The Corporation of Brown University

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, a Class of 2000 Brown graduate, is an associate professor of practice in organization and leadership at Columbia University’s Teachers College; executive director at the International Interfaith Research Lab; and a faculty member at Columbia’s Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies and Middle East Institute. Sabic-El-Rayess has published on a range of issues, including educational displacement, violence prevention and radicalization. She has delivered over 100 invited lectures in more than 15 countries. She is a recipient of research grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships; the Muslim World League; the Smith Richardson Foundation; the U.S. State Department; Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; the International Research and Exchange Board; and Women’s World Banking. Sabic-El-Rayess was awarded a 2021 Finalist Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction by the American Library Association and best book recognition by School Library Journal, Malala Fund, Capitol Choices and Children’s Center for Literature for her memoir, “The Cat I Never Named” (Bloomsbury, 2020) — a defining text on resilience to hate and empowerment through education. Her next nonfiction contribution, “Three Summers” (Macmillan Publishers-FSG, 2024), is a story of resilience and sisterhood in the three years leading up to the Bosnian genocide. Sabic-El-Rayess is president of the Brown Alumni Association.