The Center for Middle Eastern & North African Studies (CMENAS) is pleased to announce the recipient of this year’s Mahfoud Bennoune Memorial Thesis Award. The winner is recent graduate Rosa Razmi for her thesis "The Daughters of the Diaspora: The Forged Identities from the Islamic Revolution". The award is given by CMENAS to support an outstanding master's thesis in memory of Dr. Mahfoud Bennoune, a beloved Algerian professor, author, teacher, human rights advocate, and father, who studied at the University of Michigan. Razmi’s thesis emphasizes the values that Dr. Bennoune fought for, including tolerance, secularism, human rights, and women’s rights.
Rosa Razmi graduated in May 2024 with a Masters in International and Regional Studies (MIRS) - Middle Eastern & North African Studies (MENAS) specialization. She was a recipient of the MIRS Fellowship for 2022-23 and the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for her 5th-year level Persian language studies for 2023-24. Rosa had the pleasure of presenting her thesis at a Lightning Talk with the International Institute in March of 2023 and was a MIRS graduate student assistant from 2022 to 2024, supporting MIRS students by organizing professional development and social events. She is looking forward to hopefully returning to academia for a Ph.D.
Congratulations, Rosa, on this outstanding achievement!
