(see class of 2009)
Matthew Armstrong (matt@mountainrunner.us), B.A. in International Relations from USC, December 2005 and M.P.D. from USC, December 2007. He is an independent analyst and publisher of MountainRunner, a popular blog concentrating on public diplomacy, the role of perceptions in conflict, the privatization of force and civil-military relations. Focusing on the struggle for the minds and wills in 21st century conflict, Mr. Armstrong has published book chapters and journal articles and presented at conferences, the National Defense University and the Army War College on public diplomacy, the consequences of unmanned warfare, and the privatization of force. Prior to this, he spent a decade working as a technologist designing knowledge management systems subsequently developing high-value competencies in areas of internet influence. Mr. Armstrong has also studied at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, on U.S. Intelligence, Contemporary European Security, and the Middle East. He is a fellow of Proteus USA, an international forum sponsored by the Office of the Director for National Intelligence and the U.S. Army War College’s Center for Strategic Leadership, a member of the Senior Information Operations Advisory Council, and a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
Anna Berthold (annaberthold@gmail.com) , B.A. in International Relations, minor in Peace and Conflict Studies from USC, May 2006. She has certificates in International Humanitarian Law, International Tracing, Relief and Development, and Disaster Relief from the Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Academy. Her primary interests lie in the area of conflict resolution and new media technology. Previously Anna was a terrorism research analyst at the Center for Defense Information where she published 7 articles regarding military and security concerns in Afghanistan, 4 action updates and 6 fact sheets. From 2003-2006, Anna conducted extensive research on the genocide in Darfur with special emphasis on the moral and legal responsibility of the international community to intervene. In 2005, having spent the previous six years doing freelance web design and programming, Anna founded ALaraB Productions, a company specializing in web and graphic design, 3D modeling, animation and videography. In January 2007, Anna became the project manager of the Virtual Worlds and Public Diplomacy Project at USC's Center on Public Diplomacy. She is currently conducting extensive quantitative research to measure the potential for public diplomacy and cross-cultural interaction to occur in virtual worlds.
Mathieu Faupin (mathieufaupin@aol.com), M.A. in Economic Law from the University of Rheims (France). Mathieu is currently a Ph.D. student at the Sorbonne. Previously, he worked as assistant lecturer at the University of Rheims and as a law firm assistant. He was in charge of legal cases in the Middle East where he traveled to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. In 2005, he participated in an international training program for judges in Afghanistan called "Legal Standards of a Fair Trial." Mathieu speaks French and English fluently and German on an intermediate level. His particular interest is in diplomacy, international relations, political science and law. He is currently a research assistant in the Institute for the Study and Enrichment of Muslim-Jewish Interrelations, a joint project of the University of Southern California and Hebrew Union College.
Michael (Mike) Jackson (
jacksonmt@gmail.com), B.A. in History from George Washington University, January 2004. His areas of interest include nation branding, international broadcasting, U.S. foreign policy and Middle Eastern and Central Asian politics. Since August 2006, Mike has served as a teaching assistant in the USC School of International Relations. Previously, Mike was the Communications and Outreach Officer at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. (2004-2006), where he coordinated media relations with domestic and international outlets and engaged in outreach to the U.S. Congress, Middle Eastern embassies and various domestic and international universities and organizations. Mike has also worked in the International Division of Powell Tate, a Washington-based public affairs and strategic communication firm.
Sana Aftab Khan (sanakhan@usc.edu), Honors B.A. with High Distinction in Economics/History/Math from University of Toronto, June 2005. Sana is Pakistani-Canadian, has traveled extensively, and is fluent in Urdu. She was Student Representative at the 2006-7 Center on Public Diplomacy Annual Advisory Board Meetings in New York and Los Angeles and was awarded the two-year Dean’s Scholarship in Public Diplomacy. Her work experience includes Project/Program Coordinator and Administrative Assistant positions at Pakistani and Canadian NGO’s; working directly with the Consul General on collaborative projects, event-planning, and presentations at the Canadian Consulate General in Los Angeles; Teaching Assistantships at the USC School of International Relations; and event coverage, research, and analysis at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, in collaboration with members of IR and Communication faculty at USC, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Her areas of interest include international politics and development, US-South Asian politics, strategic communication, advocacy, and propaganda studies, transnational/multinational entities, and diaspora politics.
