TeachMideast is a resource designed primarily to give middle and high school teachers the tools they need to teach about critical, complex and intriguing subjects-the Middle East, Islam and Muslims. Elementary and college-level teachers will also find much of use here, for both their classrooms and their personal edification. This website is the core project of the Middle East Policy Council's educational program and underpins MEPC's free teacher institutes. You can schedule a free professional development workshop tailored to your school or school system's needs here.

The Middle East Policy Council is 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1981 whose mission is to contribute to American understanding of the political, economic and cultural issues that affect U.S. policy in the Middle East.  This is accomplished through three programs: the quarterly journal Middle East Policy (the most influential policy publication on the region); the Capitol Hill Conference Series for policymakers and their staffs offering multiple points of view on complex issues; and our acclaimed professional development workshops for K-12 educators.  The journal can be subscribed to through Blackwell Publishing, but the other two programs are offered free of charge. We believe that knowledge, insight and perspective are the paths to understanding, and strive to provide these through our nonpartisan programming and our new website for educators, TeachMideast.org. The other programs of MEPC are served through a separate website at http://www.mepc.org.

Meet Our Staff

Barbara Petzen, Outreach Director

Before becoming MEPC’s Education Director, Barbara Petzen served as outreach coordinator at the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies since just before September 11, 2001. She had previously designed and taught courses on Middle Eastern history, Islam and women's studies at Dalhousie University and St. Mary's University in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has also served as tutor and teaching assistant at Harvard University, where she will one day complete her doctoral dissertation in Middle Eastern history on European governesses in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. She earned her BA in International Poli tics and Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia College and a second Honours BA as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in Oriental Studies. Her academic interests include Ottoman history, the history and present concerns of women in the Middle East and Islamic world, the role of Islam in Middle Eastern and other societies, relations and perceptions between the Islamic world and the West, and the necessity for globalizing K-12 education in the United States.

Neil Brandvold, Program Manager

Before joining the Middle East Policy Council, Neil Brandvold was director of membership at the Wireless Communications Association International, an international trade advocacy association. Over the past 3 years Brandvold has worked with various non-profits organizations in development and program management. He earned a BA in Political Science with a focus on International Politics at Weber State University and was the president of the student chapter of Amnesty International. Throughout college he worked closely with the recent immigrant population organizing workers in local factories. Brandvold also spent two years as a volunteer in Honduras where he led sustainable community development projects for at-risk populations. His interests include Middle Eastern culture, politics, history and literature, and is dedicated to fostering a greater understanding between the American public and the Middle East.