Marwan Safar Jalani

“ Dr. Gorrell’s course taught me to discover three main core values that I hold dear and that have been shaped by my upbringing: knowledge, freedom of expression, and human security. As a formerly displaced person from Syria, I have been deprived of these rights in the past, and my experience with displacement and insecurity have made me value these concepts. But I could not have discovered how important these concepts are to me without the tools that I have developed during Dr. Gorrell’s course.

Most importantly, the course values skills in active listening so that participants learn from each other as well as the instructor. In that way, the course focuses on providing tools for self-discovery, allowing participants to pursue a journey of meeting themselves and others. The course is also adaptable to the different sets of experiences that participants have, as long as they are prepared to utilize the tools that they acquire to begin that journey. What's most exciting is that it does not end at the end of the course. Rather, the course is just the beginning of a journey to self-discovery that can help with personal and professional development!

—Marwan Safar Jalani; B.A Yale, MPhil Oxford, Rhodes Scholar
Global Crisis Analyst, Emergencies and Humanitarian Action Unit
International Rescue Committee