Dr. Mohammed Ezroura (Academic Coordinator and Professor, Contemporary Moroccan Culture)
Dr. Mohammed Ezroura is Professor of English and former Vice Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, Mohammed V University-Agdal. He earned his PhD in Comparative Literature and Critical Theory from the University of British Columbia (Canada), his MA in the Sociology of Literature from Essex University (UK) and his undergraduate degree in English from Mohammed V University. He served for many years as resident director of the Vassar College study abroad program in Morocco and has been a visiting scholar or professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the American Studies Research Center in Hyderabad, India, University of British Columbia, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Vassar College, Lincoln University, Connecticut College, Seoul National University (Korea), Cairo University (Egypt), Edinburgh University (UK) and Stirling University (UK).

Mr. Othmane Zakaria (Arabic Language Specialist and Coordinator)
As the Arabic Language Coordinator for AMIDEAST’s Education Abroad Programs in Morocco, Othmane Zakaria manages Arabic language teacher training as well as implementing the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) when teaching Arabic as a foreign language. Othmane is a native of Meknes, Morocco. In 2006, Othmane earned his BA in English Studies and Linguistics from Moulay Ismail University in Meknes. He also earned a master’s degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Prior to his work with AMIDEAST, Othmane served as an English language teacher in Moroccan secondary schools for seven years and taught Arabic with the Critical Language Scholarships (CLS) Program in Rabat in 2012, as well as with other programs for non-native speakers. During the 2010-2011 academic year, Othmane served as a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, teaching Arabic courses on language and culture at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In addition to his work as an Arabic instructor, Othmane enjoys giving presentations on religion, Islam and interfaith dialogue, and facilitating language clubs. Othmane is engaged in many international educational networks such as iEarn (International Education and Resource Network) and National Global Teenagers Project. Othmane is also the General Secretary of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Alumni Association.

Dr. Mohamed Chekayri (Arabic Language Studies and Professor, Modern Standard Arabic and Media Arabic)
Dr. Mohamed Chekayri is Associate Professor in the Arabic Department of Mohammed V University – Agdal where he teaches courses in theoretical, Arabic and general linguistics and supervises undergraduate research papers and doctoral theses at the graduate level.  Dr. Chekayri was trained at Mohammed V University in Rabat where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in linguistics.  He also attended special summer courses in Damascus immediately following after earning his undergraduate degree. He has published three books used in courses at Mohammed V University and journal articles.  Dr. Chekayri is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Kuwait University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.  His outside interests include reading, cultural studies and plastic arts. 

Dr. Mohsine Elahmadi (Professor, Islamic Reform and Islamism; Political Systems of the Maghrib)
Dr. Mohsine Elahmadi is Professor of Political Sociology in the Faculty of Law at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh, Morocco, a position he has held since 1999.  He earned his MPhil and PhD at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.  His master’s thesis was on political program and religious ideology of Islamist movements in Morocco.  His doctoral thesis was on Islamism and Modernity in Post-Colonial Morocco.  Dr. Elahmadi has published six books (in French) on topics such as Qur’anic schools in Morocco (2010), Islamist Movements in Morocco (2006), The Monarch and Islam (2006), and Dreams of the Young (with Fatima Mernissi in 2008).  He also has published numerous articles and review articles in journals in France, Morocco, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, and Spain, and press articles in the U.S. for the organization Common Ground.   In 2009-10, Dr. Elahmadi was a Fulbright scholar at Georgetown University.  During that year he also lectured at Colorado College and Lewis and Clark College in Oregon.

Mr. Adil El Megaless (Instructor, Modern Standard Arabic, Excursion Leader)
Mr. Adil El Megaless is a teacher of Arabic in Rabat.  He earned his two BA degrees, one in Public Law from Mohammed V University in Rabat and the other in English language studies at Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra.  From 2007 to 2009 he taught modern standard Arabic to foreign undergraduate and adult learners affiliated with the British volunteer organization Projects Abroad and to American Fulbright grantees through the Moroccan American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange.  During the 2009-10 academic year he attended a course in Arabic grammar offered through the Islamic – West Institute in Kenitra.  Mr. El Megaless has a strong interest in theater and has been involved in British Council summer productions at the Centre Culturel d’Agdal, Villa des Arts and the Moroccan National Library.

Ms. Touria Guessous (Arabic Language Studies and Instructor, Modern Standard Arabic and Moroccan Arabic)
Ms. Touria Guessous retired in 2004 after a long career as a school administrator in Rabat.  She was trained in Fez, Paris and Mohammedia and served for more than 30 years as a senior administrator at secondary schools in Fez and Rabat, the last 27 as Director of Lycée Halima Saadia in Rabat.  During that time she worked in partnership with Lycée Descartes, the Rabat American School, Collège Saint Expery in Rabat, and other schools in France.  She has been teaching Arabic for AMIDEAST and other programs for American students in Rabat since 2004.  Her outside interests are music, cooking, sports, travel and literature.

