Casey Poe ‘09
Study Abroad Advisor, University of Utah; Director, CLSP, Alexandria, Egypt
I never would have thought when I enrolled at the Patterson school in 2007 that I would become a “transcontinental commuter,” splitting my time between Salt Lake City and Alexandria, Egypt.
My official home is the University of Utah’s Office of International Education and Study Abroad where I manage programs in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. My second home is in Egypt handling the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship Program in Alexandria (our largest and most demanding international program). The foundation for this delightful dual outcome was my success at the Patterson School in acquiring both strong professional skills and strong Arabic language ability.
Patterson’s flexible program and schedule let me continue studying Arabic alongside my diplomacy and international commerce courses, but to be competitive I needed concrete regional experience and even greater fluency. Foregoing a traditional internship in Washington, DC or New York (I had already interned on Capitol Hill), the Patterson School encouraged and helped support financially further language study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the American University in Cairo.
Upon graduation from Patterson, I entered the Critical Language Scholarship Program in Egypt and did very well – so well in fact that I was recruited and hired by the University of Utah while still a student based largely upon the package of skills, experience, and language that I developed with my Patterson School MA.
My professors always stressed that the right career must be something that excites you. ‘You should not be simply making a living, but making a difference.’ This is the right career! I could not enjoy more being able to work directly with students on my passions of international study, language, and culture. As for diplomacy, in dealings with the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, the State Department, and academics from across the top universities in Arabic pedagogy and colleagues across the Middle East, my diplomatic and negotiation skills have proven essential.
We are in the process of creating one of the best intensive language programs in the world and I am proud to be a part of such an important endeavor.
I hope more Patterson school students will take advantage of this exceptional program.
