Samier Mansur ('07) President, Muslim Student Association

Samier Mansur is immersing himself in his chosen discipline and giving his fellow students ample opportunity to widen their views of other cultures. As a pro-democracy and anti-terrorism student fellow of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, Samier has organized campus visits by such guest lecturers as Qubad Talabani, a representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the United States and son of Iraq's president, and former U.N. official Zakaria Fellah. He also co-organized a campus memorial on the fourth anniversary of 9/11 that included a congressman and community officials. Mansur, a Muslim of Bengali heritage, shares his own rich culture and traditions when invited to speak, perhaps changing minds about faraway people and places.