Dr. Lina Kreidie
LAU-MEPI TLS Academic Director
MA gender coordinator

Dr. Kreidie is a political psychologist and a research consultant on Women’s Empowerment. Kreidie oversees and coordinates TLS course delivery, student progress, and attainment of MEPI-TLS academic goals.
Kreidie is an advisor and consultant for Intisar Foundation-NGO. She is also a member of the Harris Council University of Chicago Harris School for Public Policy. 

Dr. Jennifer Skulte-Ouaiss
Director, Title IX - Equity & Inclusion
LAU-MEPI TL Gender Expert

Dr. Skulte-Ouaiss is committed to gender equity and to eliminating discrimination in its many forms. She seeks to build networks of champions for equity and inclusion among students, staff, and faculty at LAU. In addition, she works to help the university live up to its founding promise to provide a unique educational environment for women as well as its current commitment to academic excellence, student-centeredness, civic engagement, the advancement of scholarship, the education of the whole person, and the formation of leaders in a diverse world. Her research and advocacy work focuses on gender and politics as well as migration and (in)security. Dr. Skulte-Ouaiss received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Maryland in the United States.

Ms. Myriam Sfeir
Director of the Arab Institute for Women

Ms. Myriam Sfeir is the Director of the Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at the Lebanese American University. Previously she served as senior managing editor of Al-Raida, the double-blind peer-reviewed journal published by AiW. She has over twenty-five years of experience working in the area of women’s rights and gender equality and ample experience doing research, expert analysis, training, and teaching. She is an authority on the women’s movement in Lebanon and has worked extensively on several groundbreaking projects related to oral history, movement building, and marginalized groups and has organized several international and regional conferences, film festivals, and panels that address gender rights and justice. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the American University of Beirut and her Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.

Ms. Dina Abdul Rahman
Executive Director, LAU-MEPI TL program
International Services Office, LAU

Ms. Dina Abdul Rahman joined LAU in 2007. After a long journey within SDEM, she established the Office of International Services (OIS) in 2016 within which falls the LAU MEPI-TL Programs.
Abdul Rahman is the LAU MEPI TL Executive Director. She oversees the strategic planning and implementation of the TL programs at LAU, coordinates with the board of the Program Directors, and manages the programs’ reporting and budgeting.
Abdul Rahman is an AUB alumnus and holds an MBA from LAU.

Ms. Rita Barotta
LAU-MEPI TLS Instructor 

PhD candidate at the St Joseph University, USJ, majoring in Humanities.
Thesis subject: Queer Discourses and Queer Politics in Lebanese Independent Cinema.
Doctoral Fellow at the OIB (Orient-Institut Beirut) since December 2020.
Master’s degree in Journalism from Panthéon-Assas (Paris 2- France).
BA in Journalism from the Lebanese University (LU).
12 years of Higher Education teaching.
15 years of experience in Print and Online Journalism.
Published author: poetry, essays, and articles, with a focus on feminism.
Research interest: Queer theories, masculinity, and semiotics.

Dr. Lina Abi Rafeh
Senior Advisor for Global Women’s Rights at the Arab Institute for Women

Lina AbiRafeh, Ph.D. is a global women’s rights expert and gender equality advocate with decades of experience worldwide. Lina worked for over 20 years in development and humanitarian contexts in Afghanistan, Haiti, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea, and others. Her experience spans global organizations such as the World Bank and various United Nations agencies. Lina advises several organizations and companies at a senior level. In addition, she is also the Senior Advisor for Global Women’s Rights at the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University, where she served as Executive Director for seven years.      
Lina has shared her passion and experience in ending violence against women on global stages including her TEDx talk, WomenDeliver PowerTalk, keynote address for Swedish International Development Agency annual meeting, amongst others.
Lina completed her doctoral work from the London School of Economics and published “Gender and International Aid in Afghanistan: The Politics and Effects of Intervention” in 2009, based on her PhD research. Her second book “Freedom on the Frontlines: Afghan Women and the Fallacy of Liberation” was released in February 2022.
Lina speaks and publishes frequently on a range of gender issues, such as the need for a feminist response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Arab women and girls. She believes women’s leadership is the strongest vehicle for peace and sustainable development.
Her work in support of women in Afghanistan was featured on CNN, leading to a live CNN interview on this topic. She continues to advocate for women’s rights worldwide, with appearances on France24, CNN Greece, BBC, Good Morning America, and others.
Lina  sits on the board of numerous global women’s rights organizations including SheDecides, Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, Forced Migration Review, Society of Gender Professionals, Global Women’s Institute, and others. Lina has received various awards and recognitions including the Gender Equality Top 100 worldwide in 2018 and 2019 and a Vital Voices fellowship for 2021 for outstanding women leaders. She was recognized by the Women’s Media Center as one of their Progressive Women’s Voices for 2021 and is featured in their database of experts. Lina is also a Women inPower fellow for 2022.