Iskra Kirova (iskrakira@gmail.com), M.A. in International Relations from Sofia University, April 2005. Iskra is from Bulgaria and speaks fluent Bulgarian, English, German and French, and intermediate Russian. Her areas of interest are international political communications, global governance and power in the network society. Iskra has rich experience working in political communication and information management, including an internship with the United Nations Department of Public Information and a project with the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense. In fall 2006 she received the prestigious Sands Scholarship at the Annenberg School for Communication. Since then she has been working as a Research Associate and Student Research Coordinator at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Iskra is fond of traveling and has participated in numerous exchange programs in the US.
Theresa Mutter (theresa.mutter@gmail.com), B.S. in Political Science and Mass Communication (emphasis in Public Relations) from Black Hills State University, South Dakota, May 2006. She graduated summa cum laude and as a University Honors Scholar in three years. She speaks fluent German and French and also speaks Spanish and Arabic. She was the first student to win the prestigious Chiesman Foundation Award for her research on American foreign policy at BHSU and completed a summer internship with the United Nations Headquarters in New York City in the summer of 2007. Her areas of interest are development, human rights, and international law with a regional focus toward the Middle East and Eastern Africa. She is presently employed as a Residence Coordinator for the USC Office for Residential Education and serves as the Assistant Programs Coordinator for USC's Academic Recognition Programs.
Gonca Noyan (goncanoyan@yahoo.com), B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Marmara University (Istanbul), 2002. She started her career as a policy analyst in the Ministry of Defense where she dealt with the issues related to Security Sector Reform, European Security and Defense Policy and its implications on Turkey. In 2004, with a scholarship by the Swiss government she participated in the European Security Policy Training Course in the Geneva Center for Security Policy, Switzerland. In 2005, she lived in Dushanbe, Tajikistan where she worked for Refugee Children and Vulnerable Citizens (RCVC) which implements educational and health projects for Afghan refugee children. This experience in a war-torn country led her to question the differences between the wars portrayed by the media and the reality on the ground from which those children fled. After she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, she came to USC to study Public Diplomacy. In 2007, she interned at the Pacific Council on International Policy with a focus on trans-Atlantic relations. Her research interests are international security, terrorism, war and media, globalization and intercultural communication. She speaks Turkish, English, Russian and Italian.
Joseph (Joe) Popiolkowski (pops.joe@gmail.com), B.A. in Political Science/Journalism from American University (Washington D.C.), May 2005. Joe is a print and photo journalist who has been published in AU's student newspaper The Eagle, USA Today, his hometown newspaper The Buffalo News, and Stateline.org, which is a project of the Pew Research Center. In May 2007, he assisted Prof. Nick Cull in organizing a one-day conference at USC called "Track Two to Peace? Public Diplomacy, Cultural Interventions & the Peace Process in Northern Ireland." He was a recipient of the 2007 Marc Nathanson Fellowship, which is awarded to graduate students who complete a summer internship at Voice of America radio in Hong Kong. He has served as a teaching assistant in USC's School of International Relations and his interests include international broadcasting and diplomatic correspondence.
Theodore (Ted) Richane (ted@richane.org), B.A. Public Relations and Political Science from Syracuse University, May 1998. Ted lived in Washington from August in 1998 to June 2006, where he worked in public relations and politics. At his firm, Ted developed and managed communication strategies for clients ranging from healthcare companies and government contractors to non-profit advocacy groups and foreign governments. In 2004, Ted took a leave of absence and spent ten months working on the John Kerry presidential campaign, where he managed a number of regional paid advertising buys and worked in the campaign’s media “war room.” He is a Spanish speaker and an avid traveler.
Lana Shamma (lanashamma@gmail.com), B.A. in Sociology, minor in Spanish from UCLA, March 2005. During her undergraduate years, she studied abroad at Universidad Carlos Tercero in Madrid, Spain and interned in the Civil Liberties section of the American Bar Association of Washington, DC. She recently interned at the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles and was Program Assistant for the Institute of Photographic Empowerment. Currently, she is the Program Assistant for the newly launched Middle East Studies Program at USC, as well as a Research Assistant for a project being conducted on the Al-Hurra satellite channel by the Center on Public Diplomacy. Her interests specifically lie in popular culture (film and music) as a means for Public Diplomacy and potential corporate social responsibility.
Yael Swerdlow (yaelswerdlow@gmail.com), B.A. in Political Science from UCLA, June 1981. Previously, Yael worked for the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, where she was the Director of Media Relations, as well as the media specialist on the Consulate Speaker's Bureau. Yael has been a freelance photojournalist based in Los Angeles for over twenty years, shooting for United Press International, the Associated Press, and the Los Angeles Times, where she was a part of the Pulitzer Prize winning teams for the Los Angeles Riots in 1992 and the Northridge Earthquake of 1994. In summer of 1994, Yael went to Somalia, Southern Sudan, and Rwanda for International Medical Corps, to document the reestablishing of the medical infrastructure in those war-torn countries. Yael also writes fiction, including the cinematic script for Activision's best selling video game, "True Crime: Streets of LA."
