USD Magazine, Summer 2004

a Mission bi-national committees are studying for their master's degrees, and some have been accepted at schools like Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Dartmouth .

Authority leaders eventually decided not to staff char ministry, and instead appointed him to work with the Ministry of Education and completely reorganize the Iraqi university system. After years of neglect and fear under Hussein, rhe system is a mess - obsolete textbooks, unprepared professors, crumbling facilities and licrle to no concept of free aca– demic discourse. Ghougassian scarred from scratch. He first recruited American professors co bring cheir Iraqi counterparts up to speed on rhe past 15 years of research and development, and set up three-week faculty development seminars for Iraqi college professors slocced for chis July. As many as 450 Iraqi professors will attend the courses, designed to break the cycle of educa– tional obsolescence. Planning for the seminars started months ago. "I went to every single campus in Iraq, from che University of Basra in the south all che way up north, and I met with the deans, the heads of departments and the faculty," Ghougassian says. "I asked chem co identify the one discipline they felt their faculties needed most, and within chis discipline co identify only one course." Students at Baghdad Universi ty (below) were intensely in terested in learning how to apply for the Fulbright Program, which has been absent from Iraq for decades .

Given the long and difficult history of the northern Iraqi city - one of che centers of Kurdish identity and rhe hub of the Iraqi oil industry - che cask was daunting, bur Ghougassian was up co che challenge. He was expected to come up with recommenda– tions about handling Kurdish property con– fiscated by Saddam Hussein and given to Arabs as pare of Hussein's ethnic cleansing policies. Once Hussein's regime was toppled, Kurds and Turks began returning to reclaim their property, which was not always a peace– ful proposition. Despite scattered violence, rhe mission ultimately succeeded, in large pare because of Ghougassian's background. "We at CPA have instituted a property claims court," Ghougassian says. "My ability to speak Ruent Arabic was a great cool char won me the Arab tribal sheiks' confidence; my Armenian ethnicity won me che friend– ship and confidence of the Kurds and my Christian religion put the people ac ease, because Christians in Iraq are viewed as fair– minded and honest people." Although O 'Beirne originally rapped Ghougassian to work with the Iraqi Ministry of Religious Affairs, Coalition Provisional

And now, as the sun slips below the hori– zon, he's on the phone with me, eager co share news of his many accomplishments with fellow USD alums. Of course, I'm nor rhe only journalist on his roster chis particu– lar evening: "I did a CNN interview a cou– ple of hours ago, because a young man who was my proregee - a 22-year-old - got hurt and was medically evacuated co che United Scares," he says. "Thank God, he is going to live." His voice brightens as he continues. "Oh yes, and I talked co a judge who'd like to sponsor a couple of Iraqi law students to come to visit in New Orleans." That's the kind of give-and-rake Ghougassian lives for. And why nor? He's very, very good at it. MAN WITH A MISSION Shifting gears quickly and with great finesse is second nature to Joseph Ghougassian . During his 20 years as a professor of philoso– phy at USD - from 1966 to 1986 - he found rime to serve as director of the Peace Corps in the Yemen Arab Republic, to con– sult with top Washington officials in the Departments of Scare, Justice and Health and Human Services, and co lecture on sub– jects ranging from the global economy to diplomacy to law. The reputation he built reached the high– est levels of government, and last year che retired Ghougassian received a call from Jim O 'Beirne, special assistant to Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowirz. "I was given a mission," he says. "Our job was go to Kirkuk, look into che property dis– putes between the Turks, the Kurds, che Arabs and che Christians, and to calm down rhe siruacion." .•, .#.'! ~- ..