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Arab American Author Moustafa Bayoumi to be commencement speaker at Southern Vermont College
Southern Vermont College (SVC) will award the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters to author Moustafa M. Bayoumi and former SVC President Karen Gross at its 88th Commencement on Saturday, May 9. Bayoumi, the author of “How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America” will address the graduates as Commencement Speaker.
SVC President David Rees Evans said that the College wishes to honor Bayoumi and Gross for their commitments to giving a voice to and creating opportunities for others. “SVC is committed to diversity and social justice, as well as fostering opportunities for students who may not have always had them,” Evans said. “Both Professor Bayoumi and Karen Gross have worked diligently on behalf of those from various backgrounds and multicultural communities to enable them to tell their stories and empower them socially and economically. We are very pleased to recognize their contributions to a world informed by values that SVC holds dear.”
Bayoumi, a professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, won an American Book Award and the Arab American Book Award for Non-Fiction for “How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?” Born in Zurich, Switzerland, and raised in Canada, Bayoumi earned his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He has written for a wide array of scholarly and popular publications such as the “Yale Journal of Criticism,” the “New York Times Magazine,” “New York Magazine,” “The Guardian,” “The National,” CNN.com, “The London Review of Books,” “The Nation,” “The Chronicle of Higher Education,” “The Intercept,” “The Progressive,” and many more. Bayoumi’s essay “Disco Inferno” was included in the collection “Best Music Writing of 2006” (Da Capo) and his latest book is “This Muslim-American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror” (NYU). He is also the editor of the book “Midnight on the Mavi Marmara” (O/R Books) and co-editor of “The Edward Said Reader” (Vintage). Bayoumi has been featured in “The Wall Street Journal,” “The Chicago Sun-Times,” on CNN, FOX News, Book TV, National Public Radio and in many other media outlets from around the world. A recipient of fellowships from the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Bayoumi lectures frequently across the United States, Europe and the Middle East on issues of politics and culture and was a visiting professor at Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea, in 2010. From 2003 to 2006, he served on the American Studies Association’s National Council, and he was a member of the editorial committee of “Middle East Report” for six years. Currently, he is a member of the international advisory board for the Center for American Studies and Research at the American University of Beirut.
Karen Gross served as the President of Southern Vermont College from 2006 through 2014. In 2012, Dr. Gross was on leave from the College to serve as Senior Policy Advisor to the US Department of Education in Washington, DC. In that capacity, she served on the interagency task force charged with redesigning the transition assistance program for returning service members and their families. She also was involved in implementing the President’s 2020 Initiative to increase college access and success. Dr. Gross has earned a national and international reputation as a scholar, teacher, administrator and community leader dedicated to improving the lives of those less privileged. She speaks frequently and has written about higher education issues for “Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning,” “New England Journal of Higher Education,” “Huffington Post,” “National Journal,” “InsideHigherEd” and “The Chronicle of Higher Education.” Dr. Gross was a tenured law professor at New York Law School for several years with expertise in consumer finance, over-indebtedness and community economic development. She served as a consultant to governmental and non-profit organizations and served on several boards, including Campus Compact, The Sage Colleges and the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges. Dr. Gross is a cum laude graduate of Smith College where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and a cum laude graduate of Temple University School of Law. Prior to entering legal academia, she taught at the high school and college levels and practiced law in Chicago and New York.
After the robing ceremony of Bayoumi and Gross, both will briefly address the graduating class.