Carrie Walters (carolinecwalters@hotmail.com), B.A. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, May 2003. Carrie's interests include sports diplomacy, nation branding, and the impact of non state actors on foreign policy making. Prior to graduate school, Carrie served as Program Coordinator for the Washington office of Transparency International and spent a year teaching abroad through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. She is also a recipient of the Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship from the U.S. Department of State, and recently completed an internship with the Office of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes.
Margaret (Meg) Young (mblake@usc.edu), B.A. in Theatre/Philosophy from Bradley University, May 2001. She has focused her studies on China and Taiwan, spending summer 2007 interning with the Government Information Office in Taipei, Taiwan. She is a Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship recipient studying Chinese. Due to her study of the Chinese diaspora's role in Chinese public diplomacy she was supported by the Center on Public Diplomacy as a participant at the Wilton Park conference: "Understanding and Engaging with Diaspora." Before joining the first class of Masters of Public Diplomacy students she worked for The Rotary Foundation and Rotary International at their headquarters in Evanston, IL. She also taught English in Keelung, Taiwan for the YMCA. Meg has served as the President of the Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars, USC representing students interested in public diplomacy.
Noah Chestnut (nchestnu@usc.edu), B.S. in Rhetoric and Political Science from Northwestern University, June 2007. His research focuses on the intersections between public diplomacy and national security, with an emphasis on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency. As an assistant debate coach of the Trojan Debate Squad, he travels around the US educating students in argumentation and policy research.
Krysta Close (krystacl@usc.edu),B.M. in Vocal Arts from USC, June 2003. After studying Mandarin Chinese and Political Science at Reed College from 1997-1999, Krysta transferred to USC to study music as a tool for bridging cultural divisions. A life-long student of languages, she is proficient in French and has a working knowledge of Chinese, Polish, German, and Italian. As the manager of the Polish Music Center at USC, she organizes concerts, edits articles and books, and develops donor relations. Krysta co-founded the Interfaith Coalition for Peace & Understanding, and has worked with non-profits such as Inside Out Community Arts and Y.O.G.A. for Youth. She is interested in building peaceful and sustainable relationships between nations and peoples, especially in the regions of China and Poland.
Lara Petusky Coger (lpcoger@earthlink.net), B.A. in Latin American Studies from University of Texas, Austin, August 1995. Lara has worked as a stringer for The New York Times, as editorial assistant to The New York Times Magazine and as a field producer for ABC News where she covered breaking news in Florida, the Southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean. She began her career in journalism at ABC Radio's daily talk show "Hightower Radio" and worked as a production assistant at the NPR magazine show, “Latino USA.” She is the founding director of Cine Las Americas, a festival of new Latin American cinema, now in its 11th year. Lara is fluent in Spanish. Her areas of interest are current events, politics, documentary radio and film, “shooting back” photography and international development. She lives in Los Angeles.
Wendy Crompton (wendycrompton@gmail.com), B. M. in Music Industry from USC, May 2003. She speaks French, German, Russian, and Arabic. After several months of work and travel in Ireland and Eastern Europe, she commenced work in film and television music licensing for the Music Sales Group in Santa Monica, CA. Wendy is also currently involved in USC's Religion, Identity, and Global Governance (RIGG) project. Her areas of interest include religion, foreign policy, and conflict resolution.
Stefanie Garden (srg11983@aol.com), B.A in International Security and Conflict Resolution from San Diego State University, May 2005. Prior to enrolling in the program Stefanie served as the Director of Media Relations for the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles where she was charged with monitoring and analyzing thousands of media outlets throughout the Southwestern United States including radio, television, print and web. Throughout her undergraduate studies, Stefanie held a number of internships including writing and editing for the international newspaper The Jerusalem Post in Jerusalem, Israel, and in the mediation division of the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego, CA. She was also able to travel to Italy as part of her Italian language courses and to Northern Ireland as part of a 6 month Peace and Conflict Resolution program through American University in Washington, DC. Stefanie is fluent in Hebrew and has studied several other foreign languages including Spanish, Italian, and Arabic.
