Fulbright commission welcomes new executive director

AMMAN — The Board of Directors of the Binational Fulbright Commission in Jordan has announced the appointment of Issam Khoury as the commission’s new executive director as of May 27, 2020. 

According to a statement from the commission made available to The Jordan Times, Khoury succeeds Founding Director Alain McNamara, who has led the Fulbright Commission in Jordan since its establishment in 1994 and remains an adviser for the commission during this transitional period.

Khoury is a Jordanian-American educator who has worked in the US, Europe, the Middle East and India. He comes to the Fulbright Commission from India, where he served as dean of the college of liberal education at a private university near New Delhi. Prior to moving to India, he served as a programme manager with the Arab Council for the Social Sciences in Beirut, Lebanon and worked with a London-based international NGO in grant-making for the Middle East. For six years, he lived in Oman and the UAE, where he headed academic and study abroad programmes, the statement noted. 

Khoury earned his BA in political science and interdisciplinary studies from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, his master’s in Middle Eastern studies from Ohio State University and a Master of International Affairs and PhD in higher education and international education from Pennsylvania State University, according to the statement.

Outgoing Executive Director McNamara said in the statement: “I am so pleased that we have found such a worthy and qualified academic with a great professional background in higher educational exchange. I am confident that Dr. Khoury will extend and innovate the Jordan commission’s impact.”