The quarterly College of International Studies newsletter is your source for CIS updates and stories, events and news related to international education at OU. If there's something you'd like to see included in our next newsletter, email Maura McAndrew at [email protected].

CIS Centers and Institutes Enhance Campus Collaboration 

The College of International Studies houses nine thematic or regional institutes and centers, each of which supports research activities and engages in outreach to the campus community. Center-sponsored events range from faculty-led panels to film showings to presentations by invited guest speakers. Some centers support student groups, some host postdoctoral fellows and some have attracted external research grants. These include the African Studies Institute, Center for the Americas, Center for Brazil Studies, Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies, Center for the Study of Nationalism, Center for Middle East Studies, Institute for US-China Issues, Center for Peace and Development, and Cyber Governance and Policy Center. 

The centers and institutes enhance campus collaboration in two fundamental ways. First, each center is a hub for faculty working in the relevant thematic realm or region to engage with one another in discussions of their own research or the research of invited scholars. Second, addressing a longstanding challenge in the academic world of fostering engagement across academic units and colleges, the centers and institutes have begun to catalyze broad collaboration on both research and outreach activities. 

The Feb. 2 visit of journalist Howard French is a recent example of highly effective collaboration between centers and across colleges at OU. French gave a talk on his new book, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War. Currently a professor of journalism at Columbia University, French is a career foreign correspondent for The New York Times who served as bureau chief for West and Central Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, China, Japan and the Koreas. The talk, co-sponsored by the African Studies Institute, Center for the Americas, and Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, attracted a large audience to Gaylord Auditorium. The event spilled over to discussions between faculty and in classrooms in the following days, a testament to the impact of cross-college collaboration.

We can expect to see additional successes ahead since directors of the CIS centers and institutes are committed to building on this model of collaboration.

Mitchell Smith

Associate Dean for Academic Programs

Special College Event: Omar Khayyam Scholars-at-Risk Luncheon

On April 28, the College of International Studies held a luncheon for the OU Omar Khayyam Scholars-at-Risk Program, through which OU currently hosts visiting scholars from Afghanistan and Myanmar. The luncheon featured remarks from CIS Dean Scott Fritzen, who coordinates the program, as well as Jalal and Mohammad Farzaneh, whose generous philanthropy has made it possible. The scholars and their partners who were in attendance included Hossain Ahmadi, Esmat Ayoubi, Feroz Bashari, Zahra Eyvazi, Said Dawood Fayaz, Husnia Hazara, Shabnam Khalilyar, Shogofa Rafi, Mahdi Rahimi, Mehri Rezaee, Masooma Vaezi and Myo Win. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a year of the program and for the scholars, administrators, faculty, staff and community members in attendance to connect with one another.

Student Spotlight: Kristina Aleksanyan and Ahmed Abdelaziz

On April 15, two of our international and area studies majors participated in the 35th Annual Undergraduate Research Day sponsored by the OU Honors College. Kristina Aleksanyan (advisor Afshin Marashi) presented her paper, “Nationalizing Violence: The Effects of the 1915 Genocide on Modern Armenian National Identity,” and Ahmed Abdelaziz (advisor Samer Shehata) presented his paper, “Authoritarianism Camouflaged in Media: An Analysis of the Egyptian Regime's Propaganda Model.” Kristina's paper was awarded first place in the multidisciplinary and humanistic studies category, and Ahmed received honorable mention. We're so proud of these young scholars!

Staff Spotlight: Kaydee Dyer



Congratulations to Kaydee Dyer, assistant director of operations in Education Abroad, who has received the 2023 Distinguished Performance Award from OU Staff Senate! She was recognized on April 25 at the Staff Week awards ceremony. Kaydee has been a leader in our Office of Education Abroad for many years, and she works tirelessly to make study abroad an enriching and accessible part of the OU experience. Well deserved!

Faculty Spotlight: Amel Khalfaoui

Amel Khalfaoui is associate professor of Arabic linguistics and the 2022 recipient of the CIS Research Award. With the aid of the award, Khalfaoui was able to travel to Tunisia in summer 2022 for eight weeks to complete her planned research activities on the role of concessive markers in discourse interpretation. During the trip, she compiled a linguistic data corpus of 38,000 words, analyzed them, and addressed remaining research questions that were not accounted in preliminary research. The new findings will constitute a major part of the results section in the manuscript Khalfaoui is submitting for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Because Khalfaoui's research heavily relies on the analysis of linguistic data, the data collected on the research trip was crucial for the completion of her study, and the trip also offered networking opportunities and laid ground for future collaborations.

Read Amel Khalfaoui's bio

Staff Spotlight: Malin Collins, Shanna Vincent, Katie Watkins



Congratulations to our staff members celebrating milestones this spring! Assistant director of academic advising Malin Collins is celebrating 20 years at OU. Shanna Vincent, director of Education Abroad, and Katie Watkins, academic advisor and GAMA program manager, are both celebrating 10 years. Malin, Shanna and Katie are all essential members of the CIS team who make our college a better place. Here's to many more years!