Hear from Students & Alumni
CMES is home to approximately 50 graduate students in our AM and joint PhD programs. Our network of over 700 alumni have gone on to distinguished careers in academia, NGOs, business, government, journalism, and more. Meet a few of our students and alumni here and learn about their research and experiences at CMES.
Student Profiles
On the Ground Following the Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria: Q&A with Deren Ertas
Deren Ertas is a PhD candidate in history and middle eastern studies at Harvard. She was in Istanbul doing research when, beginning on February 6, 2023, a series of powerful earthquakes struck areas of southern and central Turkey and northern and western...
Q&A With Mouhanad Al Rifay
CMES AM candidate Mouhanad Al Rifay is a Syrian-American award-winning documentary filmmaker, humanitarian, and human rights activist. At CMES he is focused on journalism and nonfiction narrative writing and developing further expertise in Middle East...
Q&A With Nana-Korantema Koranteng
Nana-Korantema Koranteng is a second-year student in the CMES AM Program in Middle Eastern Studies. Why did you choose CMES? I selected CMES because I felt like it was the program that provided me with the most flexibility. Having gone to a liberal arts...
Q&A with Badriyyah Alsabah
Badriyyah Alsabah is a second-year student in the AM in Middle Eastern Studies program. How did you become interested in Middle Eastern Studies? Having an upbringing grounded in the Middle East, specifically Kuwait, afforded me a consciousness around just...
Q&A with Thomas Roland Harris
Thomas Roland Harris is a second-year student in the AM in Middle Eastern Studies program. How did you become interested in Middle Eastern Studies? My interest in Middle Eastern Studies started early, before high school, and I think came from a desire to...
Alumni Profiles
Q&A With Becca Wadness
Becca Wadness is a 2018 graduate of the CMES AM Program in Middle Eastern Studies. She currently works as Senior Tunisia Desk Officer in the Bureau for the Middle East at USAID. What is the mission of the USAID Bureau for the Middle East, in general and...
Q&A With Medhini Kumar
Medhini Kumar is a 2016 graduate of the CMES AM Program in Middle Eastern Studies. She currently works as Communications Manager for UNRWA USA, an American nonprofit that is committed to bettering the lives of Palestine refugees through advocacy efforts...
Q&A with Asher Orkaby
Asher Orkaby is a 2014 graduate of Harvard’s joint PhD program in History and Middle Eastern Studies. He is currently a research associate at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and a lecturer at Harvard Extension School. His book...
Q&A with Eugene Rogan
Eugene Rogan is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History and Director of St. Antony’s Middle East Centre at the University of Oxford. He is the author of The Arabs: A History , which has been translated into ten languages and was named one of the best...
Q&A with Emrah Yildiz
Emrah Yildiz is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Middle East and North African Studies at Northwestern University. He completed his PhD in Anthropology and Middle East Studies at Harvard in 2016. How was your first term on the faculty at...
