Summer 2015 Mosaic

The Summer 2015 issue of the Middle East Initiative Mosaic newsletter features highlights of MEI programs and activities over the 2014-2015 academic year, along with research and analysis of critical global issues by members of our community. This issue includes Crisis of the Arab State, a report by spring 2015 Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar Michael C. Hudson's study group, a review of a selection of the 66 events MEI hosted, interviews with students and faculty, and more.

Read the full Mosaicnewsletter.

A foreward from our Director...

The Middle East Initiative’s growth over the 2014-2015 year reflects our commitment to connect Harvard Kennedy School and the Middle East around the region’s most critical challenges and opportunities.

I am delighted to share with you the activities of the Middle East Initiative (MEI) over the past year featured in this issue of the Mosaic. At the heart of MEI is our community of faculty, students, visiting scholars, staff and research fellows, which continues to grow, as do our opportunities to engage with pressing policy issues through programming both on campus and in the region.

This year, we dramatically increased the opportunities for research through the launch of our research fellows program and additional faculty grants. We also hosted a series of public events that discussed political, social, economic and cultural changes in the region. Executive Education programming offered the opportunity for many executives from the region to join us at Harvard, and we supported cross-disciplinary study groups to encourage innovative thinking and action.

Our presence in the Middle East also manifested itself as we supported increased numbers of students conducting research in the region or participating in the two field-study experiences we offered. The experiential course on Syrian refugees in Jordan brought to life the realities on the ground of providing humanitarian relief to communities displaced by conflict; the UAE field visit provided our students with insights on engaging with sustainable energy and environmental concerns. Our commitment to connect HKS and the region was also evident through the many student recruitment events we held that have increased the number of new students from the Middle East on campus every year.

All of these successes are made possible by the commitment of the MEI team, our faculty, alumni and donors to whom we are very thankful. We look forward to welcoming you to one of our programs so that we can, together, share in the richness of learning from and engaging with the diversity of the Middle East…

--Hilary Rantisi, Director, Middle East Initiative