Marlene Canlas sought a new adventure. Patrick Laude hoped to find new avenues for his research. And David Phongsavan wanted to help manage a new campus far from Georgetown’s Washington base.

The reasons faculty and staff choose to work at the School of Foreign Service campus in Doha, Qatar, vary as much as the 130 individuals who now call Georgetown’s Education City campus home. Yet, all are helping to build a reality that higher education rarely sees by creating a robust campus halfway across the world that provides the full Georgetown experience in a foreign culture.

From an operation that began with 25 faculty and staff members in 2005, SFS-Qatar expands every year as one of six American institutions in Education City. To support that growth, SFS-Qatar hires about 15 to 20 people annually, and many of them come from Main Campus.

The Differences At Hand
When faculty and staff members move to Doha to work, they must adapt to a new way of life outside of the office as well.

"Flexibility is key for someone who wants to work here," says Phongsavan, a senior human resources officer. "You have to keep an open mind. It’s a different country and culture, and you have to appreciate that. If you don’t, it’s going to be a difficult time transitioning."

There are expected things to get used to, such as the weather -- seasonal highs in September average 101 degrees Fahrenheit -- but it often can be the unexpected that provide lessons.

Canlas, a new SFS-Q assistant dean, moved to Doha in July. She knew about Ramadan, the monthlong period of daytime fasting and prayer for Muslims, before arriving. But she says living in the Middle East region provides a closer view of the realities around the observance, which ends Sept. 20.

"On the way to work, I usually have my travel mug of coffee, but during Ramadan I have to remind myself not to pick up the cup because it’s illegal for anyone to eat or drink during the day in public," she notes. "You need to be sensitive to things like that."

Before she left Washington, Canlas talked to friends already working in the city about the similarities and differences between the two locations. She says she wasn’t concerned about adjusting.

"What’s the point of living abroad if there aren’t differences?" she says. "I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and test myself a little bit."

Georgetown seeks to make the transition smooth for new SFS-Qatar faculty and staff by offering orientations in Washington and Doha and scheduling pre-employment trips to Education City for new recruits.

Reaping the Rewards on Campus
Prior to her arrival in Qatar, Canlas worked as a Georgetown College academic counselor. She currently advises about 40 students on the Doha campus, and she’s noticed a few differences while working at SFS-Qatar.

"There’s more of a culture here of students seeking out their dean. Students are making a bigger leap forward in gaining independence than a lot of their Main Campus counterparts," she says. "They seek out advice because this is the first time a lot of our students have been independent."

Laude, a professor of French who has worked at Georgetown since 1991, wondered if the students would differ significantly in Doha from those in Washington when he first arrived at SFS-Qatar in 2006.

"We have to teach as we would be teaching in Washington because this is Georgetown. Of course, we should be culturally sensitive, but that does not mean we should alter the content of our courses," says Laude, who hails from France.

The professor has found his niche at SFS-Qatar, where the intersection of his scholarship and teaching complements opportunities to experience Muslim-Arab cultures and travel the Middle East region. He has visited Egypt, Iran and India for research opportunities, thus far.

"SFS-Q, for me, has been a way to get out of a certain academic compartmentalization," Laude says. "It has allowed me to teach classes in mysticism, theology and comparative religion that are closely connected to my research and scholarship, but do not necessarily correspond to my label as a French professor."

Branching Out and Building Up
Working at SFS-Qatar was a rare opportunity for James Reardon-Anderson, former dean of the campus. He recently returned to Washington as a senior associate dean in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, but says leading Georgetown’s mission in another country served as something quite meaningful.

"This is the first time in higher education that institutions are building branches far from home, but giving their own degrees out," Reardon-Anderson says. "We’re not just building a school -- we’re building a school that gives an experience as close to possible as the Washington campus, but in a completely different context."

For Phongsavan, moving to Doha was about experiencing something new. And he’s done that by helping to shape operations at the Qatar campus.

"The challenge here is doing what we want to do as Georgetown, while also conforming with the laws of Qatar," explains Phongsavan, who was among the first to arrive in Doha in 2005.

Many SFS-Qatar faculty and staff sign multiyear contracts and are on campus for a set amount of time. Canlas anticipates she’ll return to the United States after three years; Reardon-Anderson similarly remained for four.

But, having found a place that so neatly fits into his scholarship and teaching interests, Laude says he looks forward to remaining in Doha long-term.

"Most faculty and staff will leave after a period, but Georgetown has everything to gain from having a few colleagues here on a permanent or semi-permanent basis," Laude says. "I’d like to stay as long as I can."

This is the first in a two-part series looking at work and life at Georgetown’s Doha campus. Another article will appear at the end of the academic year.

-- Lauren Burgoon

(September 15, 2009)