Biography of Gregory Aftandilian Gregory Aftandilian is an independent consultant, scholar, and lecturer, and is currently an associate of the Middle East Center at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He is also faculty leader of Northeastern University's Dialogue of Civilizations program in Armenia. He spent over 21 years in government service, most recently on Capitol Hill where he was foreign policy advisor to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (2007-2008), professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and foreign policy adviser to Senator Paul Sarbanes (2000-2004), and foreign policy fellow to the late Senator Edward Kennedy (1999). Prior to these positions, Mr. Aftandilian worked for thirteen years as a Middle East analyst at the U.S. Department of State where he was a recipient of the Department's Superior Honor Award for his analyses on Egypt. His other government experiences include analytical work for the U.S. Department of Defense and the Library of Congress. Mr. Aftandilian was also a research fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (2006-2007) and an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York (1991-1992), where he wrote the book, Egypt’s Bid for Arab Leadership. Implications for U.S. Policy. He is also the author of the monograph, Looking Forward: An Integrated Strategy for Supporting Democracy and Human Rights in Egypt (2009). In addition to his work in Middle East affairs, Mr. Aftandilian is a specialist in Armenian-American history. He is author of the book, Armenia: Vision of a Republic. The Independence Lobby in America, 1918-1927, and "World War II as an Enhancer of Armenian-American Second Generation Identity," published in the December 2009 edition of the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. He holds a B.A. in History from Dartmouth College, an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago, and an M.Sc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, he grew up in the Boston area.

International Relations/Affairs

Armenian Studies

All Middle East

Armenia

Middle East Politics, U.S. Foreign Policy Toward The Middle East, Armenian-American History

French (advanced)

Arabic (intermediate)

Armenian (intermediate)