Teaching About the Middle East and U.S. Policy in 2023

The first part of the session will be devoted to introducing the Choices Program’s curriculum unit The Middle East: Questions for U.S. Policy. After a short break, in the second part of the session, participants will hear from panelists with expertise in three key U.S. relationships identified in the Choices curriculum unit: the United States and Iran; the United States and Saudi Arabia; and the United States and Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Panelists will explore with teachers the following questions:  

• To what extent will the history of U.S. involvement in the Middle East shape U.S. policy in the Middle East? 
• To what extent are American values and interests likely to alter U.S. policy in the region?
• How will major environmental, social, and conflict issues force the U.S. to re-envision its traditional role in the Middle East?

Panelists will include:

• Daniel Stoll served at the U.S. Department of State, initially as vice consul, U.S. Embassy Baghdad, then as country desk officer in the Office of Egyptian Affairs, and later as an instructor at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia.
• Jo-Anne Hart is Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Brown University and a consultant for the U.S. Army regarding future security challenges in the Persian Gulf.
• Charles W. Dunne is a Nonresident Fellow at Arab Center Washington DC. He was a U.S. diplomat for 24 years, with tours in Cairo, Jerusalem, and Madras, India.
• Joseph T. (Tom) Brannan. After careers in journalism, regional planning, and city management, Brannan taught high school social studies, including IB history courses, from 2000 to 2016. He is a board member of DACOR.
• Molly K. Williamson is a retired Foreign Service Officer who served six presidents. She is a scholar with the Middle East Institute and the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, and a frequent guest lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, the Defense Institute of Security Cooperation, and the National Joint Staff College.
• Catherine Herndon joined the U.S. State Department as an economic officer in 1985, retiring in 2019 as a Minister Counselor. She served in eight countries overseas in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as in Washington, DC.  Her last assignment was as the Policy Advisor (POLAD) to the Commander of U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida.
• John Kincannon became Director of the State Department’s Office of Press and Public Diplomacy for the Near East region (NEA) in August 2021. A 38-year State Department veteran, he served most recently as Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 2017-2020 and as the Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2013-2016.