Ms. Stephanie Chaban
Social Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in Beirut

Stephanie Chaban is currently a Social Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in Beirut, Lebanon where she provides gender analysis, intergovernmental support, and technical assistance to Arab States on a range issues, including enabling gender justice, responding to violence against women, and implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda. As part of her work, she has produced reports, policy briefs and other relevant materials, including groundbreaking analysis of domestic violence legislation, protection orders, domestic violence shelters and referral systems in the Arab region. Prior to ESCWA, she worked on gender quality concerns and gender-based violence in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. Stephanie has a PhD in Law from the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University, and a MA in Women’s Studies from San Diego State University.

Dean Cathia Jenainati
Dean, School of Arts and Sciences

Dr Cathia Jenainati is a Professor and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. She has been involved in Education for Sustainable Development for over a decade. After establishing the first BASc in Global Sustainable Development in the UK, she moved to LAU where she established the department of Liberal Education that was tasked with reviewing and launching LAU’s Signature Liberal Arts Curriculum, LAU Insignia. Her academic career has spanned various disciplines which converge around her lifelong interest in understanding the ways in which gender manifests in culture and society. She is involved with international Liberal Education programs in Europe, the US and South America.

Dr. Mehrinaz El Awady
Director of the Gender Justice, Population and Inclusive Development Division at UN ESCWA

Dr. Mehrinaz previously served as ESCWA Director for the Centre for Women. Prior to this she served as ESCWA Senior SWAP Coordinator in charge of mainstreaming gender within the organization. She has a long record in development organization and management at the grassroots and the policy levels. Prior to her career as an International Civil Servant, she was the Youth and Women Regional Advisor for Save the Children, where she conducted research, situation analysis and proposal development on gender related and human rights issues in the Arab world.  Before joining Save the Children, El Awady worked for several International Development organizations such as Education Development Center, Center for Development and Population Activities, and Care International. She holds a bachelor in Economics from Cairo University, a Masters in International Development from the American University in Cairo, and a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Leeds, UK. Her current research areas include gender mainstreaming, combating violence against women, and gender justice, and social and economic inequalities in the Arab region.

Ms. Sara El Koussa
TLS Alumni, BS in Biology and a minor in psychology 

Sara graduated with a BS in Biology and a minor in psychology from LAU with distinction in Spring 2021. She’s a MEPI TLS alumni who has always been invested in making a difference and a positive change. One year after her mom passed away from breast cancer in September 2019, she started an initiative (CancerCom.) to fill the gaps in the cancer community through youth and their network. She was nominated for and won Sara Khatib Inspirational Award for changing a major life obstacle into a movement for a difference in 2021. She is working on making her initiative sustainable through the startup tract, and her idea won first place in UN-GCNL and second place in Lebanese German Forum for HealthTech Startups. It was also the only Lebanese startup to win the regional AUB GHI Global Health Change Maker Competition in 2022.  She is now a youth Ambassador of UN-GCNL and with more than 36 volunteers on board, she is on the road to making more impact.

Ms. Jana El Jamal
TLS Alumni, BS in Psychology and minor in political science and legal studies 

Jana El Jamal is a distinguished recent psychology graduate with minors in political science and legal studies. She is a TLS Alumna and an aspiring researcher in psychology. She has written some articles for WellBene, a company focusing on general well-being and health. She also participated in different interdisciplinary research projects at the university. She also happens to be an active advocate for sustainability, gender equity, and positive change in the community. She is a certified peacebuilder and peace facilitator. She is also a former MUN trainer. She is looking forward to continue graduate studies.

Ms. Joanna Abillama
LAU-MEPI TLS Instructor 

Joanna Abillama has an MA in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies from the Lebanese American University. Previously, she earned a BA in Psychology from the American University of Beirut and an MA in Theatre/ Drama Therapy from Kansas State University as a Fulbright scholar. Her topics of interest include gender bias in the mental health fields, lived experiences of neurodivergence, queer theory, performance theory, and the integration of arts-based methodologies in research. In addition to her academic pursuits, she has turned many times to creative writing and theater as conduits for both therapeutic processes and social activism.