Core Faculty & Staff
Mohamad Bazzi

Email: Mohamad.Bazzi@nyu.edu
Mohamad Bazzi is Director of the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and an associate professor of journalism at New York University. From 2019 to 2021, he was associate director of NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. From 2009 to 2013, he served as an adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), providing regional expertise and analysis. He was also the 2008 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at CFR. Before joining the NYU faculty, Bazzi was the Middle East bureau chief at Newsday from 2003 to 2008, where he established bureaus in Baghdad and Beirut. He was the lead writer on the Iraq war and its aftermath.
Jared McCormick

Email: Jared.McCormick@nyu.edu
Jared's larger research explores issues of tourism and imaginations of place across the Middle East. Digital scholarship/methods are central to his teaching and personal work. He is very interested to push the boundaries of how we conceptualize, use, and make visual/digital materials central within our research process. He completed his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology, and a secondary degree in Critical Media Practices, at Harvard University and his MA from the American University of Beirut. He was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar before joining NYU.
Jared is working on the book manuscript of his dissertation which joins a historical analysis of the tourism/leisure industry in Lebanon with an ethnography of queer mobility since 2004. He also has been carrying out a parallel project concerning tourism in the Arabian Gulf (Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, and Bahrain) centered on “tourism” to explore state making, affective speculation, and new ways to understand infrastructures. (www.jaredmccormick.com)
Remote Office Hours: Monday 10:00 - 11:00am (https://nyu.zoom.us/my/jaredmccormick)
Bookable office hours here
Tyson Patros

Tyson’s research investigates how social movements imagine political alternatives and impact institutional outcomes. Drawing on multiple methods of data collection in his work, he is interested in how we can integrate comparative social science with the humanities in the classroom. His work has received support from the National Science Foundation and was awarded a Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Dissertation Award by the American Sociological Association. Tyson’s writing has appeared in The International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Labor History, and Contemporary Sociology.
At the Kevorkian Center, Tyson also works on Public K-12 education outreach. He was previously an Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University and a Faculty Fellow at New York University. He has worked in public-policy research and with community organizations, nonprofits, and labor unions. He received his BA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, MA from New York University, and PhD from the University of California, Irvine in Sociology.
Bookable Office Hours Here
View Publications and CV Here
Ola Galal

Email: og484@nyu.edu
Ola Galal earned her PhD in Anthropology from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. Her research focuses on feminism, human rights, and citizenship in Tunisia. She holds an MA in Sociology and Anthropology from the American University in Cairo. Previously, she worked as a journalist covering the Middle East and North Africa, and her writings appeared in Mada Masr, Jadaliyya, and Bloomberg Businessweek.
STAFF
Andrea Brown Murga
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Email: andrea.brown@nyu.edu
As the Assistant Director, Andrea is responsible for overall administration at the Kevorkian Center, including programming, K-12 outreach, fiscal affairs, and management of the Center’s Title VI grants from the U.S. Department of Education.
Andrea has worked in higher education for over 16 years in various research, student affairs, and administrative capacities. Most recently, she worked at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute advising students and managing assessment and diversity initiatives. Prior to that she conducted evaluation research at the Institute of International Education (IIE). She began her career at UC Berkeley’s study abroad program.
Currently, Andrea is an Ed.D. student in the Higher and Postsecondary Education program at NYU Steinhardt. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in International Education from NYU Steinhardt.
Fidele Harfouche

Email: fh38@nyu.edu
Fidele is a communications manager and program administrator at the Kevorkian Center. Prior to this role, she worked as a media specialist for the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities and as a project coordinator at Hibr Lubnani, an alternative media outlet in Beirut. She completed her master’s studies in Near and Middle East Studies at SOAS, University of London, and previously graduated from Drew University with a bachelors of arts in Middle East Studies and a minor in Gender studies. At the Kevorkian Center, Fidele is the primary point of contact for graduate studies regarding any administrative, academic, or employment matters. For prospective students, she handles admissions related inquiries. She manages the Center’s social media and communication efforts. In her free time, she is a freelance micro blogger, a passionate social justice advocate and an experimental vegan.
Remote Office Hours: By Appointment.
Bookable Office Hours here
Amanda Fatemi-Badi

Email: afb283@nyu.edu
Amanda is an administrative professional with degrees in Film & Television, Religious Studies (BFA, NYU), and Creative Writing (MFA, Syracuse University). Before joining the center, she worked in various administrative positions across the arts, business, and medical fields. Most recently, she managed the creative writing program of Catapult, an indie publisher. Her own creative work has been published in literary journals, including McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and The Georgia Review, and has been supported by fellowships from NYSCA/NYFA and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop.