the Middle East or North Africa in early 2008.
The MEPI program at UD is one of five such programs in the United States for undergraduate student leaders from the Middle East and North Africa. Other 2007 host institutions are Benedictine University, Dickinson College, Georgetown University and Montana State University.
Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson