GOOD WILL AMBASSADOR: UH’S MURAD SELECTED FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
PROGRAM
Student, Former Marine, Sugar Land Resident
to Learn Russian Language, Culture in St. Petersburg
HOUSTON, Aug. 1, 2006 – Many people attend college in hopes
of attaining a good job with a top dollar salary and great benefits.
For one University of Houston student and Sugar Land resident, college
is a boot camp that prepares him to better serve his country.
For the 2006-7 academic year, Richard Murad will participate in
the prestigious National Security Education Program (NSEP). He will
study Russian language and culture for a year at the Smolny Institute,
St. Petersburg State University, Russia. This marks the first time
that a UH student has received this honor.
The Russian Studies major at UH was one of 141 students who received
the honor. More than 700 applied. Fourteen other NSEP recipients
will also be in Russia. He departs for the program Aug. 14. In the
last seven years, Murad has also served in the U.S. Marine Corps
and interned for the U.S. Department of State in Kiev, Ukraine.
But that was not enough. He needed something else to give him a
sense of fulfillment.
“I’m most intrigued by Russia because it is one of the
remnants of the last great empire – the former Soviet Union,”
Murad said. “Statues of Lenin are everywhere. There’s
still a strong sentiment that if you speak Russian, you can get
by almost anywhere in the former Soviet republics. Also, the image
of the Soviet hammer and sickle is literally built into buildings
and mailboxes.”
The NSEP was designed to provide American undergraduates with the
resources and encouragement they need to acquire skills and experiences
in areas of the world critical to the future security of the U.S.
As students of other cultures and languages, NSEP Scholars learn
to communicate across borders, understand other perspectives, and
analyze increasingly fluid economic and political realities. In
exchange, recipients make a one year commitment to work in the Departments
of Defense, Homeland Security, State, or the Intelligence Community.
“NSEP helps Americans learn less commonly taught languages
and cultures to enable them to become integrally involved in global
issues,” said Parul Fernandes, director of the Office of International
Studies and Programs at UH. “Richard has relentlessly studied
Russian as a Marine and through UH’s Study Abroad Program,
so that he can serve the country as an ambassador. His mastery of
the language and knowledge of a foreign culture makes him a fitting
candidate for the NSEP award from among 750 candidates.”
When Muard was a Marine Security Guard in Turkmenistan, he set his
ultimate goal: to become a political officer for the U.S. Foreign
Service or the intelligence community.
“I worked with an American general services officer there,”
Murad said. “He inspired me because he served his country
by working to build an understanding between locals and other Americans.
I hope that one day I can do the same, and the NSEP will help me
achieve that goal.”
Last spring, Murad interned for the Economic Section at the American
Embassy in Kiev. There, he was exposed to international election
monitoring and observed Ukraine’s Parliamentary Elections
for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
“Service to one’s country is a noble thing, and it is
part of why I joined the Marine Corps. Working for the State Department
would allow me to serve my country in a greater capacity. I am enamored
with the idea of world travel and foreign affairs, and I very much
aspire to be a part of these things.”
Murad, 25, was born and raised in the Greater Houston area and is
a graduate of Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land. He hopes
to complete his bachelor’s degree in 2008.
For more information about the NSEP, go to http://www.iie.org/programs/nsep/undergraduate/default.htm.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students.
For more information about UH visit the universitys Newsroom at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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