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
Q&A with John Hambley
John Hambley is a student in the CMES AM Program in Regional Studies — Middle East. How did you become interested in Middle Eastern Studies? My interest in the Middle East began while I was an undergraduate at Bard College. From the safety of a college...
Q&A with Wadah Al-Shugaa
Wadah Al-Shugaa is a student in the CMES AM Program in Regional Studies — Middle East. How did you become interested in Middle East Studies? I was born and grew up in the green mountains of Ibb, Yemen before moving with my family to New York City in 2002...
Q&A with Aya Majzoub
Aya Majzoub is a student in the CMES AM Program in Regional Studies — Middle East. How did you become interested in Middle East Studies? I grew up in Saudi Arabia because my parents left Lebanon after the civil war. However, I remained hopeful that our...
Q&A with Gwendolyn Collaco
Gwendolyn Collaco is a student in the joint PhD Program in History and Middle East Studies. How did you become interested in Middle East studies? Middle Eastern studies (of the Ottoman variety) first hooked me during the last year and a half of my...
Q&A with Mira Schwerda
Mira Schwerda is a student in the joint PhD Program in History of Art & Architecture and Middle East Studies. How did you become interested in Middle East Studies? As an undergraduate student in Germany I became interested in the Middle East and Central...
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...
