By Jennie Fitzgerald

From Worcester State graduate student to Political Science Professor, Rami Khalaf sure does know his stuff ~ a history buff to say the least, Rami has taught history and, most recently, Arabic at WSC. Born and raised in Kuwait, he graduated from WSC in 2002 and has been teaching ever since.

Rami spent a lot of time in school, so it’s not a shock that he’s still there (on the other side of the chalkboard, of course)! He double majored in business and history as an undergrad, then in education with a concentration in history for graduate school. He says he might have gone into marketing for the challenging aspects of the field ~ but then I wouldn’t be writing this piece on him, would I?

In teaching PoliSci, the tenacity of his students gets him every time. “Students these days are well aware of their surroundings thanks to cable news media and other outlets between their hands, like the internet,” he said. He appreciates a variety of teaching styles but likes to use those outlets in particular. His students can be found downloading news articles from around the world and debating with each other, free of boundaries that some professors may impose. He loves when his students are exposed to new ideas and are appreciative of that enlightenment. “Feeling that I reached my goal and spread the word, for me, that is the blessing of teaching…to enlighten the youth and feel that I accomplished something positive with them and for them.”

He started the first Central MA Arabic language program and prides himself on teaching others about the Middle East culture. It’s a complex language that’s hard to understand ~ he advises his students to adopt an international Arabic-English program in nations like Jordan and Syria if they expect to perfect it. That’s what I call hands-on!

So, I had to ask, since he’s a political scholar and all, what he thinks about this year’s election….and the verdict? “Obama all the way, after President Bush, the last thing we need is a third term of the same. McCain (with all due respect) supported the President 90% of the time, that’s a good indication to move on right there.”