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Board of Directors

Kimberly Spallinger, President  (spallingerk@gmail.com) Kimberly received her MA in English with a concentration in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) at Bowling Green State University, where she now serves as Director of the ESOL Program. In 2001 she gained  overseas experience as a workshop leader at An Giang University in Vietnam. From 2000-2002 she served on the Ohio TESOL Executive Board: Region 4 Representative and Higher Education Interest Representative. Her most recent presentation was Beyond This I Believe: Innovative Classroom Activities Utilizing NPR, with Lucinda Hunter and Kate Spike, in March, 2010, at the TESOL Convention in  Boston, MA.

 Charles Currie, S.J., Treasurer (ccurrie@ajcunet.edu)  Father Currie is the former President of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC. He has had extensive international experience and has actively encouraged the internationalization of AJCU campuses, traveling to five continents to pursue collaborative efforts in China and El Salvador, exchange opportunities in Cuba, and extensive collaboration with Latin American Jesuit universities. Currently he is  helping develop a new initiative, the Jesuit Commons, which endeavors to link Jesuit education with marginalized populations worldwide.

Evan Toma, Secretary (evantoma@hotmail.com) Evan is a financial services professional with experience in fixed income derivatives operations. He is currently a consultant at MarkitSERV, an information services company for equities, bonds and over-the-counter derivatives. He is also taking graduate courses part-time at Columbia University with a focus on infrastructure financing and assisting two of his professors run the Brazil, Russia, India and China Strategy Lab at the School of International and Public Affairs.  At ISP, Evan manages the ISP portfolio with a view toward establishing an endowment which will further ISP’s mission. He is also active with the ISP support group for the New York Chapter and is involved with planning various fundraising activities and providing matriculation support to the students.

Shakir Mustafa, Academic Liaison (s.mustafa@neu.edu)  Shakir is Visiting Associate Professor of Arabic at Northeastern University. He grew up in Iraq and taught at Mosul University in Northern Iraq for eleven years. His most recent book, Contemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology, has been recognized as “one of the most important books in 2008” by The Bloomsbury Review. Shakir’s biography (2001-present) has been selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in America, 2001, and Who’s Who in American Higher Education, 2003, 2004, and in the Dictionary of International Biography.

Laura Brenneman, Coordinator of Support Groups/Mediation Specialist (brennemanl@gmail.com) During a semester of study in the Middle East Laura developed a desire to work with people in areas of conflict for peace and justice. After being a human rights advocate to members of the U.S. Congress and going to graduate school, Laura directed peace and conflict studies at Bluffton University. Laura holds a master’s degree in conflict transformation and a PhD in theological studies, edits the Studies in Peace and Scripture series, and works as a mediator, conflict transformation trainer, and teacher in Champaign, IL.

Ben Younan, Media and Publicity Director (mail.benyounan@gmail.com) Since graduating from Northwestern College Ben spent 5 years working in the Middle East in development and peacemaking.  He participated in the Middle East Studies Program in Cairo, Egypt, focusing on Arabic, Islam, Middle East peoples and cultures, and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  After returning to the US, he has been involved with various social entrepreneurial ventures, including an international non-profit called Relational Tithe.  He and his family now live in Minnesota.

Sarah Dykstra, Co-coordinator of ISP Support Groups (sarahdykst@gmail.com) Sarah graduated from Boston College summa cum laude with a concentration in Global Health and Development. She currently works as an Econometrics Research Assistant at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. In 2010, Sarah did a summer internship with the Iraqi Student Project in Damascus, Syria. She prepared lesson plans and taught statistics, literature, and yoga. She facilitated the transition of thirteen ISP student to US universities in the fall of 2010.

Advisory Board Member

Doug Hostetter, Resource Specialist (doughostetter@gmail.com)  Doug is Director of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) United Nations Office. New York, NY. He has spent his life working for nongovernmental organizations in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and the United States. Doug Hostetter is a Sociologist by training and has taught at Northwestern University. He has been published widely on the issues of war, peace and nonviolence. Doug headed up the Bosnian Student Project, upon which the Iraqi Student Project is modeled.

Staff Members

Gabe Huck and Theresa Kubasak, Founders/Co-Directors of ISP, Damascus, Syria  (gabeandtheresa@gmail.com)  Gabe was Director of Liturgy Training Publications in Chicago for more than twenty years. Theresa is a life-long educator and teacher trainer. They have been advocates for the people of Iraq since before the war, traveling to Iraq and reporting on the tragic consequences of the UN sanctions imposed in 1990. They moved to Damascus from New York in 2005 and founded The Iraqi Student Project in 2007.

Robert L. Rosser, Executive Director, USA (director@iraqistudentproject.org)  Robert is a college professor with more than forty years of experience in higher education as instructor and administrator. He holds a Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Linguistics and Literature from the University of Southern California. Robert has taught EFL and ESL in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. With the University of Maryland, he has taught communications and humanities in South Korea, Japan, Spain, Kuwait, and Italy. He is the author of several books on the ministry of lector (communication skills in the liturgical context). Robert heads up the national ISP office in St. Louis, MO.

Associate Staff

Jan Wiebe (wiebe.jan@gmail.com)  Jan is a Grant Writing Consultant with 14 years of experience in the field, writing for nonprofit organizations, public schools, local governments, and higher education. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and spent 6 years directing violence prevention programs in the Chicago area. Prior to graduate school, she spent 3 years in Asia volunteering, teaching English and biking. She and her family live in Ohio.

Liwei (Lyric) Bai  (lyricbai@hotmail.com)  Lyric, an experienced accounting professional, has 12 years accounting expereince and is an expert in corporate accounting as well as accounting analysis.
Having worked in Asia for more than 10 years, she has valuable cross-cultural experience and a deep passion to devote herself to NGO work.
Now she serves the Iraqi Student Project as an accountant and is eager to contribute her knowledge, experience and skills.