Dr. William A. Lawrence (Professor, U.S. Relations with the Arab/Muslim World)
Dr. William A. Lawrence directs the North Africa Project for International Crisis Group and has 27 years experience working in and on North Africa, including many years with the U.S. Department of State. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Duke University and master’s and doctoral degrees at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University. His diverse background includes not only service as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer but also stints as a Peace Corps volunteer (in Morocco), Fulbright Scholar (Tunisia/Algeria), development consultant (U.S., Egypt), Center for Arab Studies Abroad fellow (Egypt), Arabic translator and interpreter (short stories, Olympic games), documentary filmmaker (Marrakech Inshallah, Moroccans in Boston), and music producer (14 albums of North African music). Until 2011, he served as Senior Advisor for Global Engagement at the State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) where he led numerous initiatives and advised the White House on core elements of President Obama’s Global Engagement initiative leading up to and following the Cairo speech in June 2009. He is the co-founder of the State Department’s Global Muslim Science Partnerships program. Dr. Lawrence travelled to Libya frequently in recent years, and helped negotiate and implement the first bilateral agreement with Libya in several decades and later served at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. He served as the State Department’s officer in charge of Libyan and Tunisia Affairs (2005-6) and of Iraq reconstruction (2003-4). He is a regular guest on international news programs on North Africa’s Arab spring, including BBC World Service’s The World Today and Network Africa and Al Jazeera’s Inside Story. Dr. Lawrence was the 2008-9 Goldman Sachs Fellow and has taught at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh.

Dr. Michael Peyron (Professor, Amazigh History and Culture) 
Dr. Michael Peyron is a visiting professor at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco.  He was born and attended primary and secondary schools in the United Kingdom.  He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in France (at the universities of Bordeaux and Grenoble).  His doctoral thesis was on an Amazigh area in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.  Dr. Peyron taught at the Faculty of Letters of Mohammed V University in Rabat 1973-1988) and in the English Department at Grenoble University (1988-95). In the late 1980s, the focus of his career switched form English to Amazigh studies. From 1995 to1997 he was a guest lecturer at King Fahd School for Translation (Tangier, Morocco), and since 1997 has been a visiting professor at Al-Akhawayn University.  Dr. Peyron’s publications include numerous articles and half a dozen books in French and English on Amazigh-related affairs, including, two volumes of bi-lingual Berber-French poetry; a collection of folktales in a Berber-English edition; four edited conference proceedings on Amazigh culture; since 1985, he has regularly contributed entries to the multi-volume Encyclopédie Berbère; and, he put together anAmazigh Studies Reader (2006) which he uses in his teaching.

Dr. Raja Rhouni (Professor, Gender, Islam and Society)
Dr. Raja Rhouni is Professor at Chouaib Doukkali University at El Jadida. She studied English Literature and Cultural Studies in Rabat, earning her Doctorate in 2005 from the Cultural and Development Studies program at Mohammad V University.  During the 2006-2007 academic year, she was a Fellow in the multi-disciplinary research program “Europe in the Middle East: the Middle East in Europe” of the Institute of Advanced Study in Berlin.  Her project dealt with "Islamic feminist hermeneutics of the Qur'an."  She is the author of Secular and Islamic Feminist Critiques in the Work of Fatima Mernissi (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010).

Ms. Hafida Socarno (Instructor, Modern Standard Arabic)
Ms. Hafida Socarno received her B.A. in Public Law from Mohammed V University-Agdal in 1997. In 2006, she received a master’s in Education from L’Institute IFPRO in Rabat. Fluent in Arabic and Tamazight, she has served as an Arabic instructor for both AMIDEAST and Qalam wa Lawh, and teaches Amazigh to non-Amazigh speakers since 2008. Although she specializes in Modern Standard Arabic instruction at the intermediate and advanced levels, she has experience teaching Moroccan Colloquial Arabic and Media Arabic. In 2010, she lectured American students in the Air Force and U.S. Department of State on human rights and political development in Morocco and North Africa. In her spare time, Ms. Socarno dedicates her time to the Youth and Democracy Organization in Rabat, serving as a trainer for many of the organization’s workshops. Also in 2010, she founded The Media Club, an organization for Moroccan students to gather to discuss current events in the Arab World. Currently, she is a Master’s candidate in Law at Hassan II University.

Mr. Aziz Aqsbi (Instructor, Modern Standard Arabic)
Mr. Aziz Aqsbi received his B.A. in English Language and Literature from Moulay Ismael University in Meknes, Morocco in 2004. Fluent in Arabic, Tamazight, French, and English, from 2005 to 2007, he taught English as a second language and served as a part-time instructor of Arabic for international students at Moulay Ismael University. From 2007 to 2008, he taught Arabic Language and Culture courses at Qalam Wa Lawh Academy for Arabic Studies in Rabat, Morocco. Following his work at Qalam Wa Lawh, Mr. Aqsbi joined the Jabran Khalil Jabran School and Group Atlas in Rabat as an English instructor until 2011. In his spare time, he participates in the Books for Africa Campaign and the International Campaign for Africa. Currently, Mr. Aqsbi is finishing his Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics at Moulay Ismael University.