Friends of The DateKeepers
Our friends hail from many backgrounds, offer a diverse array of goods and services, speak more than 50 languages collectively, have contributed to manifold disciplines, and are based all around the world. To request an introduction or apply to be featured on our Friends page, please use our contact form. ​​
Arts & Letters
Abdelghafour ben
Lahbib, MA, PhD
With research interests spanning cultural identity, literature, history, media, power, and representation, Dr. Lahbib has served as a high school educator, a reviewer for the Journal of North African Studies, and a contributor to The DateKeepers Blog.
Lucia Matuonto, MBA
Author, artist, and entrepreneur Lucia Matuonto serves as editor-in-chief of The Relatable Voice Magazine, hosts multiple podcasts, and has published five books, including the award-winning Out of the Box and the best-selling Zoe the Crab book series.
Tamara Nemirovsky,
MFA
Award-winning filmmaker, animator, and educator Tamara Nemirovsky has achieved international recognition for her stop-motion films and, more recently, for the documentary Second Chances, which follows four individuals attempting to recover from addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jamila Morcel
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Though she specializes in book illustrations, Jamila Morcel has enjoyed working with a wide range of media, including furniture, dresses, curtains, and woodcarvings. She now offers a variety of graphic design services and is the proud creator of The DateKeepers Logo.
Youssef Armouz,
MA, PhD
Dr. Armouz teaches English, writes and presents on numerous factors impacting EFL learning, and conducts research with the Discourse, Creativity, Society, and Religions Laboratory at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fes-Sais, Morocco.
Peppur Chambers
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Author, educator, and entrepreneur Peppur Chambers has written, directed, produced, and performed in films and plays for radio and stage, published two novellas, and contributed to many publications. The creator of Brown Betties™, she strives to help women learn how to be.
Quincy Scmhechel
A fan of complex forms, essayist Quincy Schmechel explores the influence that family, friends, and the natural world exert on our lives. When not writing, she enjoys whisky sours, long hikes, and learning dead languages.
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Hashi Jayasinghe
MA, PhD
In addition to serving as an educator and instructional designer, Dr. Jayasinghe writes and publishes on a range of issues including postcolonialism, cultural studies, and methods for teaching global feminism in rhetoric and composition classes in hybrid and online settings.
Karen P. Peirce,
MA, PhD
With a background in writing studies, Dr. Peirce has published on topics including rhetorical ethos and mutual understanding across difference and continues to welcome opportunities to write, research, and promote academic success and cultural understanding through collaboration.
Tri Murniati, MA, PhD
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Dr. Murniati teaches English Language and Literature at Jenderal Soedirman University in Banyumas, Indonesia, where she also serves as an administrator. Her research centers on the lived experiences and written narratives of Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Ariana Lippi, MA
A fierce believer in art’s capacity to bring people together and give rise to meaning, meditation justice, and joy, Ariana Lippi strives to synthesize their expertise on Spanish literature, sustainability, and environmental policy in service of a better future.
Sarwa Azeez, MA,
MFA
Kurdish poet and translator Sarwa Azeez explores themes including beauty, identity, language, gender, and displacement, both in her original work, and in poems that she translates between English, Arabic, Kurdish, and Farsi.
Geghie A. Davis-
Tillie, MA
When not discharging her duties as a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador and President of Fulbrighters with Disabilities, Geghie offers her clients a robust array of “human-centered” digital products, synthesizing expertise in web-building, UX/UI, branding, and graphic design.
Laurence Warner, MA
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Jack-of-all-trades Laurence Warner has made his mark as a singer-songwriter, coder, web-builder, filmmaker, and stage performer. His music blends elements of pop, hip-hop, and alternative rap and explores the intersection of technology, media, culture, and human wellbeing.
Science & Technology
Paresh Samantaray,
MSc, PhD
With expertise in the synthesis, characterization, and application of polymers, Dr. Samantaray enjoys charting new structure-property-function relationships for diverse applications such as aerospace shielding, packaging, wastewater treatment, desalination, and heavy metal remediation.
Valeriia Poliukhova,
MS, PhD​
Dr. Poliukhova has contributed to creating high-performance photocatalyst synthesis targeting water purification and hydrogen production, and to optimizing Mxene synthesis for large-scale manufacturing. In her free time, she savors reading, yoga, coffee, meditation, art, and mesmerizing sunsets.
