Dear POMEPS Community,
It is with mixed emotions that we announce today that Mary Casey-Baker will be leaving the Project on Middle East Political Science after three and a half years as the POMEPS assistant director and assistant editor of ForeignPolicy.com’s Middle East Channel (2011-2014) and The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog (2014-present). Anyone who has worked with POMEPS in any way in recent years will be familiar with Mary’s great contributions and good cheer.
Mary joined POMEPS in 2011 after completing her master’s degree in International Development Studies and Conflict Resolution at the Elliott School of International Affairs. She quickly established herself as an invaluable member of the POMEPS team. She served as the primary point of contact in our far-flung network of scholars and authors. Mary was an active editor, fact-checker, and producer of content during her years with POMEPS. She edited hundreds of Middle East Channel and Monkey Cage articles, and continued to produce the widely-read Middle East Channel Daily Brief for Foreign Policy even after POMEPS moved over to The Washington Post.
Mary helped to develop and implement the POMEPS video initiative, coordinated public events and private conferences, and led our public outreach efforts. She managed the POMEPS.org redesign and personally filmed, edited, and posted the videos of all of our events and the episodes in our popular POMEPS Conversation series. She did this all with incredible patience and good humor – and never failed to stock the APSA, ISA, and MESA receptions with the best food and drink!
We would like to share a message from Mary:
It is with a heavy heart that I leave the Project on Middle East Political Science. I have very much appreciated my experiences at POMEPS, but primarily I am incredibly grateful for all of the amazing people I have gotten to meet. I have enjoyed seeing everyone’s research and getting to watch as the work progressed over the years. I am proud that I have had the opportunity to support that amazing work, and am excited to follow you all as I head off to my new venture. I do hope to continue to cross paths with everyone, and if there is ever anything I can do for you in the future, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at: casey(dot)marye(at)gmail(dot)com.
We wish Mary success in her new role as the deputy director of program outreach and communication at the recently established Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. While she will still be able to connect you with us as needed, from this point forward please contact us at pomepsgwu(at)gmail(dot)com with questions, Monkey Cage submissions, TRE or workshop applications, or any other POMEPS business.
Good luck, Mary, and thanks for everything you’ve done for POMEPS over the last three and a half years!
– Marc Lynch and Cortni Kerr