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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Laura Ingalls (laura.ingalls@worldlearning.org) in Washington, 1.202.464.6973

J. Larry Brown to Join World Learning, Expand SIT Programs in Oman

BRATTLEBORO, VT (August 4, 2010) -- World Learning is delighted to announce that prominent educator Dr. J. Larry Brown has accepted a position as the new director of the World Learning Center in Oman. Brown most recently served as Peace Corps country director in Uganda, and the executive director of Harvard University's Center on Hunger and Poverty.

"Larry Brown brings a perfect mix of development and university experience to World Learning's SIT programs and we are excited by his plans to enhance our programming in Oman," said Lynne Rosansky, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Brown will replace David Fenner, who played a leading role in establishing the Oman Center in 2005 and oversaw its first educational programs for undergraduate and graduate students. The center's current programming includes intensive Arabic and SIT Study Abroad's Oman: Political Culture and Economic Development.

As director, Brown will further advance the Oman Center’s mission to bridge Middle Eastern and Western cultures by creating a cross-cultural learning center in the Gulf. The Center will offer universities and other partners a strategic location in which to host exchanges and offer academic programs that examine topics such as globalization, Islam, Arab culture, development, oil economies, water rights, and tribal dynamics. 

Brown's professional career spans more than four decades of distinguished service in academia and the development field. He founded both the Center on Hunger and The Feinstein International Famine Center at Tufts University. Formerly a faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health, Brown served as chairman of the Physician Task Force on Hunger in America. He is a past board chair of Oxfam America and served as assistant director of the Peace Corps/VISTA under President Carter.

"I am excited by this new challenge," Brown said. "Meaningful international development requires us to find ways to co-exist by focusing on our common humanity and the future that we all share on this tiny globe."

Brown will take up his new post on September 15. His wife, Judi Garfinkel, will join SIT Study Abroad as academic director for Middle East health programs.

Learn more about World Learning:

SIT Study Abroad
SIT Graduate Institute
International Honors Program
The Experiment in International Living
International Development and Exchange