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Luis Quijano, MEd, PhD
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Working at the intersection of fashion and biotechnology, Dr. Quijano strives to develop new textiles using biomaterial substrates, such as bacterial cellulose, to reduce waste and improve sustainability across the fashion industry.
Sinan Morcel, MS
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Software architect and entrepreneur Sinan Morcel has extensive experience in robotics, greenfield & brownfield development, and cyber security. He offers consultations to clients interested in launching software-powered businesses and, with his brother, is boot-strapping a software-building business of his own.
Aditi Lele, MS, PhD​
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Dr. Lele’s field research has elucidated key relationship between gray hornbills and ecologically important tree species in the Anamalai Hills of the Western Ghats in Kerala, India. She now serves as an EducationUSA adviser helping students realize their American dreams.
Sebastian Giaocomino​
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Spurred by a lifelong interest in marine life, PhD candidate Sebastian Giacomino is working to develop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope landscapes from the pelagic baselines of two commercial and touristic gulfs in Argentina's Córdoba region.
Policy & Law
Teferi Abate Adem,
MA, PhD
Currently a research anthropologist at Yale University, a member of the Yale Council on African Studies, and a Visiting Professor at Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia, Dr. Adem has spent decades studying how farmers and communities pragmatically mobilize grassroots responses to crop failures and food insecurity brought on by climate change.
Taylor Farr, ESQ
With broad-ranging expertise spanning corporate transactions and litigation, immigration law, and food law and policy, Taylor Farr has served the prestigious firm Conner & Winters and now provides legal analysis and assistance at the US Courts of Appeals.
Sara Lynn Thelen
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Fluent in French and ASL and proficient in Spanish and Persian, Sara now serves as Operations Manager at a global security think tank in Washington, DC. She also holds BEI certification, has interpreted in medical, mental health, and higher education settings, and continues to offer freelance ASL interpretation.
Ellen Weintraut, ESQ
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Fluent in English and Spanish, Ellen Weintraut owns Northwest Immigration Law and has spent over 17 years working directly with clients on cases relating to family immigration, citizenship, asylum, and humanitarian immigration.
David J. Smith,
MS, JD
Educator, consultant, and career coach David J. Smith specializes in conflict resolution, peace-building, and humanitarian action. He’s served in senior positions at the US Institute of Peace and now directs the National Community College Peacebuilding Seminar and presides over the Forage Center.
Shoghik Mikayelyan,
MA, MEd
In addition to publishing two landmark books on school bullying, Shoghik serves as Executive Director of the Nor Luyce Mentoring Center for Youth in Gyumri, the first such NGO in Armenia to provide skills-building and career planning services exclusively to socially vulnerable girls. ​
Aicha Adoui, MA, PhD
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Dr. Adoui studies the intersection of soft power, diplomacy, and international higher education and has worked closely with several nonprofits, government initiatives, and agencies. Her book International Higher Education and The Rise of Soft Power as Cultural Diplomacy is now available to read.
Gaurav Misra, MA
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India's first UN-recognized life skills coach, Gaurav Misra, brings to the table an international network of professional connections, an interest in gamification, and a passion for helping young people transform themselves into productive, successful, and employable human beings.
Hsu Thadar, MPH
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With expertise encompassing epidemiology, HIV/AIDS, malaria control, and COVID-19, Hsu has made significant contributions to research, monitoring & evaluation, and program management at leading institutions including the WHO and the UNFPA.
Toby Usnik, MS, Phil
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Author of The Caring Economy and host of a podcast by the same name, Toby Usnik draws on 30+ years of leadership experience in the UK government, Christie's, American Express, Philanthropic Impact (π), and The New York Times to inform his pioneering work on corporate social responsibility.
Mila Rosa Librea-
Carden, MS, PhD
Dr. Librea-Carden’s scholarship centers on expanding access to the sciences. She has published in leading science education journals, including the International Journal of Science Education and Research in Science Education, and has taught in the US and the Philippines.
Dom Caristi, PhD
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Named Professor Emeritus of Media at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, Dr. Caristi also sits on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Chapter of the Fulbright Association. He is a co-author of the book Communication Law: Practical Applications in the Digital Age.
Maria Teresa Lago
Lao, MA, MS
Currently a Diversity and Inclusion Specialist at UNDP, Maria Teresa has spent decades working to empower people with physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities around the world.
Richard Vogel, PhD
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Currently a Diversity and Inclusion Specialist at UNDP, Maria Teresa has spent decades working to empower people with physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities around the world.