Middle East Affairs Committee
Contact us: ypmiddleeast@unasouthernny.org
The Middle East Affairs Committee provides a forum to facilitate multi-sector dialogue, exchange, and understanding of current Middle Eastern affairs. By bringing together participants with similar regional interests, the Committee serves as platform for attendees of diverse backgrounds to come together for networking, panel discussions, professional development, and other social events.
To join the Committee, our mailing list, or for more information, please email: ypmiddleeast@unasouthernny.org.
The Middle East Affairs Committee is currently recruiting Committee members! If you are interested in joining the Middle East Affairs Committee, please send a brief paragraph of interest and resume to YPmiddleeast@unasouthernny.org. The following leadership positions are currently available:
· Chair, External Relations
· Chair, Event Planning
· Chair, Programming
· Chair, Student and Media Outreach
Upcoming Events
"Rebuilding Afghanistan” Networking Reception and Panel Discussion
What: The Middle East Affairs Committee of the UNA-SNY Young Professionals will host a panel discussion on humanitarian challenges and developments in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, and specific challenges facing women and Afghan refugees.Net proceeds of the event will go to supporting the organization Women for Afghan Women.
When: October 12, 2012, 6:30-8:00pm
Where: NYC Open Center
Grand Room
22 East 30th Street
New York, NY 10016
212-219-2527
Map
Speakers:
Donna Welton, Deputy Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. A graduate of Yale College and a native of upstate New York, Donna Welton has over twenty-five years of experience as a diplomat and arts professional. She began her career with USIA in 1984 and had three tours in Asian posts before returning to graduate school in 1992. After finishing her coursework and exams for a PhD in Princeton’s Asian Art and Archaeology Department, she worked as a curator of Japanese art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as an exhibitions curator at the American Federation of Arts in New York. She returned to the Foreign Service in 2000, serving in public diplomacy positions in Tokyo, Nagoya, Washington, and Jakarta and as Consul General in Sapporo, Japan. She also completed a Masters degree in Strategic Studies at the Army War College in July 2011. Immediately before taking her current position as Deputy Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, she was Counselor for Public Affairs in Kabul. She speaks Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, and Dari.
Naheed Bahram, New York Program Manager at Women for Afghan Women. Naheed was born to a working-class, conservative family in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her family migrated to Peshawar, Pakistan after the loss of her mother in a bomb explosion in Kabul. Ms. Bahram graduated from high school in Pakistan and taught ESL to Afghan women in the Afghan refugee camps in Peshawar. She moved to the United States in 2004 as an international student. She graduated from Queens College in June 2011 with a BA in Finance and Economics. Ms. Bahram has been working with WAW since 2007.
Katherine Brown, Columbia School of International Affairs (SIPA). Katherine is a Ph.D. Candidate in Communications at Columbia University's School of Journalism and an Instructor at Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Her research examines the interplay of U.S. foreign policy and global media, and the dramatic growth of media in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Katherine's U.S. government service includes: Professional Staff Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs at the U.S. House of Representatives; Communications Adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan; and assistant to the National Security Adviser at the White House. She spent four years as a Communications Manager for The Asia Foundation, working on media-related issues throughout South Asia. In 2011, she joined the editorial staff of Bloomberg View, the opinion platform for Bloomberg News. Katherine received a B.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University and an M.A. and M.Phil. in Communications from Columbia University. She is a recipient of the State Department Superior Honor Award and several academic scholarships, including the Cordier Teaching Fellowship and Lynton Book-Writing Fellowship at Columbia. Katherine is also a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Co-Director for the Truman National Security Project's New York Chapter.
The Middle East Affairs Committee provides a forum to facilitate multi-sector dialogue, exchange, and understanding of current Middle Eastern affairs. By bringing together participants with similar regional interests, the Committee serves as platform for attendees of diverse backgrounds to come together for networking, panel discussions, professional development, and other social events.
To join the Committee, our mailing list, or for more information, please email: ypmiddleeast@unasouthernny.org.
The Middle East Affairs Committee is currently recruiting Committee members! If you are interested in joining the Middle East Affairs Committee, please send a brief paragraph of interest and resume to YPmiddleeast@unasouthernny.org. The following leadership positions are currently available:
· Chair, External Relations
· Chair, Event Planning
· Chair, Programming
· Chair, Student and Media Outreach
Upcoming Events
"Rebuilding Afghanistan” Networking Reception and Panel Discussion
What: The Middle East Affairs Committee of the UNA-SNY Young Professionals will host a panel discussion on humanitarian challenges and developments in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, and specific challenges facing women and Afghan refugees.Net proceeds of the event will go to supporting the organization Women for Afghan Women.
When: October 12, 2012, 6:30-8:00pm
Where: NYC Open Center
Grand Room
22 East 30th Street
New York, NY 10016
212-219-2527
Map
Speakers:
Donna Welton, Deputy Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. A graduate of Yale College and a native of upstate New York, Donna Welton has over twenty-five years of experience as a diplomat and arts professional. She began her career with USIA in 1984 and had three tours in Asian posts before returning to graduate school in 1992. After finishing her coursework and exams for a PhD in Princeton’s Asian Art and Archaeology Department, she worked as a curator of Japanese art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as an exhibitions curator at the American Federation of Arts in New York. She returned to the Foreign Service in 2000, serving in public diplomacy positions in Tokyo, Nagoya, Washington, and Jakarta and as Consul General in Sapporo, Japan. She also completed a Masters degree in Strategic Studies at the Army War College in July 2011. Immediately before taking her current position as Deputy Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, she was Counselor for Public Affairs in Kabul. She speaks Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, and Dari.
Naheed Bahram, New York Program Manager at Women for Afghan Women. Naheed was born to a working-class, conservative family in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her family migrated to Peshawar, Pakistan after the loss of her mother in a bomb explosion in Kabul. Ms. Bahram graduated from high school in Pakistan and taught ESL to Afghan women in the Afghan refugee camps in Peshawar. She moved to the United States in 2004 as an international student. She graduated from Queens College in June 2011 with a BA in Finance and Economics. Ms. Bahram has been working with WAW since 2007.
Katherine Brown, Columbia School of International Affairs (SIPA). Katherine is a Ph.D. Candidate in Communications at Columbia University's School of Journalism and an Instructor at Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Her research examines the interplay of U.S. foreign policy and global media, and the dramatic growth of media in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Katherine's U.S. government service includes: Professional Staff Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs at the U.S. House of Representatives; Communications Adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan; and assistant to the National Security Adviser at the White House. She spent four years as a Communications Manager for The Asia Foundation, working on media-related issues throughout South Asia. In 2011, she joined the editorial staff of Bloomberg View, the opinion platform for Bloomberg News. Katherine received a B.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University and an M.A. and M.Phil. in Communications from Columbia University. She is a recipient of the State Department Superior Honor Award and several academic scholarships, including the Cordier Teaching Fellowship and Lynton Book-Writing Fellowship at Columbia. Katherine is also a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Co-Director for the Truman National Security Project's New York Chapter.
