The International Studies Department and Office of Academic Affairs welcomed Dr. Robert Malley, President Obama’s former White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region for this year’s Gurcharan Singh Lecture.
A packed room of students, faculty, and friends of Marymount Manhattan College welcomed Dr. Robert Malley for his discussion on the current state of US/Middle East relations and his experience as both the Special Assistant to President Obama and as the White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region. Alumnus Alex Kane, a journalist whose work focuses on the Middle East, co-led the discussion with Malley and Dr. Andreas Hernandez of the International Studies Department. The later half of the evening heard questions from the audience members on a range of topics.
When asked for any advice he could give to current students in the field, Malley suggested “follow your heart” when choosing career paths; to figure out what truly interests you and find that in your work-life. He followed his statement with “You have to pay your dues, you have to study hard, you have to do well in general, but I’m saying when you have your next career choice when you graduate…you can’t be overly calculating because life isn’t going to turn out the way you planned it.”
About the Lecture Series
Professor Gurcharan Singh was a beloved member of the Marymount Manhattan College community and founded the International Studies major in the early 1980s. After his passing in 2007, students, alumni, and friends joined together to create the Gurcharan Singh Memorial Fund. This fund was created to establish a lecture series and a student essay competition focusing on Professor Singh’s core values and fields of interests: mutual respect and understanding across cultures and nations, justice for the oppressed, and conflict resolution.
