USD Magazine Spring 2007

1990s

[ 1 9 9 0 ] KRIS (REUBA) BROWN (B.A.) and her husband are living in Roseville, Calif., with their four chil- dren: Madeleine, 7; Ethan, 4; Abby, 3; and Alexander William, born Feb. 17, 2006. Kris is a stay-at-home mom. ERIC DEUTSCH (B.B.A.) has been married to Courtney for five years. They have two daughters: Peyton Marie, 2; and Parker Jane, who was born July 20, 2006. The family lives in Dayton, Ohio. WILLIAM HAMBY (B.A.) is assis- tant chief counsel for the Depart- ment of Homeland Security, Immigra- tion and Customs Enforcement in Houston. He is also a major in the Marine Corps Reserve serving as a judge advocate with the 1st Battal- ion, 23rd Marines in Houston. KAREN HUNCK (M.B.A.) lives in Encinitas and was recently divorced. “I keep busy with triathlons and work,” she says. ELIZABETH KREITZER (J.D.) was named the 2005 Michael C. Shea Chair by the San Diego Certified Fam- ily Law Specialists for service as a teacher and mentor to family law attorneys. KATHLEEN LAVIN (B.A.) has been a personal fitness trainer for 14 years and has owned her own personal fitness training business for the past nine years. Kathleen lives in San Clemente, Calif. ANN (KRAUSS) MAYO (M.S.N., D.N.SC. ’98) is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, studying memory and aging. JENNIFER MCCAIN (J.D.) writes, “I continue to enjoy my job as assis- tant city attorney for the city of Escon- dido. My husband, Doug, is a com- mander in the Navy. We are busy with our six children, three boys and three girls ranging from 16 to 2 years old.” JEWLS (ROGOWSKA) TENEVA (J.D., M.A. ’90) says, “I am still working as an immigration specialist but very part-time since the birth of my fourth child, Konrad Nikolas, on Oct. 24, 2005. He joins his twin sis-

TAMER IBRAHIM

In Baghdad Joseph Ghougassian is seldom alone; he’s flanked by his personal security detail, which accompanies him everywhere he goes to protect him from insurgents.

ringing decent public services to Iraq is a tough job. That’s why they called B L I FE DURING WART IME Rebuilding public services for Iraqis from the ground up by Julene Snyder [ s t e p p i n g u p ]

made up of Iraqi-American aca- demics who are there to show the people what being the best of the best looks like. “We train trainers, who train other train- ers, and spread out from there.” Ghougassian, who earned two degrees fromUSD—a master’s in international relations in 1977 and a J.D. in 1980—also taught on campus for a number of years. Of course, in a manner of speak- ing, he’s still teaching.“There are five areas we need to focus on,” he explains.“Fiscal management, personnel management, informa- tion technology, communication management, and strategy and planning.” While the job seems impossible, Ghougassian is used to exceeding expectations.“Within two weeks, we had already put together two training courses in procurement. Washington couldn’t believe how quickly we were able to begin the work.”

“Then, I was able to travel all over the country by myself or with Iraqis,”he says, sounding weary. “Now, I cannot even leave the compound by car or by walking. I’m always surrounded by guards. Things have deteriorated to such an extent that I would not dare to travel about on my own.” In spite of the dangers he and his team are facing — insurgent activity, ethnic violence, criminal elements such as kidnapping, carjacking and murder — Ghougassian is determined to bring about progress.“We want procedures to be transparent, and to stamp out the kind of bureau- cratic corruption that is endemic in the Middle East. We want to bring them in tune with the best practices of industrial nations.” It’s a gargantuan task indeed. “There are 1.9 million public ser- vants that need to be trained,” he explains. Luckily, he’s put together a solid team, mostly

in Joe Ghougassian. From a secured compound in Baghdad, the former ambassa- dor to Qatar talked about his decision to spend the next three years there to head efforts to bring basic services such as water, electricity and fuel to the people. “They have to wait in line for hours just to get a tank of gas, and it’s dangerous out there.” Tapped in August to become chief of party for a project fund- ed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop and strength- en public service delivery to Iraqis, Ghougassian admits that things are wildly different now than they were back in 2004 when he was in Baghdad as an adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authori- ty, charged with normalizing higher education.

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