NEWS RELEASE

Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 1, 2006

Contact: Angie Joe
713.743.8153 (office)
713.617.7138 (pager)
ajoe@uh.edu


GOOD WILL AMBASSADOR: UH’S MURAD SELECTED FOR NATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM
Student, Former Marine, Sugar Land Resident
to Learn Russian Language, Culture in St. Petersburg

HOUSTON, Aug. 1, 2006 – Many people attend college in hopes of attaining a good job with a top dollar salary and great benefits. For one University of Houston student and Sugar Land resident, college is a boot camp that prepares him to better serve his country.

For the 2006-7 academic year, Richard Murad will participate in the prestigious National Security Education Program (NSEP). He will study Russian language and culture for a year at the Smolny Institute, St. Petersburg State University, Russia. This marks the first time that a UH student has received this honor.

The Russian Studies major at UH was one of 141 students who received the honor. More than 700 applied. Fourteen other NSEP recipients will also be in Russia. He departs for the program Aug. 14. In the last seven years, Murad has also served in the U.S. Marine Corps and interned for the U.S. Department of State in Kiev, Ukraine. But that was not enough. He needed something else to give him a sense of fulfillment.

“I’m most intrigued by Russia because it is one of the remnants of the last great empire – the former Soviet Union,” Murad said. “Statues of Lenin are everywhere. There’s still a strong sentiment that if you speak Russian, you can get by almost anywhere in the former Soviet republics. Also, the image of the Soviet hammer and sickle is literally built into buildings and mailboxes.”

The NSEP was designed to provide American undergraduates with the resources and encouragement they need to acquire skills and experiences in areas of the world critical to the future security of the U.S. As students of other cultures and languages, NSEP Scholars learn to communicate across borders, understand other perspectives, and analyze increasingly fluid economic and political realities. In exchange, recipients make a one year commitment to work in the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State, or the Intelligence Community.

“NSEP helps Americans learn less commonly taught languages and cultures to enable them to become integrally involved in global issues,” said Parul Fernandes, director of the Office of International Studies and Programs at UH. “Richard has relentlessly studied Russian as a Marine and through UH’s Study Abroad Program, so that he can serve the country as an ambassador. His mastery of the language and knowledge of a foreign culture makes him a fitting candidate for the NSEP award from among 750 candidates.”

When Muard was a Marine Security Guard in Turkmenistan, he set his ultimate goal: to become a political officer for the U.S. Foreign Service or the intelligence community.

“I worked with an American general services officer there,” Murad said. “He inspired me because he served his country by working to build an understanding between locals and other Americans. I hope that one day I can do the same, and the NSEP will help me achieve that goal.”

Last spring, Murad interned for the Economic Section at the American Embassy in Kiev. There, he was exposed to international election monitoring and observed Ukraine’s Parliamentary Elections for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

“Service to one’s country is a noble thing, and it is part of why I joined the Marine Corps. Working for the State Department would allow me to serve my country in a greater capacity. I am enamored with the idea of world travel and foreign affairs, and I very much aspire to be a part of these things.”

Murad, 25, was born and raised in the Greater Houston area and is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land. He hopes to complete his bachelor’s degree in 2008.

For more information about the NSEP, go to http://www.iie.org/programs/nsep/undergraduate/default.htm.

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.