About Me
I am a Ph.D. candidate (ad hoc) with the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. I am also currently an Associate Professor of Government at Austin Community College (ACC). I have an adjunct position with the Department of History teaching online classes with the University of Maryland University College, although at the moment I have taken a break from UMUC in order to complete my Ph.D.
My research interests lie at the intersection of politics, history, and philosophy, and that frames my teaching. Whether I teach politics, history, or philosophy I always attempt to nest each topic within the framework of the three. Circa 1025 A.D. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) said, âThe knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes.â It is my belief that three fields listed above have causes that originate within each other and cannot be separated without dminishing undersanding of the whole.
I began teaching high school in the spring of 1995 and have been teaching at the college level since spring 2002. There is nothing else that I would rather be doing.
I do enjoy speaking engagements. Over the last six years I have averaged somewhere around 7 public speaking events per year.
I have been an an activist since my first demonstration in 1991.
Over the past four years I have served as faculty advisor for Twelfth Revolution: Politics and History Club, and for two years I have been one of two co-chairs for the Austin Philosophy Forum (formerly Ethics Resource Center). I have also hosted the Pinnacle Student Political Science Conference at the ACC Pinnacle campus every year since 2009.
Since September 2010 I have been writing regularly for Merhnameh,
a leading Tehran-based reformist socio-political monthly. I have
produced around one article every two months for them on topics
concerning U.S. and Arab politics and history.
I have written the University of Maryland University College's WWII
classroom modules and I have edited two of Jason Mark's books on WWII.
I am currently on the Faculty Evaluation Committee for the Department of Government at ACC.
I am half Egyptian, one quarter German, and one quarter Swedish. I have lived in both Germany and Egypt, five and two and half years respectively, and speak both German and Arabic. I have also lived in Lebanon, Algeria, and England and have traveled much of central and eastern Europe as well as some of the Middle East.
Whenever I get the chance, I travel, backpack, or play Advanced Squad Leader.