Beginnings

The Iraqi Student Project began in the summer of 2007 when several people committed to addressing the critical lack of educational opportunities for students from Iraq came together. We found a model for what we wanted to do in the Bosnian Student Project (BSP), coordinated through the Fellowship of Reconciliation from 1993 to 1996. The BSP brought to US colleges over 150 Bosnian students whose education had been disrupted by war. Tuition waivers from universities and support groups in local communities made college education possible for them. With Iraq's excellent higher education system in ruins, with more than four million Iraqis displaced inside and outside Iraq, with occupation and sectarian strife continuing and an estimated death toll of more than a million Iraqis, the ISP seeks to make a small effort toward reconciliation and restitution. Our goal is to bring qualified young men and women to study without cost at US colleges and universities beginning in the Fall of 2008.

The Board

Gabe Huck was a publisher and Director of Liturgy Training Publications for 24 years. He is now living in Damascus, Syria.

Theresa Kubasak was a teacher and a teacher trainer for 30 years. She is now living in Damascus, Syria.

Janice Kelsey is a founder of Alyaa's Fund, an organization to help Iraqi refugees settle in the United States.

Ed Murray is the CEO of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition in New York City, NY.

Jane Pitz is a graphic artist and former teacher. She lives in South Bend, Indiana.

Michele Pistone is a Professor of Law at Villanova University School of Law in Villanova, PA.

The Staff

ISP has staff persons working in Damascus, Syria, as well as a coordinator in the United States.

Gabe Huck and Theresa Kubasak are working in Damascus, Syria, and can be contacted at gabeandtheresa@gmail.com.

The US Coordinator can be contacted at coordinator@iraqistudentproject.org.