This book would not have come to fruition without the support of many individuals and institutions.
Early feedback from Patrick Clawson, Martin Kramer, and Bilal Wahab of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy helped me plan out a book that would add value to the policymaking community.
As I was seeking an institutional home for this project, the Center for International Higher Education (CIHE) at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education emerged as an obvious choice. The Center has been at the forefront of advancing knowledge about higher education from an international perspective. I am grateful that Professors Hans de Wit, Philip Altbach, and Rebecca Schendel of the Center saw promise in the project, agreed to host me as a researcher, and facilitated publication of this book with Brill. They reviewed drafts, provided critical advice and feedback, and generally improved my understanding of international higher education. I am also thankful for the CIHE team’s attentiveness in navigating administrative tasks throughout the process.
Toward the end of the project, I relied to a great extent on CIHE’s graduate students, as well as the team at Brill, to prepare the manuscript for publication. Lead editor Maia Gelashvili, with assistance from three other graduate students affiliated with CIHE—Tessa DeLaquil, Lizhou Wang, and Victoria Di Salvo—diligently reviewed the manuscript, checked citations, and provided formatting support. Brill’s acquisition editor for education John Bennett, production editor Jolanda Karada, and associate editor Katerina Sofianou worked efficiently to publish and promote the book.
While writing this book, I split my time between Washington and the Middle East to conduct research, take field notes, and, more generally, gain a fingertip feel of American universities in the Middle East. I acquired many debts of gratitude in the process. Librarians at the Nami Jafet Memorial Library at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in particular helped me identify useful materials from the archives and special collections.
More friends than I can name took interest in the project and provided guidance along the way, but I want to thank a few in particular. Jess Huang, a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, reviewed draft chapters of the manuscript and offered both substantive and editorial critiques that sharpened the book’s arguments. Professor Kyle Long, who has done groundbreaking work on American universities abroad, provided insights that helped me formulate much of the book’s analysis. James Durso, a prolific analyst of
Finally, I want to acknowledge my family for their support and patience while I pursued this project. My wife Kamelia worked as a producer at Al Jazeera in Doha during much of the time I was writing the book. Her willingness to move to the Middle East during a volatile period allowed me to spend more time in the region than otherwise would have been possible, and her insights helped improve my understanding of Arabian Gulf societies. This book also provides occasion to thank my parents, whose sacrifice and encouragement has enabled a lifetime of academic pursuits.