Laila Haddad, B.A. with honors in Political Science with a focus on International Relations from the University of California Riverside. As an undergraduate she won the UC Riverside Jenkin Award for outstanding research in Political Science for her honors thesis entitled The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Conditional Aid as a Step Toward Peace. She also studied abroad at the University of Siena in Siena, Italy, where she achieved an advanced level certificate in Italian language and culture. Laila founded and directs a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children who are victims of extreme poverty, disease and injustice. In 2007 she wrote for the United Nations Millennium Project's "State of the Future" report and studied journalism at the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C. Her areas of interest are human rights, non-governmental organizations, foreign policy and conflict resolution.
Catherine Hess (chess@usc.edu), B.A. in International Relations from USC, May 2007. She received an associate degree in paralegal studies and earned a paralegal certificate from Pasadena City College in 2005. She also holds a notary commission from the State of California. She speaks Spanish and Chinese. Her work history includes a PR internship for the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, paralegal work, corporate intelligence and consultancy and operations management for a production company. Her areas of interest are international politics and business.
Victoria(Tori) Horton (horton.tori@gmail.com), B.A. in Humanities from Brigham Young University, August 2004. Her areas of interest are new technology, rhetoric, nation branding and cultural exchange. She completed a study abroad program in Austria where she studied German. Her professional experience includes public relations work for Bradley Public Relations and work experience with other corporate and not for profit organizations. In 2005 she supervised a German exchange program placing 27 students with families in South Pasadena, CA. She worked at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy in various administration roles for two years. Currently, she is the Project Manager at the USC Institute for Network Culture where she oversees a $750,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Danielle Kelton (danielle.kelton@gmail.com), B.A. In Political Science and Psychology, from McGill University, June 2006. Danielle’s enrollment in the Master of Public Diplomacy Program at USC brings together her interests in media, rhetoric and international relations. Currently, Danielle is engaged in content analysis of Al Hurra TV for USC’s Center on Public Diplomacy. Prior to enrolling in the program, Danielle worked as an interactive media assistant at an advertising firm, where she engaged in the strategy, execution and evaluation of online media buys for clients. Danielle also worked as a research assistant at the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies in Montreal, Canada where she tracked Sudanese government’s media responses to international pressure and co-authored a paper on the findings with Dr. Frank Chalk.
Lydia Marcos (lolous3@aol.com), B.A. in Political Science and International Affairs from University of California, Riverside, June 2007. She speaks Arabic fluently. She has traveled extensively to United Arab Emirates, Australia, Sudan, Egypt and Europe. Her work history includes law firm intern, tutor for immigrant children, and community organizing through a faith-based organization called OCCCO. Her area of interest is international politics and her research interests focus on North Africa and the Middle East. She hosted an event in 2006 called "Action4Africa" while working with CALPIRG at UC Riverside raising awareness and collecting funds for the crises in Sudan and Uganda.
Mark Naylor (mrnaylor@usc.edu), B.A. in international relations: world politics and diplomacy with a minor in history from the University of Richmond, May 2005. During his undergraduate program, he completed a semester abroad at University of Ghana, Legon where he studied and worked as a government teacher at a Liberian refugee camp. He speaks basic French and Twi. His work history includes internships at the Coalition for American Leadership Abroad, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa; and as admissions counselor at University of Richmond focusing on the promotion of higher education in low-income and minority populations. His areas of interest include the leveraging of non-state actors in diplomacy and African foreign policy.
Jana Panarites (jana.panarites@gmail.com), B.A. in Mass Communication from University of Vermont. As an undergraduate she spent a year at Chelsea College, University of London. She speaks Modern Greek. Her work history includes freelance television production work for CBS, NBC and PBS national; speechwriting and screenwriting; and development of a documentary film project sponsored by Women Make Movies, Inc. She grew up in Washington, D.C. and has lived in both Los Angeles and New York City. Her areas of interest are music, entertainment and transnational politics. She wants to advocate for global social change using media as a tool of engagement.
Desa Philadelphia (dphilade@usc.edu), B.A. in English Literature from City College of New York, February 1995. She was born and raised in Guyana, South America. She worked as a Journalist for more than a decade in staff positions at Time Magazine and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Her Public Diplomacy study focuses on Cultural Diplomacy, particularly filmed entertainment. She is currently case-studying the soft power reach of a few wildly successful global entertainment products.
