A desire to teach at the university level motivated my decision to enter graduate school. This aspiration resulted from my time working as a volunteer English language teacher in the West Bank. Living in Hebron, I helped instruct English language classes at various proficiency levels for children, teenagers, and Palestinian adults during the 2014 Gaza War. Working under difficult circumstances while supporting students from different backgrounds fostered a love for teaching that I continued to hold as I applied to Ph.D. programs.
 
Since volunteering, I have gained important experience educating and mentoring undergraduate students at the George Washington University (GWU). As an Instructor of Record at GWU, I designed and taught two semester-length courses entitled “Political Violence in the Middle East” and “Political Violence and the Jihadist Movement.” The GWU Department of Political Science recognized my course focusing on the Middle East as the best class taught by a political science graduate student in 2021-2022. Outside of GWU, I have been invited to discuss my research with and give guest lectures to undergraduate students at Baylor University, graduate students at GWU and Georgetown University, and the Young Women’s Peacebuilding Fellowship.

Instructor of Record, George Washington University, Spring 2023
Political Violence and the Jihadist Movement, Department of Political Science, PSC 2993 (see draft syllabus below)
Instructor Rating: 5/5 (24 respondents)

Instructor of Record, George Washington University, Spring 2022
Political Violence in the Middle East, Department of Political Science, PSC 2993
Instructor Rating: 4.8/5 (22 respondents)
Awarded best course taught by a political science graduate student in 2021-2022

English Language Teacher
Excellence Center, Hebron, 2014