MESALI Professors

Professor Kaplan is Professor of Arabic and Hebrew at MESALI and has taught Arabic in the Greater Washington DC area for ten years.  

Professor Kaplan has a Masters from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced Internationals Studies (SAIS) with a focus in Middle East Affairs.

He conducted his Fulbright Scholarship in Morocco on the Political Economy of Water Policy. He is fluent in Classical Arabic, Moroccan, Hebrew, French and has conversational Chinese.

Professor Kaplan plays drums in his own jazz band and performs stand up comedy in Washington DC and New York City.     

Adjunct Professor Somers, adjunct instructor of French at MESALI, was a Senior Prosecuting Trial Attorney at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. She has consulted for The World Bank and was a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is adjunct instructor of French Language at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, DC. Ms. Somers is fluent in French and Russian. Other languages include Serbo Croatian, Dutch, Spanish and Hebrew. Ms. Somers holds a Juris Doctor Degree from Cleveland Marshall College of Law and a Master in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University. Ms. Somers attended Middlebury College’s Summer Language Institute and earned a certificate from the Alliance Française in The Hague for “Séminaires de français juridique.” Ms. Somers earned a certificate for “Cours de Droit International Humanitaire” sponsored by Le Comité International de la Croix-Rouge, Croix-Rouge suisse, in Sion, Switzerland.

Adjunct Professor Mandokhil is the Adjunct Professor of Pashto and Urdu at MESALI. He is a native speaker of both Pashto and Dari and is fluent in English and Urdu. Salim is primarily responsible for writing and editing news stories,  conducting interviews, and translating English news items into Pashto/Dari. He was a Language Trainer in Kabul, Afghanistan for the Aina Media and Culture Center, a Producer and Anchor for Afghanistan National Radio and Television, and has held many additional positions involving the Pashto Language and Media outlets.

Adjunct Professor ABd-Elmessih is the Adjunct Professor of Arabic at MESALI. He received his Masters Degree in International Relations from Southern Connecticut State University, with a specialization in American and Middle Eastern Foreign policy. Michael currently works as a professor at both American University and Montgomery College, and as an Arabic Instructor at the World Bank.   He is a native Arabic speaker, is fluent in English and has an understanding of Spanish and German. Michael is a singer and song writer who enjoys Soccer, Basketball, Football, Tennis, Ping Pong and Volleyball.

Adjunct Professor Murawih has more than ten years experience in foreign language teaching, freelance journalism and radio broadcasting. A certified teacher in English and in German, Musa taught English to high school and college students, German to a diverse audience of professionals, and Arabic to foreign diplomats in his native Sudan and in the Washington, DC area. His radio broadcast anaasheedul hudat, or the hymns of the caravan, was featured on Sudan national radio. He is the author of Arabiyyul Wajdi Aajamiyyul Wijdan, a poetry collection in Arabic (Alif, 1999). Musa holds an MA degree in International Politics and Conflict Resolution from the University of Denver. Most recently, he worked as a senior global media strategist for a number of strategic communications consultancies in the Washington, DC area. He is currently a consulting lead Arabist at the Library of Congress, World Digital Library.

Adjunct Professor Benomaris an Adjunct Professor of French and Arabic at MESALI. She is a native of Morocco and holds a degree in teaching from Morocco. She speaks French, Arabic MSA (Modern Standard Arabic), and all Arabic dialects in North Africa and the Middle East.  Saida currently works at the International Language Institute and has more than 29 years of experience as a teacher, tutor, counselor, and academic advisor including teaching positions at Berlitz. She enjoys travel, cultural events, cooking, sport and music.

Adjunct Professor Hanson has an M.A. in Middle Eastern and South Asian languages from the University of Chicago and diplomas from the American University in Cairo and the Sorbonne in Paris. Having spent many years studying and teaching in the Middle East and South Asia, he is fluent in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Hindi, as well as French and Spanish. His professional experience includes serving as court interpreter, development consultant, language instructor, and translator/interpreter for technical missions to countries including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Egypt, Syria and Yemen.