Natasha Rastegari, B.A. in Political Science from UCLA, June 2003, and in Middle Eastern and North African Studies with minor in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA, June 2004. She speaks Persian and Turkish fluently and speaks French and Arabic. As an undergraduate, she completed internships in Washington, D.C. at the Pakistan and United Nations Information Centre, Embassy of Pakistan and Office of Ambassador Affairs and served as the public relations officer for the Pakistani Student Association and co-president of ACLU of UCLA. Her work history includes co-owner and assistant manager of a Montessori child care center, community college tutor, and law firm secretarial assistant. She volunteers at the legal aid society of Orange County. Her areas of interest are international affairs and politics.
Lorena Sanchez (lorena.sanchez@usc.edu), B.A in International Relations and Public Relations from USC, May 2005. Lorena speaks Spanish and French. Her related work experiences include U.S. Senate, assistant to deputy press secretary and the Canadian Consulate in Los Angeles, research assistant to the Consul General. For the past three years, she has worked as Assistant Director of Admission for USC’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Her areas of interest include politics, religion and identity in foreign policy, diasporas, and nation branding.
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich (sorayau@earthlink.net), B.A in International Relations from USC, August 2005. Before transferring to USC, she attended Glendale (CA) and Massachusetts Bay community colleges. After earning her B.A., she has completed graduate level course work at the Middle East Center at the University of Utah. She is fluent in Farsi, and has a working knowledge of French. She has lived on four continents and considers cultural outreach as her personal strength. She is an accomplished speaker on Middle-Eastern politics, appearing on notable broadcast radio programs in the U.S., Great Britain and Iran. Her area of interest is the Middle East, specifically US foreign policy towards Iran and Iran’s nuclear program. Currently, she works as a columnist for Op-Ed News, a contributing columnist and editor at Iranian.com, and she is published regularly on al-Jazeera.com and Middle East online. She is a member of World Association of International Studies Society, and its online publication (Stanford). She is an independent researcher and public speaker.
Stephanie Sheikholeslami (ssheikho@usc.edu), B.A. in International Affairs with minors in history and political science from George Washington University Elliot School of International Affairs, May 2006. She completed a semester abroad at University of Sussex, school of social sciences and cultural studies. She speaks Spanish comfortably and is learning Farsi. Her work history includes a research internship at The National Security Archives, and event coordination. Her areas of interest are international affairs, politics, history and women's studies, with a particular focus on the Middle East.
(Anoush) Rima Tatevossian (atatevos@usc.edu), B.A. in Government with a minor in Film Studies from The College of William and Mary, May 2004. She has studied in Italy and Russia, and speaks Armenian fluently. She served as the Executive Director of the Armenian Volunteer Corps, an NGO in Yerevan, Armenia before coming to USC. She currently works at the Center on Public Diplomacy monitoring news headlines and bloggers on public diplomacy, and has assisted with cultural diplomacy event programming with the Australian and British Consulates-General in Los Angeles. Her interests are global civil society, the potential of new media and ICTs for participatory public diplomacy, and nation branding for developing countries.
Hilary Tone (hilary.tone@gmail.com), B.A. in Communication and Spanish Studies from Santa Clara University, June 2007. At Santa Clara, she was a dean's scholarship recipient, member of communication and modern languages honor societies and member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She speaks Spanish fluently and has international experience in both Spain and Mexico. Her work experience includes freelance writer for the school newspaper, dance instructor and teaching assistant, choreographer, production assistant and intern for a television production company. She is currently a Graduate Teaching Assistant at USC, and will be interning at the State Department in the Office of Press Relations during the summer of 2008. With a passion for Latin American issues, her ultimate goal is to act as a liaison between Latin America and the U.S. in facilitating intercultural communication. Her areas of interest are foreign affairs, law and policy, and entertainment and ultimately she wants to specialize in Latin American foreign relations.
Mengzhu Wang (mengzhuw@usc.edu), B.A. in Communication from Fudan University, July 2007. Mengzhu is originally from China, is fluent in Chinese and English, and has significant experience in Chinese culture and Eastern Asian traditions. She will be the first Chinese student getting this master’s degree. Her areas of interests are intercultural communication and exchange especially in music and fine arts. She has worked full-time as a photo editor for four months.
Uri Zigelboim, B.A., cum laude, in History from UCLA, June 2007. He has worked in film and commercial production since 1999, most recently as an in-house editor and producer at Filmout Editorial in Los Angeles. He is currently working as the Second Life coordinator for the Institute for Network Culture (INC). As part of a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, the INC was set up to explore digital culture, social networking and the role of philanthropic organizations in virtual worlds. As a Spanish speaker Uri has a regional interest in Latin America. His overall areas of interest include new media, journalism, and international relations.