CV

Research and Teaching Interests: International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, Strategic Studies

Dissertation Title: Military Moves in the Middle East: Explaining the Military’s Role During the Arab Spring

Dissertation Chair: Dr. Patrice McMahon

About Me: I arrived in the USA in 2004 on a State Department Scholarship (was awarded the scholarship because I was one of the top students in my college in Syria). In 2006, I graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. I also finished my master’s degree at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2009 in Political Science. In 2011, I was honored to join the Political Science Department at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln as a Ph.D. student in International Relations. Due to my academic performance, I was awarded a research assistantship, and now I am a visiting assistant professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University. My current research focuses on identifying the causes and consequences of the recent political turmoil in the Middle East. More specifically, I am interested in understanding why the numerous democratization efforts in the Middle East have failed to produce democratic institutions. This broadens my knowledge in the areas of comparative politics, international relations, and political theory, in addition to the role of the military in the governance of the Middle East and terrorism in general. I have taught courses in a variety of areas within political science, including IR, comparative politics, Middle East politics, US foreign policy, political theory, American Government, and the United Nations.