e t a d Up
Spring ’12 Student Cohort
Dear Colleagues & Friends of MESP,
FEBRUARY, 2012
Greetings from the Middle East! Please look at this newsletter as a MESP update of sorts, meant to encourage you to send us any Dialogue with questions you may have about Hebrew University students our program. In addition to letting you know what we are up to in these days of challenge and change in the Middle East, we plan in subsequent issues to profile current students, MESP alum, and various people, places, and events related to the program.
APPLICATION DEADLINES FALL 2012
April 2, 2012 (Regular) SPRING 201 3
May 1, 2012 (Early) October 1, 2012 (Regular)
Most of you know by now that we are based in Jerusalem Israel, perched on a picturesque hilltop (Tantur), just outside of Bethlehem. After moving from Cairo, we continue to focus on engaging www.bestsemester.com\mesp\ the Arab-Muslim world, with coursework in Palestinian Arabic, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Islamic Thought and Practice, and the People and VIDEO on MESP Culture of the region. Conditions permitting, Egypt will remain part SERVICE PROJECTS of the MESP regional travel component. CLICK TO VI EW
With the historic backdrop of Jerusalem--home to three of the world's largest monotheistic faith communities, MESP continues to seek a transformative experience for its students: spiritually, intellectually, and relationally. Surrounded by thousands of years of history, our students are pursuing encounters with local Muslims, Eastern Christians, and Israeli Jews on the street, and are engaging with local experts, political and religious leaders, journalists, authors, bloggers and embassy officials. Continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare our students for home-stays with Palestinian families, and embark on an exciting travel itinerary to Turkey, Tunisia and Jordan. Blessings,
David P. Holt
NEXT MONTH... Students’ homestays with Palestinian families
Group Travel to Turkey, Tunisia, and Jordan.
ALUM
Alissa Walter attended MESP in Fall ‘06 and is currently at Georgetown University, completing a PhD in Middle Eastern History. A graduate of Seattle Pacific U., Alissa returned to Cairo to serve as a Political Research Intern at the League of Arab States. She later worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute for the Study of International Migration, co-authoring a report on Iraqi Refugees in Cairo and assisting with ethnographic field work with Iraqi refugees in Jordan. In describing her semester on MESP, Alissa says: “This rewarding experience empowered me to continue studying and traveling to the Middle East, and is what ultimately started me on the path that brought me to where I am today. Alissa currently does contractual research work, related to the Middle East, for the Oxford Analytica. She would eventually like to find a position at a university that allows her to continue researching and traveling in the region that she loves. PROFESSOR The Reverend Dr. Yazeed Said is a Palestinian Anglican priest from Nazareth. He completed a PhD at Cambridge University in Medieval Islamic Political and Legal Thought, and was a Visiting Research Fellow at McGill University in Montreal. Dr. Said has ministered in the diocese of Jerusalem as a pastor teacher, most recently as the Acting Dean of St George's Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem. Dr. Said is currently teaching the Islam course for MESP. He is very keen on ecumenical and interfaith matters and is a member of the Anglican Commission on Theological Education.
SCHOOLS Over the years, MESP has received students from no less than 35 CCCU schools. We are grateful to be able to play some small part in the transformation that results from our students’ cross-cultural experience here in the Middle East. This semester we are honored to host for the first time students from two additional CCCU schools: four students from William Jessup University (CA) and one from Covenant College (GA). We welcome these two schools and their students! For further information about MESP please click here David P. Holt (PhD) Director, Middle East Studies Program Council for Christian Colleges & Universities www.cccu.org http://www.cccu.org http://www.bestsemester.com/mesp Jerusalem, Israel and Washington, DC Mesp.director@gmail.com 0549051844 (Israel) (00972)549051844 (From the USA)