Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU

Congratulations to our alum from the Class of 1990, James Ketterer, for accepting a new position as Director of Extension Programs and Professor of Practice at the American University of Armenia ().

AUA is a U.S.-accredited institution committed to excellence in teaching, research, and public service. In his new role, James will teach seminars on diplomacy and oversee the university's Extension Programs, which provide professional and lifelong learning opportunities across Armenia.

We are incredibly proud of you and excited to see all that you will accomplish in this role!

We are delighted to introduce our new Communications and Program Administrator, Dounya Alami-Nassif.

A Kevorkian Center alumna, she supports our communications, programming, student services, and public engagement. Prior to joining the Kevorkian Center, Dounya worked across higher education and nonprofit organizations in communications, program administration, and executive support. She is especially interested in making programming accessible to broader audiences through thoughtful, community-centered messaging. Learn more about Dounya: bit.ly/4yxtwBT.

We are so excited to work with her at Kevo - welcome to the team!

The 2026 Spring Institute, “Global Learning in Local Places: Teaching Mass Politics, Migration and Partitions”, brought K-12 educators together over the course of 4 monthly workshops this spring to explore how people in different places and time periods, from NYC to other world regions, navigate key transformative experiences that make our world.

Our academic director Tyson Patros, Clinical Assistant Professor, provided visionary leadership with his approach to exploring the connection between global histories and local life through the lens of migration, mass politics, and partitions. Participating teachers left with fresh lesson plans and classroom-ready projects ready to spark curiosity and connection in their own communities.

Thank you to all the speakers, participants, staff and to our co-sponsor, the NYU Gallatin HIVE for making the 2026 Spring Institute for K-12 educators a success!

Meet Nick Anderson, our teacher spotlight from the 2026 Spring Institute, “Global Learning in Local Places: Teaching Mass Politics, Migration, and Partitions."

Nick is a Social Studies teacher at Forsyth Satellite Academy, a transfer high school in the Lower East Side. Nick's classes focus on Immigration and the relationship between the state and individuals in the United States.

Welcome, Nick!

To learn more about our teachers, visit our Spring Institute website: https://buff.ly/AWGwCyE

Thank you to our speaker, Mayada Ibrahim, moderator, Khaled Al Hilli, and to all who attended this engaging conversation, “Translating Arabophone African Literature” as part of the Arabic Lecture Series for this spring semester on April 9, 2026.

A special thank you to our co-organizer, the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.

Did you miss this event? Watch the recording on our Youtube channel now!
▶️ https://buff.ly/H9bRczN

Thank you to Sarah Leah Whitson and Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man and to all who attended this engaging conversation on their new book, “From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine,” during the Spring semester on March 25, 2026.

Did you miss this event? Watch the recording on our Youtube channel now!
▶️ https://buff.ly/A5fno8r

Congrats to graduating NYU Kevorkian Center and & Global Journalism MA student Abdulrahman Zeyad for his outstanding thesis titled, “Postwar Iraq and the Algorithm of Care."

We are excited to see where your future leads!

Congratulations to our Assistant Director, Fidele Harfouche, who won the 2025-2026 Arts & Science Excellence Award!

This award is designed to recognize the outstanding contributions of the administrative, clerical, and technical staff within Arts & Science. Fidele is one of four employees who was recognized this year for outstanding performance.

We are incredibly proud to see her dedication and hard work be rewarded. Congrats Fidele!

Congrats to graduating NYU Kevorkian Center MA student and Falak Sufi Fellow Maryam Irfan, who also completed the Digital Humanities and Social Science Advanced Certificate, for her outstanding thesis titled, “Gendered Mobility and the Right to the City: Public Transportation, Safety, and Urban Inequality in Lahore.”

We are excited to see where your future endeavors lead!

Congrats to graduating NYU Kevorkian Center and Palmer School of Library and Information Science dual-degree student Eric Deng for his outstanding thesis, “Cyrillic and the Persian Canon: A Study of Script and State in Modern Tajikistan.”

We are excited to see where your future leads!